2 chapters across the catalog
Naomi Wolf explains how the Industrial Revolution introduced ideals to control literate, middle-class women, such as the "cult of invalidism" in the 19th century and the "happy homemaker" archetype in the 1950s. The hosts link these historical shifts to Edward Bernays' "Torches of Freedom" campaign, which used feminist imagery to sell cigarettes. They argue that modern women remain controlled by shifting media ideals that now encourage the disparagement of men.
The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 transformed the American South by making the removal of seeds from upland cotton profitable. This technological shift led to cotton becoming "King," dictating political and labor policies while leveraging enslaved people as collateral for Northern banks. The hosts emphasize that an experienced picker could harvest 250 pounds of cotton a day by hand, a labor-intensive process that built the nation's economic might before the mechanical picker was introduced in 1927.
