BitchStory - Stories of badass women that history "forgot"

Kelly McClain and Smarty Pants Lisa
  • 4.6 (11)
  • History
  • Updated Biweekly

Welcome to Bitchstory! We are uncovering history's forgotten heroines and badasses. Most of the women covered on this show have been left out of the history books for reasons you can guess. Some are names you know, some are women that history has completely snubbed. We are revising history to be fun, inclusive, entertaining, and of course, feminist as f*ck! Email us at "Heybitches@bitchstory.net". Always check the show notes for our sources and other important information.

  1. Apr 27

    Ep 109 -The Dorothy Kilgallen mystery/conspiracy

    This week we have a true crime story for you. I don’t want to give away too much here in the notes. But Dorothy Kilgallen was the Oprah or Barbara Walters of her time (the 40s, 50s & 60s)…and most of us have never heard of her. She was erased. Why? Dun-dun-dun… This story is wild! 🎧 We are on all major platforms- Listen wherever you get your podcasts, THE BLOG: kellymcclain.blogspot.com PATREON: Patreon.com/Bitchscopes INSTAGRAM: @bitchstory.pod @apothe.kelly @kellymcbitch THE EMAIL: heybitches@bitchstory.net CONTRIBUTE: 💲We insert zero ads and have no subscription fees. If you'd like to contribute to our work here at Bitchstory, we'd be thrilled to receive your financial support so we can keep going and maybe actually not be in the red. Our venmo is @bitchstory THANKS FOR LISTENING! We 🩷you!

    1h 10m

  2. Mar 9

    Ep 108 - Inventions by Black Women

    This week on Bitchstory, Kelly and Lisa uncover the Black women who invented parts of everyday life — and then got ignored for it. From laundry tech and menstrual products to home security systems and space-saving furniture, these innovators made modern life easier while battling racism, sexism, and a patent system that rarely worked in their favor. Some lost their fortunes, some had their inventions rejected, and one even signed her patent with an X. Turns out the world we live in was built by women whose names most of us never learned. 🎧 We are on all major platforms- Listen wherever you get your podcasts, THE BLOG: kellymcclain.blogspot.com INSTAGRAM: @bitchstory.pod @apothe.kelly @kellymcbitch THE EMAIL: heybitches@bitchstory.net BITCHSCOPES: Patreon.com/bitchscopes CONTRIBUTE: 💲We insert zero ads and have no subscription fees. If you'd like to contribute to our work here at Bitchstory, we'd be thrilled to receive your financial support so we can keep going and maybe actually not be in the red. Our venmo is @bitchstory THANKS FOR LISTENING! We 🩷you!

    29 min

  3. Feb 19

    Ep 107 - Lady Librarians Saving Civilization

    During the 19-teens and through the Great Depression, women and particularly black women were holding together literacy in society with their bloody fingertips and blistered feet. In this episode we discuss the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky, and the black librarians of the Harlem Renaissance. Literacy is power, guys. And Black history is American history. And women’s history is still sadly overlooked, which is why we do this podcast! Kelly’s creative projects of the moment: Goddess justice arc 2026 calendar Well behaved women keychains 🎧 We are on all major platforms- Listen wherever you get your podcasts, THE BLOG: kellymcclain.blogspot.com THE EMAIL: heybitches@bitchstory.net BITCHSCOPES: Patreon.com/bitchscopes CONTRIBUTE: 💲We insert zero ads and have no subscription fees. If you'd like to contribute to our work here at Bitchstory, we'd be thrilled to receive your financial support so we can keep going and maybe actually not be in the red. Our venmo is @bitchstory THANKS FOR LISTENING! We 🩷you!

    45 min

  4. Feb 4

    Ep 106 - GPS Queen - Dr. Gladys West

    Dr. Gladys West is the mathematical genius whose work helped create the GPS you literally use to find coffee, Target, and your emotional support parking spot. Her groundbreaking satellite modeling helped map the Earth with wild precision — and, shockingly, she didn’t get the credit she deserved for decades. This Black History Month, we’re celebrating the Black women who built the future while the world was busy ignoring them. Goddess justice arc 2026 calendar Well behaved women keychains 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts. THE BLOG: kellymcclain.blogspot.com THE EMAIL: heybitches@bitchstory.net BITCHSCOPES: Patreon.com/bitchstory CONTRIBUTE: 💲We insert zero ads and have no subscription fees. If you'd like to contribute to our work here at Bitchstory, we'd be thrilled to receive your financial support so we can keep going and maybe actually not be in the red. Our venmo is @bitchstory

    23 min

  5. Jan 21

    Ep 105 - Question Everything- Hannah Arendt

    Hannah Arendt didn’t write about monsters. She wrote about ordinary people who stop thinking — and what that does to the world. In this episode, we dig into the life of the Jewish philosopher who gave us the phrase “the banality of evil,” fled the Nazis, pissed off half the intellectual world, and refused to make evil feel dramatic or mysterious. This is the story of a woman who believed thinking clearly was a moral act. 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts. THE BLOG: kellymcclain.blogspot.com THE EMAIL: heybitches@bitchstory.net BITCHSCOPES: Patreon.com/bitchscopes CONTRIBUTE: 💲We insert zero ads and have no subscription fees. If you'd like to contribute to our work here at Bitchstory, we'd be thrilled to receive your financial support so we can keep going and maybe actually not be in the red. Our venmo is @bitchstory

    38 min

  6. 12/16/2025

    Ep 104 - The Women Who Built Christmas

    Christmas looks like it belongs to men — Santa, Jesus, the Wise Men, even Frosty — but the holiday itself has always been built, carried, and saved by women. In this episode of Bitchstory, we reclaim Christmas for the girls, the gays, and the theys by telling the stories history tends to forget:the women whose words, labor, courage, and organizing shaped the holiday as we know it. In this episode we'll discuss 4 (of many!) women who have made Christmas into the nostalgic, magical time of year we know it as today. From Victorian England to WWII France to Jim Crow Alabama to the North Pole, this episode reveals a truth hiding in plain sight:Christmas has always run on women’s work. So pour the eggnog, light the candles, put up your feet (you've earned it!!) and join us for a historically accurate, slightly unhinged, feminist retelling of the season. 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts. THE BLOG: kellymcclain.blogspot.com THE EMAIL: heybitches@bitchstory.net BITCHSCOPES: Patreon.com/bitchscopes CONTRIBUTE: 💲We insert zero ads and have no subscription fees. If you'd like to contribute to our work here at Bitchstory, we'd be thrilled to receive your financial support so we can keep going and maybe actually not be in the red. Our venmo is @bitchstory

    38 min

  7. 11/24/2025

    Ep 103- You glow girl! The radium girls and what they taught us

    They were called the Glow Girls — until their glow started killing them. In this episode, we dive into the haunting story of the Radium Girls: the teenage dial painters who trusted their employers, lip-pointed their brushes, and unknowingly swallowed enough radiation to light up a dance hall. Their bodies became evidence, their fight became historic, and their courage forced the first real conversations about worker safety in America. Join us as we tell the story of the women who glowed in the dark, exposed an industrial lie, and sparked the beginnings of modern labor protections. Feminist horror, corporate greed, and righteous rage — all in one episode. 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts. THE BLOG: kellymcclain.blogspot.com THE EMAIL: heybitches@bitchstory.net BITCHSCOPES: Patreon.com/bitchscopes CONTRIBUTE: 💲We insert zero ads and have no subscription fees. If you'd like to contribute to our work here at Bitchstory, we'd be thrilled to receive your financial support so we can keep going and maybe actually not be in the red. Our venmo is @bitchstory

    35 min

  8. 11/11/2025

    Ep 102 Breaking the Banking Ceiling - the Women’s Bank of Denver!

    Back in the 1970s, when women were still told they needed a husband or father to sign for a loan, a group of bold Denver women said no more. They founded The Women’s Bank of Denver to claim not just access to money—but power. In this episode, we unpack how they built a bank from scratch in 1978, how they rewrote the rules of finance for women, and what their legacy means for us today. Expect feminist fire, financial clarity, and a blueprint for breaking ceilings made of glass and dollars. (Plus a surprise appearance from mini McBitch) 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts. THE BLOG: kellymcclain.blogspot.com THE EMAIL: heybitches@bitchstory.net BITCHSCOPES: Patreon.com/bitchscopes CONTRIBUTE: 💲We insert zero ads and have no subscription fees. If you'd like to contribute to our work here at Bitchstory, we'd be thrilled to receive your financial support so we can keep going and maybe actually not be in the red. Our venmo is @bitchstory

    20 min
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4.6
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

Welcome to Bitchstory! We are uncovering history's forgotten heroines and badasses. Most of the women covered on this show have been left out of the history books for reasons you can guess. Some are names you know, some are women that history has completely snubbed. We are revising history to be fun, inclusive, entertaining, and of course, feminist as f*ck! Email us at "Heybitches@bitchstory.net". Always check the show notes for our sources and other important information.

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