Some thoughts on Podcasts and women
In my post looking for more podcasts to listen to I mentioned my preference for Podcasts with "at least one female host/regular guest”.
Now, of course this doesn’t mean “Podcast with Woman equals Good” and “Podcast without Woman equals Bad”. In fact, some of my favourite podcasts that I’ve been listening to for years don’t have any female hosts, or maybe just a female guest every now and then.
But there is a trend - that’s not surprising at all - if you look at all the "10 Podcasts You Should Listen to” lists: Most of these podcasts are hosted by men, or at least mostly by men. Not because men are better at what they are doing, but because that’s how our society seems to work - unfortunately.
Going through the podcasts I regularly listen to, I realised that - no matter how much I try to support women in creative jobs and comedy, I still always end up with:
- a big amount of podcasts hosted exclusively by men
- some podcasts that have female guests every now and then
- a few podcasts that have like one female host among three or four men
- and a very small number of podcasts hosted exclusively by women.
So what I’m trying to do at the moment is looking specifically for podcasts by and with women. I’m not saying I’m not gonna try podcasts with just men as well. But let’s just say a podcast with just male hosts has to be very very good to make it on the list of stuff I listen to frequently ;)
I have been very lucky to have stumbled onto a streak of good female-led podcasts recently. These might be old news for you, but here are my current female-led shows. (These are all fictional ones, so I’m sorry if you meant non-fiction podcasts actually hosted by women.)
Limetown: A female reporter, Lia Haddock, follows on the trail of the mysterious disappearance of the people of Limetown ten years ago. Lia is the largest character by far, so her perspective is front and center in the show.
The Black Tapes Podcast: Another female reporter, Alex Reagan, delves into the supernatural while studying the work of professional skeptic, Dr. Richard Strand. Alex is the main character, though she and Strand end up as a duo for many of the stories.
Alice Isn’t Dead: This horror podcast, by the creators of Welcome to Night Vale, is a story told by a nameless female narrator, working as a trucker in order to travel and find out what happened to her disappearing wife.
Wooden Overcoats: While this sitcom podcast about a competitive funeral director technically has a male main character, Rudyard Funn, the narrator is female and Rudyard’s sister Antigone is pretty much equal to him in terms of screen time and personalized plotlines.
A lot of these shows are unfortunately very male-led behind the scenes, however. If anyone has good recs for female-written podcasts, I would love to hear them as well.
Can I Pet Your Dog: two female hosts and one man. They discuss dog news, dog breeds, and have guests on to talk about their dogs each week.
Stuff You Missed in History Class: two female hosts. They discuss various little known historical events.
Thanks for the suggestions :) I know both of these podcasts and think they are great. I highly recommend them!
a few additional nonfiction female-hosted podcasts—
gastropod: cynthia graber and nicola twilley examine food through the lens of history and science. not laugh-out loud funny, but fascinating and fun; my current comfort-podcast
the allusionist: the delightful brit helen zaltzman discusses language, the way we use it, and the origin of words and phrases
sampler: brittany luse and a guest host take you on a curated tour through the highlights of the podcast world
invisibilia: lulu miller and alix spiegel weave together science and narrative to create human stories about big ideas
mystery show: starlee kine solves real-life small-scale mysteries. funny, charming, and emotionally engaging.
wham bam pow: two female comedians who are dating (cameron esposito and rhea butcher) and their friend ricky carmona discuss action and sci fi movies.
sawbones is hosted by a woman & her husband, is about medical history, and is hilarious and informative !
“Stuff Mom Never Told You” a feminist centric podcast hosted by two women that talks about everything from the complete history of abortion in the US to adult coloring books. They’re both fun hosts that make every topic interesting.
I love podcasts. I listen to them a bunch when I’m working up data or writing or taking notes from literature I’ve read a few times.
This is true but I also feel like must be a hold over from radio. As far as I can remember, radio is largely hosted by men as well. NPR seems to have a fair gender balance but many of their big names are men as well.Great thread started by @collected-sports-bra!
I’d like to add Not So Standard Deviations to this list. It’s a fantastic data science podcast (not too many of those around!) with a female co-host, Hilary Parker. It’s been a real inspiration during my PhD.
And while I’m at it, a small plug for our podcast related STS blog posts! We definitely need to do a new one with our top 5 female (co)hosted podcasts. I’m super stoked to check out some on this list.
I’m a big fan of Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig. It’s silly and interesting.
ahhh! my tips for podcasts hosted by women:
sea hags hosted by two lovely ladies: my hilarious friend katie @rocktopussy and her friend chris
all killa no filla hosted by two female northern stand-up comedians - it’s about serial killers and it’s one of my fave podcasts
criminal which is about unusual / interesting crimes, something different each week. it’s super super good
oh and also! say why to drugs with dr. suzi gage looks at a different drug each week, looking at the potential harms, medical benefits, and myths surrounding them
Death, Sex, and Money is one of my favorite podcasts, hosted by a woman, and covers those three topics. She interviews famous people and non-famous people, and I find her style so relaxing and yet engaging.
Note to Self is hosted by Manoush Zamorodi and it’s a really cute podcast covering technology issues mostly.
Both of these are from WNYC and I listen to them on the NPR one app.
still buffering is a podcast where sisters (sydnee mcelroy, teylor smirl, and rileigh smirl) with a big age gap discuss what it’s like to be a teen now versus what it was like to be a teen in the 90s (sydnee is also one of the co-hosts of sawbones, and i do recommend the entire mcelroy family of podcasts, many male-hosted but also lots of fun husband/wife podcasts)
worst bestsellers is a podcast where two awesome ladies (@fourteenacross and @twentyghosts) and a revolving group of guests (including yours truly!) discuss popular books of questionable quality
and if you somehow haven’t managed to hear about it, check out you must remember this, a podcast hosted by karina longworth about the first 100 years of hollywood and deep dives on topics like mgm studios, the black listing of ~communists in hollywood, and charles manson
Oh gosh, what a great list to be included on!
A lot of the podcasts I listen to have already been covered here, but here are two more to add to the list:
Appointment Television ( @atvpodcast ) - A weekly podcast that covers all sorts of television topics, from revisiting old (and new) faves via their TV Book Club, comparing and contrasting various shows, and discussing various aspects of television as a medium. Two of the three hosts, Margaret and Kathryn, are ladies!
Bellwether Friends - Bellwether Friends is a culture/pop culture podcast helmed by librarians. Each episode is a discussion of a particular topic (or range of topics) and usually includes some interesting critique and great readers’ + watchers’ advisory.
Another Round from Buzzfeed is one of my favorite podcasts. Hosted by Heben Nagatu and Tracy Clayton, they talk about fun stuff and serious stuff in equal measure.
I don’t listen to podcasts, but this makes me wish I did!
(via theinternetmagpie-blog)