Biting All The Apples

Sara Kaye Larson and Joanna Vantaram
  • 4.7 (13)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE

Biting All The Apples is an unhinged bookclub-ish conversation that channels the sassy wisdom of long dead victorian feminists to analyze the puritanical influences still messing with our world today.   We start off with the 1895 best seller "The Woman's Bible" by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Each week we cover their 19th century feminist analysis of a book in the bible and ponder, laugh, and cry over the similarities to the issues of today.  This is a great listen for anyone interested in the patriarchal influence in religion, politics, and social order. As well as anyone that is GenX or any generation, anyone that likes comedy, books, history, and thinkin.

  1. 1D AGO · BONUS

    A Holiday Hello: Stanton's Christmas Story for Kids and The Bah Humbug Puritans

    Oh it's been a minute but you'll be glad you listened to this episode. Yes there are podcast updates, yes there's a cool new eZine/book you have to get: The Biting All The Apples Holiday (and any day) Book of 19th Century Inspired Home Amusements & Creative Endeavors  here's the direct link if it's not showing up: https://payhip.com/b/75vhY The holiday joy doesn't stop there.  We've got a short hype message for all of your holiday emotional and physical labor AND you'll find out that puritans really hated Christmas and Stanton wrote a revisionist history Christmas fantasy story for kids.  We share holiday chaos, gratitude for invisible labor, and a warm update on what’s next. Stanton’s risky Women’s Bible, the suffrage split, and her fanciful Mayflower Christmas story spark a look at why mythmaking comforts and what truth demands. • peak lady labor and real appreciation • launch of our 49‑page Victorian amusements zine • why wordplay and in‑person games matter • teaser for the Blackwell family special • Kathy Kern’s insights on Stanton’s reputational cost • family edits that tried to repair Stanton’s legacy • debunking “Christmas on the Mayflower” with primary sources • Puritan opposition to Christmas  • nostalgia, comfort myths, and honest memory • our 2026 motto Here's more information about the reality of the early settlers: https://voyagingthroughhistory.exeter.ac.uk/2020/12/18/christmas-on-the-mayflower/ We used a batch of shared music for this episode and we're grateful to these artists: JOY TO THE WORLD Joy To The World by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Artist: http://audionautix.com/ Wish You A merry Christmas We Wish You a Merry Christmas by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org/ Away In A Manger by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Artist: http://audionautix.com/ Send us a text Credits Recorded at Troubadour Studios in Lansing, MI Audio Engineer Corey DeRushia Edited by Rie Daisies at Nighttime Girlfriend Studio Music: ‘Shifting pt. 2 (instrumental)’ by Rie Daisies Executive Producer Kathleen ML Rogers Leave us a voice mail Have some feedback? Praise? General thoughts? Know how to pronounce something? Are you a religious scholar? We'd love to hear from you. Leave a message right from your phone or computer by clicking here. Recordings may be used in future episodes. Website https://bitingalltheapples.buzzsprout.com Find us on TikTok and YouTube

    19 min

  2. NOV 7

    The She-Showdown: Inside The 1896 Vote To Disown The Woman’s Bible

    A suffrage convention, a censored book, and a friendship that held the line—this is the 1896 showdown few of us were ever taught. We open the appendix to The Woman’s Bible and step into the room where NAWSA leaders tried to distance the movement from Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s fiercest work. The resolution’s catty phrasing calling it the “so-called Woman’s Bible” was more than shade; it was strategy, signaling a turn toward (so-called) respectability and away from the root critique that Stanton believed blocked every legal gain: scripture used to justify women’s subordination. We trace the fault lines through names, speeches, and a near-split vote. Charlotte Perkins Stetson offers a surgical amendment to keep the association non-sectarian without shaming dissent. Then Susan B. Anthony rises with a spine-of-steel defense of Stanton, warning that censorship narrows coalitions and that progress cannot survive if questioning sacred authority is off-limits. Her words could be used to-day: you can’t promise freedom with a gag order, and you can’t build a durable movement by appeasing fear. Along the way, we explore why the Bible became the battleground, how the vote re-centered the suffrage movement, and what that decision cost subsequent generations. We connect the dots to today where Christian nationalism, selective literalism, and rights rollbacks test whether advocates will name the story that shapes the law.  We marvel at the lives of victorian women whose lives spanned art, sociology, organizing, and risk. And we end with a poem that captures the ethos: be the rock that sets the boundary, not the tide that flatters and recedes. If this shook your assumptions or filled a missing chapter in your mental timeline, share it with a friend, subscribe for the next deep dive, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway or maybe some of your own feminist history knowledge. We read every word. LINKS! The Woman's Bible Repudiated: https://sacred-texts.com/wmn/wb/wb75.htm More about Charlotte Perkins: https://aeon.co/ideas/all-woman-the-utopian-feminism-of-charlotte-perkins-gilman Video Bio: https://youtu.be/Cjw3-lM1Tyg?si=XuejpLTXjWVs_4-b Her letter with her lovah: https://cds.library.brown.edu/projects/CreativeNonfiction/spring00/rabinowitz.html This episode recorded at Bob's Basement Studio. Produced and edited by Sara Kaye Larson. Send us a text Credits Recorded at Troubadour Studios in Lansing, MI Audio Engineer Corey DeRushia Edited by Rie Daisies at Nighttime Girlfriend Studio Music: ‘Shifting pt. 2 (instrumental)’ by Rie Daisies Executive Producer Kathleen ML Rogers Leave us a voice mail Have some feedback? Praise? General thoughts? Know how to pronounce something? Are you a religious scholar? We'd love to hear from you. Leave a message right from your phone or computer by clicking here. Recordings may be used in future episodes. Website https://bitingalltheapples.buzzsprout.com Find us on TikTok and YouTube

    43 min

  3. OCT 27 · BONUS

    It Takes A Delicate Constitution: Victorian Feminists and The Occult - Bonus Episode

    A late October check in bonus episode with a spooky theme. Well, that is if you thinking chit chatting with the dead is spooky. Lots of Victorian people thought it wasn't spooky but important. Serious. There was a huge surge of interest in spiritualism in the 19th century. We thought maybe we should see if any of our Victorian feminists that we've been reading were also into the occult.  It has opened up a can of worms.   Won't you join us? Discussed in this episode: Ms Magazine - excerpt of WAKING THE WITCH: Reflections on Women, Magic and Power by Pam Grossman https://msmagazine.com/2019/10/29/waking-the-witch-the-feminist-history-of-spiritualism/ The Burned Over District https://nyheritage.org/exhibits/two-hundred-years-erie-canal/burned-over-district Religion and Reform in the "Burned Over District" https://youtu.be/fKxEOmAZCd8?si=2KMMGF_Y8p6baMHV The rise and fall of Harmonia, a Spiritualist utopia and home to Sojourner Truth  https://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/story/life/2019/01/16/rise-and-fall-harmonia-battle-creeks-spiritualist-utopia/2214809002/ Victoria Woodhull, the Original ‘Nasty Woman’ https://www.villagepreservation.org/2018/04/02/victoria-woodhull-the-original-nasty-woman/ Lilydale Spiritualist Community https://www.lilydaleassembly.org/community  Anne Braude https://www.hds.harvard.edu/people/ann-d-braude The First Woman to Run For President Was a Spiritualist, Wall Street Broker, and Free-Love Advocate https://www.mentalfloss.com/history/first-woman-run-president-was-clairvoyant-free-love-advocate This episode recorded remotely at Bob's Basement Studio *+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Send us a text Credits Recorded at Troubadour Studios in Lansing, MI Audio Engineer Corey DeRushia Edited by Rie Daisies at Nighttime Girlfriend Studio Music: ‘Shifting pt. 2 (instrumental)’ by Rie Daisies Executive Producer Kathleen ML Rogers Leave us a voice mail Have some feedback? Praise? General thoughts? Know how to pronounce something? Are you a religious scholar? We'd love to hear from you. Leave a message right from your phone or computer by clicking here. Recordings may be used in future episodes. Website https://bitingalltheapples.buzzsprout.com Find us on TikTok and YouTube

    24 min

  4. OCT 3

    The Real Deal on Revelation: Women, astrology, and dragons rule

    The gods of our fathers are our devils.   That's what the victorian feminists say an ancient Arabic proverb says. Knowing how much the people of the 19th century liked to embellish the mystical and such, we're not sure if that's actually a thing but it's a thing now because MJG said it.  In this episode we tackle Peter and John’s epistles, then flip the script on Revelation with Matilda Joslyn Gage, reading it through symbols, numbers, and stars to uncover a fiercely feminist core. We push back on literalism, call out control, and dream of a world full of Jezebels. Some highlights: • subjection verses in Peter and John, Stanton’s rebuttal to wealth and “weaker vessels” • apostles and patronage, “elect ladies,” class and comfort • contested authorship of Revelation, the 9,200-word “letter” • astrology, numerology, Kabbalah as interpretive keys • the woman, the dragon, twelve stars: feminine principle vs material power • literalism as a tool of control, symbolism as a path to agency • speech, censorship, and why we refuse to quiet down • closing the book proper; next up, Stanton’s appendix and letters Join us. Join us. We must rebel. And that starts with a podcast of course.  This episode recorded in Bob's Basement Studios. Send us a text Credits Recorded at Troubadour Studios in Lansing, MI Audio Engineer Corey DeRushia Edited by Rie Daisies at Nighttime Girlfriend Studio Music: ‘Shifting pt. 2 (instrumental)’ by Rie Daisies Executive Producer Kathleen ML Rogers Leave us a voice mail Have some feedback? Praise? General thoughts? Know how to pronounce something? Are you a religious scholar? We'd love to hear from you. Leave a message right from your phone or computer by clicking here. Recordings may be used in future episodes. Website https://bitingalltheapples.buzzsprout.com Find us on TikTok and YouTube

    53 min

  5. SEP 19

    Marriage As A Source of Church Revenue and Other Fun Timothy Tidbits

    If you like your podcasts with a side of crashout then this episode is for you. If not, this is still the episode for you but you may want to jump to around 18 minutes to get straight to the part where we talk about the book. You're going to love the victorian feminist takes on the Epistles to the Ephesians, Phillipians, and Timothy. I mean, someone had to respond to all the men-win doctrine and instructions for women in marriage, appearance, and widowhood.  You'll get to enjoy classic lines such as:  "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord"  and hear about how widows aren't supposed to have any fun.  And you'll be terrified or depressed to realize just how much Canon law seeps into civil law especially here in the states. Whether you're a person of faith questioning traditional interpretations or simply interested in how ancient texts continue to shape modern power dynamics, this episode offers a fascinating look at the roots of gender inequality in Western society. Join us as we advocate for a world where, as Chandler wrote, "the religion of Jesus is a voluntary acceptance of truth," and "motherhood is equally honored with fatherhood in human institutions." Send us a text Credits Recorded at Troubadour Studios in Lansing, MI Audio Engineer Corey DeRushia Edited by Rie Daisies at Nighttime Girlfriend Studio Music: ‘Shifting pt. 2 (instrumental)’ by Rie Daisies Executive Producer Kathleen ML Rogers Leave us a voice mail Have some feedback? Praise? General thoughts? Know how to pronounce something? Are you a religious scholar? We'd love to hear from you. Leave a message right from your phone or computer by clicking here. Recordings may be used in future episodes. Website https://bitingalltheapples.buzzsprout.com Find us on TikTok and YouTube

    59 min

  6. SEP 12

    Head Coverings & Holy Mansplaining: Paul's Letters to the Romans & Corinthians

    Not even a back to school headcold could keep us away for too long. In this episode we analyze (in our own analytic fashion and with the help of witty Victorian feminists)) the Apostle Paul's letters (epistles) to the Romans and Corinthians from Elizabeth Cady Stanton's "The Woman's Bible," revealing how biblical passages about women have been weaponized to limit their rights throughout history. We expose the contradictions in Paul's writings, from praising women leaders in Romans to commanding women's silence in Corinthians, and examine how these texts still influence gender inequality today. Here are some highlights in this episode: • Paul's letter to the Romans names and praises many women who were integral to early Christianity • Evidence suggests Priscilla may have founded the Church of Rome, yet women still cannot be priests • Corinthians contains restrictive marriage instructions with unequal standards for men and women • Paul's command for women to cover their heads stems from an old Hebrew legend about angels • The directive for women to "keep silence in the churches" contradicts women's earlier recognized roles • Only seven of the fourteen letters attributed to Paul were likely written by him • Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her contributors offer biting critiques of Paul's contradictory positions • These biblical interpretations continue to impact modern gender roles and women's rights All that and all of the fun, thrills, and modern insight you can handle.  Send us a text Credits Recorded at Troubadour Studios in Lansing, MI Audio Engineer Corey DeRushia Edited by Rie Daisies at Nighttime Girlfriend Studio Music: ‘Shifting pt. 2 (instrumental)’ by Rie Daisies Executive Producer Kathleen ML Rogers Leave us a voice mail Have some feedback? Praise? General thoughts? Know how to pronounce something? Are you a religious scholar? We'd love to hear from you. Leave a message right from your phone or computer by clicking here. Recordings may be used in future episodes. Website https://bitingalltheapples.buzzsprout.com Find us on TikTok and YouTube

    52 min

  7. AUG 29

    Yielding The Ghost and Other Things Women Did in The Book of Acts

    Uncovering the hidden history of women in the early church, this episode dives deep into the Book of Acts as viewed through Elizabeth Cady Stanton's groundbreaking feminist lens. Sara Kaye and Joanna V reunite to explore what Victorian feminists discovered about women's roles in spreading Christianity – roles that male religious authorities have systematically erased over centuries. Through stories like Sapphira (who died for obeying her husband's deception), Rhoda (whose truthful words were dismissed by men), and Lydia (a successful businesswoman), we discover that women were far more central to early Christianity than traditional interpretations admit. The hosts examine how these biblical women challenge the narrative of female submission that has dominated religious discourse. The most explosive revelation comes from Ellen Battelle Dietrick, one of Stanton's collaborators, who argues that many biblical passages subordinating women were likely "bare-faced forgeries" inserted by "unscrupulous bishops" intent on silencing women. She points to a critical "missing link" of 500 years between Old Testament texts and New Testament compilation that calls into question the historical accuracy of how the Bible portrays gender roles. This episode doesn't just reinterpret ancient stories – it provides a powerful framework for understanding how religious texts have been manipulated to justify women's oppression. As Sara Kaye says, "We are not sliding back. Public discourse has slid back." Join us for this thought-provoking exploration of biblical history that reminds women everywhere: you are sovereign. ******************************* YEAH - What the robot said. This episode rules. It will knock your socks off and shake loose some long-held beliefs. It's good for circulation.  Here's some more information about topics discussed in this episode: The Marshall Project See What Your Local Agency Received from the Department of Defense https://www.themarshallproject.org/mp-graphics/201412-dod/embed.html Peter Thiel Churching Links: Christians in tech drive religious revival in SF One of America’s most secular cities is experiencing a religious boom with Silicon Valley overtones.https://sfstandard.com/2024/11/09/christians-tech-religion-sf/ ‘Wouldn’t It Be Funny if We Tricked a Bunch of People into Going to Church?’ Interview by Kate Lucky Michelle Stephens of Silicon Valley evangelism organization ACTS 17 talks caviar bumps, Peter Thiel, and Christianity. Send us a text Credits Recorded at Troubadour Studios in Lansing, MI Audio Engineer Corey DeRushia Edited by Rie Daisies at Nighttime Girlfriend Studio Music: ‘Shifting pt. 2 (instrumental)’ by Rie Daisies Executive Producer Kathleen ML Rogers Leave us a voice mail Have some feedback? Praise? General thoughts? Know how to pronounce something? Are you a religious scholar? We'd love to hear from you. Leave a message right from your phone or computer by clicking here. Recordings may be used in future episodes. Website https://bitingalltheapples.buzzsprout.com Find us on TikTok and YouTube

    47 min

  8. AUG 22

    A Hogshead Worth of Miracles and a Hairy Foot Bath: The Book of John

    We’re pondering the book of John today by golly. And the selections our Victorian Feminists chose to critique cover sizzling hot topics like miracles, mothers, prejudice, and hogsheads to cover. This is a tidy zippy episode that will reveal deeper questions about the tales we've been told.  Did you know Jesus only speaks to his mother three times in the entire Bible? Or that Mary Magdalene's devoted presence at the tomb contrasts sharply with the male disciples' absence?  As Christian nationalism continues to ruin the last bits of anything good in American politics, these 130-year-old feminist perspectives continue to provide crucial context for understanding how religious texts have been wielded to control and limit women's autonomy.  Join our virtual sewing circle as we unravel these biblical stories with almost fresh eyes, frayed nerves, and sharp wits.  Subscribe, share with friends, and let us know your thoughts – we're creating independent feminist media when it's needed most. Send us a text Credits Recorded at Troubadour Studios in Lansing, MI Audio Engineer Corey DeRushia Edited by Rie Daisies at Nighttime Girlfriend Studio Music: ‘Shifting pt. 2 (instrumental)’ by Rie Daisies Executive Producer Kathleen ML Rogers Leave us a voice mail Have some feedback? Praise? General thoughts? Know how to pronounce something? Are you a religious scholar? We'd love to hear from you. Leave a message right from your phone or computer by clicking here. Recordings may be used in future episodes. Website https://bitingalltheapples.buzzsprout.com Find us on TikTok and YouTube

    34 min
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Biting All The Apples is an unhinged bookclub-ish conversation that channels the sassy wisdom of long dead victorian feminists to analyze the puritanical influences still messing with our world today.   We start off with the 1895 best seller "The Woman's Bible" by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Each week we cover their 19th century feminist analysis of a book in the bible and ponder, laugh, and cry over the similarities to the issues of today.  This is a great listen for anyone interested in the patriarchal influence in religion, politics, and social order. As well as anyone that is GenX or any generation, anyone that likes comedy, books, history, and thinkin.

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  • Creator
    Sara Kaye Larson and Joanna Vantaram
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    28
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Biting All The Apples
  • Show Website
    Biting All The Apples