Did you know that all modern gynaecology practice is based on the experiments of one doctor, J. Marion Sims, in the 1840s? His patients... enslaved women who could not consent.

This week, Amy is joined by Katja Holtz from the Vagina Museum to try and unpack these women's stories. Who were they? How much do we know about these women who were denied a voice, both in their medical care and in the historical record?

Image is of "The Mothers of Gynaecology" by Michelle Browder, in Montgomery, Alabama.

Hope Bourne, the self-sufficient artist and writer, lived "off-grid" on Exmoor, long before the phrase was even coined.This week Amy is joined by journalist and writer Sara Hudston to explore Bourne's fiercely independent life. Together, they delve into Bourne’s profound connection to the land, her strikingly candid diaries, and her unconventional choices that defied the expectations of her time. They also discuss the new exhibition of Bourne's work at the Somerset Museum of Rural Life, which Hudston has helped to curate.

This episode brings Bourne’s world vividly to life, revealing a woman who carved her own path through rugged landscapes and rural solitude, leaving behind a legacy as wild and uncompromising as the moors she called home.

In this episode, Amy explores the life and legacy of Kathleen Carpenter, a pioneering ecologist often hailed as one of the founding figures of freshwater biology. Joined by special guests Dr Catherine Duigan and Dr Daniel Mills from Aberystwyth University, Amy learns about Carpenter’s ground-breaking research across the UK and USA, her passion for river ecosystems, and the barriers she faced as a woman in early 20th-century science.