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.

Sydney Owenson's best known novel, "The Wild Irish Girl". kicked off a merchandising revolution in the 1800s. Dr Devoney Looser from Arizona State University, tells Amy about Owenson's childhood as the daughter of a comic actor, her rise to literary fame, her married life as Lady Morgan, and her legacy as a proto-feminist.

Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and Jane Austen all wrote about about Owenson, so why has so been been largely forgotten by modern readers?

Step right up for an unforgettable ride into the high-flying, death-defying world of Tiny Kline.

This week, Amy is joined by guest historian Jennifer Cronk from Circus World in Wisconsin to uncover the incredible story of this fearless trailblazer. From her childhood in Hungary to becoming one of the most electrifying women in showbiz, learn how Tiny's "Iron Jaw" stunts had the world on the edge of their seats!

"Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl..."

Wherever Eliza Gilbert went, scandal followed. Best known under her stage name of "Lola Montez", she danced for miners in Australia, bull-whipped a journalist in the street, and once poured soup over a dinner guest of Franz Liszt. This week, Amy is joined by Irish historian Sharon Slater, to explore the life of a woman who brought the Bavarian government to it's knees.

In this episode, Amy delves into the glittering world of Gilded Age portraiture with a spotlight on the remarkable miniaturist Amalia Kussner. Joining us is historian Kathleen Langone, whose new biography The Miniature Painter Revealed uncovers long-lost details of Kussner’s life and work—drawing from not only meticulous research, but also a personal family connection to the artist herself. Together, we explore how Kussner captured the faces of royalty, socialites, and industrial titans in watercolour masterpieces no bigger than a playing card.

Did you know that in 1793, the must-have fashion accessory for ladies in London was a pregnancy bump?

Dr Isabel Davis of the Natural History Museum joins Amy to look as this unusual trend and explore why women wanted to appear pregnant, how they styled their bumps, and what all this meant regarding women's bodily autonomy.