Deviant Women

In the dark and seedy cabarets of Weimar Berlin, where sex was a performance and decadence was king, one woman ruled the room. Born to artist parents at the turn of the century, Anita Berber was desti...

19 Sep 20191h 12min

During the turbulent years of World War II the pool halls and billiard rooms of the U.S. were quiet: the men who had once populated them had gone off to fight. But after the war a new buzz brought aud...

5 Sep 20191h

We are Alicia and Lauren, your Deviant Women hosts! Each fortnight, we discuss a ‘deviant’ woman from history, fiction, mythology or the contemporary world. Women who aren’t afraid to break the rules,...

30 Aug 201946s

When Wendy Carlos released Switched On Bach, the first classical album recorded on a synthesizer, she radically transformed people's understandings of what electronic music could do. At the time of th...

21 Aug 201954min

What the hell is queer theory? Who gets to identify as queer? Does it mean anything to call yourself a “queer ally”? These are the kinds of questions writers Benjamin Riley and Simon Copland ask on Qu...

17 Aug 201927min

*Content Warning. This episode contains discussion of mass murder and suicide*Carolyn Layton had an idyllic childhood. Daughter of a socially progressive Methodist minister father and peace activist m...

8 Aug 201941min

After fleeing her arms-dealing husband and his castle in the Austrian countryside, Hedy Lamarr made her way to Hollywood and the open arms of MGM Studios. She was going to be a star! The only problem:...

25 Jul 20191h 6min

As colonial powers muscled in on 18th century India, one woman rose from obscurity to become the leader of a powerful and formidable mercenary army. From the life of a dancing girl to life on the batt...

11 Jul 20191h 4min