Murder or Menstruation? The rewriting of Lizzie Borden
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
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Content warnings: blood, gore, description of violent crime and death
Lizzie Borden took a bucket of period blood…
In 1892, Lizzie Borden was arrested for caving in the skulls of her father and step-mother. All the evidence seemed to point to Lizzie as the murder. But, after a lengthy trial, she was ultimately acquitted - and amazingly, her acquittal had a lot to do with the fact that she had been menstruating at the time of her parents’ grizzly deaths. But how?
How did shedding her womb lining get Lizzie Borden off for murder? How does her case, her notoriety as a murderer, a female murderer no less and (perhaps even more controversially) as a menstruating spinster, capture our imaginations? And, how does English writer, Angela Carter, take Borden’s life, her inner and outer turmoil, and turn it into a stomach-churning, utterly crushing and suffocating expose of that which sets the patriarchy a-trembling: female rage.
Written, presented, and edited by Rosie Whitcombe
@books_ncats
Directed, produced, and edited by Matty Phillips
@ma_ps_
mphotos.uk
Look he may have been anti feminist but calling a period "the crisis" is hilarious and I want to use it.
Me cancelling plans from now on: “I can’t make it, I’m having a crisis.”
@@elizabethtangora4353Not a crisis, my dear... *THE* crisis!!!
As someone who has been obsessed with the Borden murders for 30+ years, I always found it fascinating how few people mention her aunt. Eliza Darling Borden, who almost definitely suffered from postpartum psychosis, murdered two of her children and then killed herself in the basement of the house just yards from 92 second st, the Churchill’s house. Her story is so shocking and feels so forgotten.
“The womb can’t wander if it’s full of baby” is by far my favorite line. I laughed so hard my womb went wandering! But on a serious note, absolutely love this channel. It’s quite remarkable to find this level of educational and humorous content and I appreciate it so much!
I'm not sure if my womb was able to wander after it was surgically removed. The surgeon never said...
The Greeks opinion on wombs still impacting modern law is real loud in this video. I do not like it but I appreciate it.
😂😂😂
@@SkyeIDyour body is now haunted by the restless ghost of your womb 😂
interestingly, Carter's depiction of the Bordens mirrored some of the struggles she had with her own parents, Both Carter's mum and dad babied her like crazy (for example, she was never allowed to close doors, not even when using the bathroom, as her mother was convinced that something dreadful would befall her if she did so). I know biographical readings of writers' work can be reductive, but it's interesting to see the paralells- intentional or not.
Just want to reiterate that a properly fitted corset does not squeeze the organs and is, in my experience, more comfortable than an underwire bra. I recommend dress historian Abby Cox's videos on the subject, especially the one where she and some friends experiment with wearing full historical ensembles (made of cotton and linen) on a hot day and compare it to their experience wearing modern clothes (made of artificial fibers) under the same conditions.
I imagine that would vary a lot depending on body type. Someone closer to the "ideal" wouldn't have to contort their body, while a woman with a larger frame would be socially pressured to. Some people have big rib cages and unsnatched waists and we SHANT allow it!!!
@@Tom_Alfalfa_Male That's where padding comes in. You add padding above and below the waist to make the waist itself appear smaller. The idea that the body itself is the fashion, along with the kind of painful compression that pop culture associates with the Victorian era, wasn't really a thing until the full-length rubber girdles of the 1920s.
@@Tom_Alfalfa_Male It was all about using padding to achieve the desired silhouette, and when there was reduction, it was not done uncomfortably so. Additionally, a body with more fat on it can comfortably be reduced far more than a slender body can, because fat squishes. Also, not all slim women have curves. So the primary reasons slender women did not do reduction was because 1) it was not possible to do comfortably, and 2) it's not necessary, because padding.
It doesn’t squeeze the organs, but does prevent the lungs from fully expanding which can feel like being squeezed and the extra layers of fabric over your torso during a heat wave would feel even more constricting. (I’ve made and worn my own corsets, fitted exactly to my body.)
The major problem with corsets was (and is) very different from what most people think it is. It's not tightlacing, which was rare (although it did happen and still does.) It's that the artificial support drastically weakened all core muscles. The deep muscles of the abdomen were especially badly affected. In fact, you can get into a milder version of the same kind of trouble by wearing corset-style laced back support for too long. I see this a lot, and I've also had it happen to me.
All my life, I've been told my anger is wrong, destructive, and dangerous, and needs to be changed, transformed, suppressed, gotten rid of. Thinking of it as empowering, nurturing, uniting, or sustaining is new to me. Thanks for the thought.
i think anger can be all of those things!
Anger has its moments. ❤
First day of my period and I now have a goal of being a menstruating spinster when I grow up
I hope to be a menstruating spinster too. I hope to scare off misogynistics as well
I think Angela Carter's emphasis on the physical discomfort of the heat is on the right track. According to a book I read ( sorry don't have the title) the house was particularly squalid, especially in the heat, and it was Andrew's fault. Evidently when he bought the house the small room at the head of the back stairs was a bathroom and accessible from Lizzie and Emma's bedrooms. Andrew had the bathroom taken out and the room was made into his dressing room. There was a sort of toilet in the cellar under the kitchen, and a cold water tap over the kitchen sink. The family had chamber pots under their beds. After the door from the senior Bordens' bedroom into Lizzie's room was blocked, Lizzie and Emma had to use the stairs that came out by the front door because they couldn't access the backstairs. Getting up in the morning, going down to the cellar to wash or fetch water, carrying your used chamber pot, you risked running into some visitor coming in the front door, and had to go through the sitting room or dining room with your pottie. They all washed themselves from a bowl of water. There was no bath. Andrew evidently wasn't bothered, but I bet the women smelt at times and knew they smelt. Good knows how they washed their hair. It must have been humiliating.
Along with the other squalor, there was no way to keep food fresh. They ate quite a lot of boiled mutton, with left-overs for breakfast. In the heat it would spoil. On the morning of the murders apparently Brigid Sullivan (the maid) had been unwell and vomiting. This may have been from eating spoiled meat. (Despite her being unwell and the 95 deg heat, Abby Borden ordered Brigid to wash all the downstairs windows.)
The house 'Maplethorpe' that Lizzie bought afterwards had four bathrooms.
Another point about the possibility that Lizzie was menstruating is that the bucket of soaking napkins would be an ideal place to hide any cloth with which Lizzie had cleaned blood off herself.
I think she did it but I don't think she was out of her mind or without motive. Along with the way that Andrew was giving away the sisters' inheritance, and the fact that the way they lived cannot have helped their chances of marriage, the squalor was the final straw.
That's my two bob's worth.
I never heard this. What an interesting added layer!
Let's be real, this is enough reason to do someone in.
@@rosesweetcharlotte I reckon.
I don't know if I think she did, but God knows that is DEFINITELY motive😂
See how I dress properly for the courtroom? Very demure. See how I frame myself as the innocent daughter distraught by the murder of her beloved father? Very cutesy, very mindful.
This is gold standard comedy.
Was looking for this 😂
Lizzie Borden: very demure, very mindful. 🤦♀️
Honestly smart of her and her counsel to play into the misogyny of the times to convince everyone she was innocent
"The heat is terrible, the humidity unendurable and the atmosphere sultriness embodied."
As someone outside in Fall River during the summer right this very moment, can confirm this is all still true
But we do know that the high on that day was 82.
@@icefishcatYes but if the humidity was
Plus add the clothing during the late 1800s it’d be so hot and uncomfortable
I don’t think it’s open anymore - but at one time you could stay in the Borden house overnight. It was a bed and breakfast.
I think it’s still open. The house she moved to afterwards is now a private home…my cousin’s son owns it.
Oh it is still open!
I had stayed there a number of years ago. There was a tour of the house and lots of photos. We were told that in all probability a young man had helped with the murders, a gardener/house boy. Lizzie's excuse was that she was gathering pears from the tree outside which is why she didn't hear what was going on inside. We stayed in Lizzie's bedroom.
Watching this after coming from a video commenting (favorably) about Tim Walz putting tampons in the boys restrooms in Minnesota schools is a smidge surreal. From one era to another in a matter of moments
The Walz stopping the red wave memes have been amusing. Learning he was just bringing Minnesota up to a level as states like Georgia and Alabama already had more progress in was a twist that keeps being left out.
@@kalka1lSouthern cope^^
@@idk-jy6cc That is absolutely the tactic. By banking on their followers to never investigate not only the rationale behind the sanitary product legislation but how it’s not a ‘radical political issue’ when countless other states pass similar access measures.
"A womb can't wander if it's full of baby" sounds like something Dr. Spaceman would say! 😂
Corsets dont have to be tight, and frequently werent. And other than the woolen stockings, the loose cotton and linen wouldnt be too bad. But other than that pretty good
Damn, my window for getting away with murder has closed because of menopause😂
😂😂😂
I'm womb-free because of a hysterectomy
@@SkyeID At least you can't be "tortured" anymore by the "wandering womb" 😬
@@anetakibanaki6350 lol it did indeed torture me with horrible periods, including one that lasted 1 month and 26 days. wtf, uterus? Well, it's gone now, and I am relieved.
So good!! The only thing more delicious than listening to you read us stories is hearing your intriguing elucidations
ooh i need to find more excuses to use the word "elucidations"
@@Tom_Alfalfa_MaleIn the words of ‘Morecambe and Wise’,
Ernie “Let me elucidate”.
Eric “Do it, and you can clean it up yourself”.
Boom! Boom!
I'm on my period and my foot hurts. Womb wandering checks out
Try putting a trail of chocolate syrup from your foot to your abdomen to see if you can lure your womb back where it belongs!
My very favorite author Sir Terry Pratchett (GNU) was well know for channeling his rage into his work; Neil Gaiman said of him "Terry Pratchett isn't jolly. He's angry", not something you woukd expect when you read The Discwolrd Series as at face value it's a funny and absurd book series about a magical world but the critique of social, political, and general state of humanity is bubbling up in clever prose that makes you think about it, and indeed get angry about it, in such a way that you never thought it was that funny little book you read that first planted the idea in your head. And female rage is certainly never to be discredited on the Discworld; Granny Weatherwax's normal state of barely controlled fury gets more done on the Disc than any army could.
Absolutely. I'm currently rereading "Raising Steam", and the righteous anger of the -King- Queen of the Dwarves is magnificent to behold. Everyone best keep clear of her axe, since she's a very capable fighter, *and* the final legal authority to all Dwarves everywhere. Her story arc was, in my opinion, the perfect cap to Sir Terry's writing - the final statement that all people, regardless of their gender or how they choose to present it, deserve equality, simply because we are all people.
As for Granny Weatherwax, apart from completing her narrative, my theory as to why she died in "The Shepherd's Crown" is that Terry knew his time was coming, and knew that she was the best, most competent companion and protector he could have in the desert of black sand.
GNU Terry Pratchett indeed.
I never believed that Borden was guilty, every scrap of evidence against her was VERY circumstantial, and open to many MANY interpretations.
There was literally NO physical evidence to link her to the crime.
That and the fact that the police never even considered another suspect, therefore neglecting the investigation in favour of the EASY answer.
How many people in the last decade were rescued from Death Row for exactly the same reasons?
Forget everything else, the Jury had no choice but to quit because there was far more than simply a "Reasonable Doubt".
The use of The Shining's elevator is an excellent touch
Oh, this is going to be good! I think I'd enjoy hearing Rosie recite from a telephone directory.
i always really enjoy these but i have to say as a graphic designer i really love the backgrounds/set design of this video! the yellow wallpaper was the first video on this channel i stumbled upon and i've been subscribed ever since (:
"The womb and its wanderings have been globally documented [...]" - I'm now imagining a Carmen Sandiego-esque global map caper, with a theme song asking Where in the World is That Lady's Wandering Womb?
Alternately, a world map with a LOT of red string on pins and some baffled-looking men.
your honor, in my defense, i had cramps at the time of the murder
your honor, my uterus was strangling me
Today I learned she was a whole ass adult 💀 I always assumed she was a teenager? The more you know
I legit thought she was a child and was impressed by her axe skills 😅
While i GET that the explanation of the wanderings is meant to exert male power... like HOW does a wholeass organ get a-wandering
There aint that much room!
17:44 oh right the caniculae are days prone to driving folk to rabies
tortoiseshell cat!
'having fleas' is hilarious (flea comment unrelated to cat comment)
Wow, somehow I didn’t know that Angela Carter, one of my favorite writers, had written about Lizzie Borden, one of my favorite historical mysteries! Thank you for this delicious dive into what she had to say and all the implications of the case! ❤
Thanks for your great work and the questions it raises. Female black rage is also powerfully explored in Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin. It asks important questions about who gets to be angry and why through a sci-fi lens.
Those books were some of the most powerful fiction I've ever read in a life of reading everything I can.
Yes, I do have well earned issues with anger, and serious questions as to who gets to "belong" in a society and why, and who makes those determinations and how. We very much need to look at new and different ways to structure a society, because our current model is clearly not working for far too many people.
I see lots of parallels to the public’s opinion on Gypsy Rose after the release of the crime scene photos… although Gypsy has received justice in the eyes of the law, the public (once calling her “queen” and “mother” in praise after her release) turns sour when faced with the visual evidence of female rage.
I think people are salty because their "perfect victim" turned out to be what all humans are; immensely flawed. Also, it is a bit like watching NBK playout in real life.
I don’t know if this is an appropriate parallel cause G. Rose didn’t do it by her own hands. The creepy rapist boyfriend did, the photos are more evidence of his rage.
@@TheEverGrowingRosey-333 she is as blameless as Lady MacBeth in that tale of tragedy… he likely would have done something horrid eventually but she definitely used that existing rage for her own benefit. All the same, her hands are not clean and that damned spot shall never come out fully. G Rose the child is a victim but G Rose the woman became a perpetrator within a cycle of generational trauma and abuse. Like a coin, and all humans, she is dualistic and imperfect. Not a one of us is truly singular in nature or a perfect victim. Just my perspective on the cluster fuck. It’s weird the fan worship of her as some pop culture icon when we remember what made her famous, but also I can empathize with feeling powerless and trapped as a child.
The boyfriend was the one that killed GR's mother. Secondly do people really expect a child that was abused for over 18 years to be anger free and happy? Anger is just as common as sadness or guilt in abuse victims.
My great grandma grew up where Lizzie Borden lived. By then she was an old lady but the neighborhood kids would run with sticks along her fence singing the song “lizzie borden took an ax”
I’d hear a lot of stories growing up about what it was like with her being in the neighborhood
She was known as a hermit and would constantly chase of the children that would terrorize her
Omg how have I never found your channel before? I'm only on the intro still and you're like a Brit Lady on too much caffeine and letting some macabre precariously ooze out.
I'm in love already.
It only sweetens the pot to learn a new take on Lizzie.
Your videos just get better and better. I'm always sitting here absolutely enthralled
This topic is fascinating. I love the way your videos are written and filmed. Learning more about Angela Carter and Shirley Jackson gave me the push to read their work. Thank you!
I usually skip true-crime adjacent stuff, but I'm glad I trusted you with this one. You are an amazing communicator, and I'm finding myself hanging on every word. I love how it's less trying to solve a "mystery" and more talking about the complete mess that was (and is) women's rights, prejudice, and the criminal justice system
Great video as always! Also Little Girl Gone is a really good song, so it's nice to see it referenced for its deeper meaning
Oh, this was as good as I expected! Your writing and presentation is incisive, eloquent and entertaining as always!
Just as I was thinking how natural and at-home you look in Victorian fashion, you stated how uncomfortable it actually is. It made me wonder if I would have viewed you or any other woman any differently if I had lived in the era; if I would have simply accepted it because "that's just how women were supposed to look". Never being a particular fan of hot weather, I must confess that your narration of Angela Carter's description of the oppressive heat and that of what all the restrictive clothing Lizzie would have worn made me distinctively uncomfortable. Bleh.
Thank you for your work!
I love seeing your patron list growing with every video ❤ you deserve to be noticed and appreciated! Another excellent work of literary analysis!
Editing to add 18:50 I love that the description of the layers of Lizzie’s clothing is in reverse order, going from outter to inner garments finishing with the menstrual pad even though it’s discussing her putting them on in the morning. Undressing her as opposed to her being dressed. Love little inversions like that, adds to the discomfort and unease of the scene.
Asking for, um reasons, but how do I convince my womb to wander its way off a high pier at low tide? 😅
But more sincerely, listening to that list of old timey remedies for PMS makes me mildly less infuriated by my own body's monthly mutinous actions. Oh and does bleeding make one weak or terrifying? Do the AMAB mascs mistrust us who bleed without death, or do they fear what is undeniably a display of anatomical power? I mean if I was being confronted by something/someone that seemed to survive the impossible it would not be a lack of trust consuming my mind. It would be a staggering sense of both fear and bewilderment. *mic drop*
I’m sorry, I’m at the Wandering Womb bit and I’m just…wow 😂😂😂😂 science has come so far 😅😂
You are truly so engaging. You could make a video just reading off a shopping list and still have me glued to the screen
I always thought Lizzie Borden was a tween because everyone calls her Lizzie. It feels innately infantilizing now.
That was just how nicknames were back then. Lots of cultures, Russian comes to mind, find it insulting or just plain weird for people you know to call you by your real first name. Unless you’re a complete stranger, or government official, don’t call someone by their full first name. Promotion to acquaintance comes with a new title. haha
It didn’t even fall out of practice that long ago! Lots of old men still go by Randy, Rusty, Billy, Bobby, etc. I doubt they feel infantilized.
Donny Osmond is still proud of his name. He never changed it to “Donald” even during his “bad boy” rebrand phase in the 80’s. 😅
At some point, your “kiddie” nickname just becomes your name. It’s what everyone knows you as and you respond. It’s not that deep.
lizzie was actually her legal name, not elizabeth or anything it could be a nickname for. i agree, the fact that she was named that definitely adds to the infantilisation.
Why has the algorithm only just shown your channel to me? Loving it already.
20:37 starting here and ending at 21:00 , reminds me, as the culmination of the section about the oppressive heat, the Twilight Zone episode (no, not Midnight Sun, although that works too) where a researcher? insurance agent? is visiting a very hot tenament on a heat wave breaking day. The man warns the lady of the house that the kind of heat she is experiencing can lead to all kinds of trouble...and as the day ends, her husband comes home, they start arguing...and he grabs his small hand axe. Fade to black (and this might be Alfred Hitchcock or Outer Limits, don't remember). It's been long known that the heat will drive you crazy!
Love this video so far... Funny though. In the tv movie starring Elizabeth Montgomery, I don't remember a word about the bloody rags or the menstruation...maybe it just blew past me, it's been 40 or 50 years since the show.
I remember that one. It did mention the "fleas" and indirectly explain what it was a euphemism for, but, if I recall correctly, it really was glossed over quickly.
@@fabrisseterbrugghe8567 thanks, likely why I didn't get it.
I'm related to lizzy! Her family to this days stands by her innocence.... they uh... never spoke of the menstrual stuff
As I understood the Lucy Worsely documentary, Lizzy started living with her lady-friend possibly as a lesbian... As the social norms stood, I can immagine the people thought a lady could nog commit crimes, but a lesbian surely could...
I was so excited to see a new video when I got home today, and I'm enjoying it thoroughly!
How did you get Lucy Worsley to narrate???!??!! AMAZING!! 🤩😍 there's a few other voices I recognized, but am unable to pinpoint!🤔
Great video (as per usual) !
💚
I believe the audio is taken from Lucy Worsley's podcast episode about Lizzie Borden.
As a woman adjacent being in possession of a uterus I can confirm it makes me homicidal (or murdery the kids say) it also coincidentally grants me the ability cast spells and summon mainly cats but also newt, frogs, toads and spiders, the moon calls to me.
I love your deeply objective view on these things. There's a lot of discourse about true crime media and how the people discussed within should be treated and respected by consumers, but aside from that, applying narrativity to real, actual individuals to suit whichever satisfying story one wants to (sub-)consciously tell is dangerous - and - bad for analysis.
I think you did a great job being cautious as well as laying out all the facts here! Your set and writing are wonderful, too!
Another great song is 'RAGE' by Samantha Margret
This was absolutely fascinating. I definitely want to read that short story and see that movie-AND read Audre Lord! ❤
ur videos always blow me away u gotta be my fave TH-camr !! keep it up
I never even heard of the menstruation part of the case.
I focus my rage more often than not, on finding the solutions. Conflict does nothing in the long run, but soothe the ego. So I soothe my ego by learning more.
I heard that since the bodies were in different rooms with very different temperatures, the two murders could have been committed far closer together than 90 minutes.
she IS the original OJ for me. I think her very real marginalization combined with her wealth and status and public spectacle put just enough doubt to get acquitted, if she did it that is.
Black mens brutalization under the corrupt LAPD was all TOO real both then and now. but OJ's lawyers cleverly spun that horrific reality to work in his favor and instill genuine doubt and guilt in the jury that an innocent man was being framed. Women were subjugated and dehumanized for their anatomy, but Lizzie's lawyers cleverly spun that legitimate societal evil to work in Lizzie's favor instead. All this because unlike most of their demographic there was money and power behind them. just a strange and unnerving twist of tables that feels parallel to me
I swear the deep state of depression i get into each month is awful. It’s like I’m constantly frustrated and ready to cry. It last forever. Sometimes it doesn’t seem i get that “one week of normalcy” we’re promised lol
Unsolicited unprofessional medical advice- I take St. John's wort a couple days a month when the depression comes on. It's sold in grocery stores as a supplement. Don't take it if you have a prescription that might interfere because it is legitimately effective.
PMDD, perhaps? It may be worth a look. I have a couple friends with this condition and knowing it had a name and treatment plan was a life-changer for them.
"Womb wandering" sounds a lot like PMDD.
The Overlook Hotel is now canonically female. 😆
not this video popping up on my feed while im on my period 💀
It's quite funny to hear what men of the past, and currently, think that Women are dangerous during their menstrual period knowing now that our Testosterone is highest during that time. We are as mean and irrational during our periods as men are every day.
Buttress' Brutus might be right up your alley if you haven't already heard her music. She put out some great tracks, but Brutus is especially poignant.
I love that song a lot but she’s a huge huge transphobe, just in case you weren’t aware!
Another lovely essay ❤ thank you 😊
Just found you, and love your take on this.
Loved watching this while menstruating! Amazing video as always Rosie
i've watched, read, and listened to a few borden re-tellings and this is the first time i've heard there was a blood bucket. lmao
I love the way you explain things, and the mention of a racial disparity in what is celebrated as female rage. I’m officially a new sub lol
Your content is fantastic, thank you for the effort, research, and passion you put in to it all
When I ever have my period and someone asks if I feel okay, I'll tell them my womb is wandering
😂
Your content is amazing, as always! I have to ask-how do you get your video quality to look so good? I honestly thought it was done by a TV station at first!
A properly fitted corset as worn by almost everyone during this time does NOT compress your organs. They are surprisingly comfortable. Very, very few women used tight lacing, which does compress your organs. I also take issue that Lizzie Borden would have been wearing wool stockings. At the very least, she would have been wearing cotton stockings. But, as she was rich, she probably would have been wearing silk stockings.
22:02 “Andrew Borden was notoriously tight-fisted” and earlier in the video it’s mentioned that he kept his daughters on allowance that was around a factory worker’s salary.
@@elizabethtangora4353 But later in the story Carter says his father indulged her.
Well Angela Carter wrote the story in the 1980s before fashion TH-camrs. All she had for resources were historical documents and first hand accounts from the times so maybe we can forgive her.
@@Snowfoxie1 Fair point.
I'm sorry, I feel the need to raise my voice, but ARE YOU F*CKING KIDDING ME? I suppose I'm not surprised that men invented the idea of PMS, but I get it really badly every month (yes, TMI, I know), and I have heard that, in cultures where it's not considered a problem, well, it's less of a problem for people who go through it. Social support much, eh? Like, I practically have to cut myself off from human contact for a week out of every month, and I sh*t you not, my WOMAN DOCTORE basically said, "Are you homicidal? No? Suicidal? No? Then it's not an issue." I mean both "my doctor who is a woman," and "my doctor who addresses, ahem, woman issues." Same caveats apply as were given in the video, eh: I recognize that not everyone who menstruates is a woman, and not everyone who does not menstruate isn't a woman. I do wonder what it's like not to have to deal with this sh*t, though.
Not sure if i'm reading your comment correctly but I think I agree lol. I'm the same with pms and to women that don't go through it, it does read like misogyny. I'm a different person when I have pms, if pushed I probably would attack someone/gen
I used to get *terrible* PMS that made life unbearable for me and everybody around me. Insult was added to injury when I could only have this taken seriously when I came at this complaint from the perspective of a nonbinary person who was experiencing awful dysphoria from my periods and PMS. Then I could get period surpressing contraception no problem. But when I was still living as a woman? No dice. Someone please explain this to me in a way that isn't flat out misogynist.
I thankfully don't have intense hormonal mood effects the way some poor gals do, but I do get 2-3 nights of insomnia and that alone is enough to lower my BS tolerance. I really think a lot of the "oh she's crazy/hysterical because she's on her period" is because we just don't have the energy to put up with the crap we do the other 3 weeks of the month 😒
Excellent as always.
If half of all crimes in the US go unsolved, how can we evaluate crime statistics?
25:18 unfortunately, often when a woman is in such a humiliating state but with relative power (wife of a rich man) she may take it out on other women, children and staff in her life. as a woman i've been lucky enough to not be harmed or exploited by men but have had horrific experiences with a handful of women who had direct control over me. sometimes the abuse of men is removed by a degree or two
I had a headache before watching this, the video helped me get my womb out of my skull 😂
Oh this is such an awesome video!!!
Also, I've heard another very interesting theory surrounding this discourse: same caveats as before, but I'm just going to use "men" and "women" in their cis-not-necessarily-het sense, okay? But the theory goes that guys did this to us because they are AFRAID of us. It's the reason why among the most ancient religions on Earth, you had Mother Goddess worship (see not just Mother Earth Herself, of course, but also the goddess Ishtar in Mesopotamian mythology, Isis in Egyptian, Amaterasu in Shinto/Japanese tradition, Maa Kali in Hinduism--She's a total badass, by the way--so on), but, as people began to settle down, and defend the land on which they farmed, appeasing the Sky Father became the thing to do, because no farmer wants drought, and also does not want flooding, so the sky gods, who were and still ARE traditionally male, took over the vast majority of pantheons. But one of the key things here, too, is the DEFENSE of the land, and men were also, usually, the warriors of any given group, just like nowadays. Now, what happens to a guy when he's cut by a sword, especially before modern medicine? Well, he often dies, now doesn't he? Dies from infection and/or blood loss. But the warriors look at us and go, "Wait, she bleeds heavily every month, regular as the moon goes in her cycles, but she doesn't die? MAGIC!!!!!!!!!" In other words, this is a very ancient fear, but post-Goddess-worship ancient, so...3000-ish BCE and onward. Not as much here in North America, surprisingly, because, while there were Nations who settled down, of course, a lot of them somehow stayed matriarchal, PROBABLY because of the life-giver aspect. Not all of them, mind: the Seminoles are patriarchal, for example.
You make such great content!
As far as the actual murders there were apparently two other people in the house (Lizzie and their maid), besides the victims, neither of whom claim to have seen or heard anything.
A Private Disgrace: Lizzie Borden by Daylight by Victoria Lincoln - ~Winner of the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best Fact True Crime Novel of the Year, 1967
Great mention of a really terrific book. It has so much information that can’t be found elsewhere. I’ve read it. Definitely the best book written on the subject by far. I don’t agree with the author’s conclusion about epilepsy contributing to the murders-Lizzie had plenty of provocation without that.
The summer heat was badly exaggerated. It was in the low to mid 80s. Probably stuffy and uncomfortable at worst, but hardly likely to drive a person to a homicidal rage. Lizzie had had 2 comfortable front buttoning blue dresses made of light fabric made in the spring to wear in the summer. She had more than enough time on clean herself up thoroughly after killing her stepmother. Less time after killing her father, but that can still be explained by covering her hair with a kerchief and quickly changing afterwards, washing her hands and face and hiding a bloodied dress under a clean one on a hanger in her closet. Any dampness of her hair, even to the extent of being a little wet would dry very, very quickly in the warmth of the day, perhaps in as little as 10 minutes. I know because my method of avoiding heatstroke while distance running for years was to get soaking wet, hair included . It would be dry looking after 10 minutes, completely dry in 15-20.
@@gloriamontgomery6900 I like the notion that she grabbed her father's coat hanging in the hall and after stuffed it under his head where it was found, also the garment covering a garment in the closet theory. I too found the epilepsy problematic and likely not the correct diagnosis (though popular at the time). but I come from a family of five girls and none of us were wholly sane. I myself tend to black out traumatic occurrences and have to piece together what happened later. Thank goodness rage has not been an issue, I do very much like this take on the subject. _ Thank You!.
MOUSY THE MALEVOLENT IS SUCH A CAT NAME
Mouse would have gotten away with it. She’d have never even been accused!
PHENOMENAL video ma'am!
With the heat, clothing, and cycle I'd have collapsed. Who would have the energy to axe murder 2 people in those circumstances? I think I'd be too dizzy to climb the stairs quickly.
This is a FAVORITE!
I see Angela Carter, I click
How are any of us still alive? Only the strong survived.
I've watched documentaries of the inside of this house & was 😮. What a strange house.
Getting away with murder because “I was on my period at the time” is honestly such a flex
What is the classical piece that starts playing around 28:13?
To this day I say I “have fleas” when I’m on my period.
Guarantee you there were midwives LAUGHING THEIR ASSES OFF AT "wandering womb" although it can be responsible for evil feelings😂 it does not wander😂❤ great post🤗🥰
I wouldn't be surprised if periods did give homicidal tendencies because of the *** PAIN and and being forced to go through life as usual because who cares if you can barely stand, "it's perfectly normal to be in pain during your periods so just deal with it".
I like discussing menstruation with everyone - either to horrify or to educate. The best is when you can manage both 🤪
Pausing at 18:35 to suggest that you watch a few videos by dress historians and historical re-enactors on 19th Century women's clothes. While a few women engaged in what was called "tight lacing", most simply tightened their corsets only enough to support their breasts. Also, women who've worn Victorian clothing in the heat have remarked they're not as stifling as you'd think.
th-cam.com/video/0wHTgi51z6I/w-d-xo.html
I doubt it was comfortable in an extreme heat wave, but no one was comfortable in these circumstances in the days before air conditioning. Not hatin', just sayin'.
Also, according to Sarah Miller's book 'The Borden Murders: Lizzie Borden and the Trial of the Century', the extreme heat wave had broken by August 4, 1982. I mean, it was still August, but the temperatures IIRC had subsided to the seasonal norm.
Great video! And finally, because this is a pet peeve of mine, a historically-inclined TH-camr who admits corsets aren't some super comfortable miracle of dressmaking. I've had it with the corset girlies.
Tbh I have seen a number of corset defenses and I've never gotten that message, it's always "they aren't worse than bras"
Most of the corset defenses I've seen boil down to "they were the most amazing garment ever created and they were women's best friend and it was all the mean men who did away with them because they were mean", rather than an acknowledgement that if you need to balance breathing and eating space, plus a wrong size can lead to ribcage damage, that's way worse than a modern bra.
It seems as though corset defenses focus on them being "women's", thus meaning they are above criticism, because women liked wearing them and no woman has ever worn uncomfortable or harmful clothing or accessories because of aesthetics ever.
@@djcherry3827 I have seen nothing like that ever, I have only seen ones from like Abby Cox and Bernadette Banner and their ilk tho, who definitely mention that food takes up space in the torso and injuries are possible, but also say they aren't MORE UNCOMFORTABLE than bras when properly fitted, and have SOME benefits compared to bras. I could see an unsympathetic watcher interpreting them as saying "they're the best thing ever, there are no problems, and people only ever say bad things about them because they hate women", but I think it would be unwarranted.
@@popejaimie I have definitely seen people saying they are "superior to" bras, and the consensus among the costube community seems to be "wElL tHe rEaL emPoWerMenT iS A cOrSeT". The emphasis is always on how they're so comfortable and breathable and great, and sure there were *some* women who did indeed disliked them and pushed for dress reform, but those people were simply wrong!
I'm presenting a fairly negative picture of corset defenders here, but that's simply because every discussion about historical clothing seems to be overrun by the corset girlies later and it's getting annoying. We get it. You think actresses are out to ruin your beloved historical accuracy by speaking abou the uncomfortable experiences they had with costumes. Go back to tightlacing.
@@djcherry3827 ok I absolutely disagree with your characterization, particularly the part where these costubers say the women who complained were wrong, but I don't really see where we can go from here so I guess I'll agree to disagree
And don't act like it's not warranted to critique actresses complaining about corsets when we know damn well the actresses did not get properly fitted corsets. Acting like that's a valid complaint is pure misinformation.
thank you!!!!!
How interesting watching this video while on my period 😅😅