Revisiting the Virgin Mary - with mythographer Marina Warner
Breaking Down Patriarchy
Amy McPhie Allebest
4.9 • 654 Ratings
🗓️ 29 July 2025
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Amy is joined by Dr. Marina Warner to revisit her book, Alone of All Her Sex, getting expert insight into the history of the Virgin Mary, her evolution and multitude of meanings, unrealistic religious standards, and what it takes for a woman to become a myth.
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Marina Warner is an English historian, mythographer, art critic, novelist and short story writer. She is best known for her many award-winning non-fiction books relating to feminism and myth. She has written for many publications, including The London Review of Books, the Sunday Times, and Vogue. She is also a Professor of English and Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London. In 2017, she was elected president of the Royal Society of Literature, the first time the role has been held by a woman since the founding of the Royal Society of Literature in 1820. She is also a Distinguished Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Breaking Down Patriarchy. I'm Amy McPhee, All the Best. Today we're going to discuss a figure who, |
| 0:07.7 | according to the writer Marina Warner, represents a central theme in the history of Western attitudes |
| 0:13.6 | to women. She is one of the few female figures to have attained the status of myth, |
| 0:19.9 | a myth that for nearly 2,000 years has coursed |
| 0:23.1 | through our culture as spirited and often as imperceptible as an underground stream. |
| 0:30.4 | Who might this figure be? So influential on our culture, but often invisible. Why, it's the Virgin Mary, |
| 0:37.4 | of course. She is a figure who |
| 0:39.7 | inspires great faith, yet embodies countless contradictions. She's a sacred female figure |
| 0:46.5 | created by men. She's venerated for being a mother, and also for being a virgin. She's an ancient icon that's withstood the centuries, |
| 0:56.7 | but her myth and meaning has shifted constantly through the course of time. All of this is why, |
| 1:02.7 | as long-time listeners will know, we've actually discussed the Virgin Mary before way back in |
| 1:07.3 | episode four of our very first season. The only subject we discussed before her was the |
| 1:12.1 | creation of patriarchy itself. And the reason for giving the Virgin Mary such a foundational |
| 1:17.5 | spot in our podcast is because of the foundational spot that the myth and the cult of the Virgin |
| 1:23.2 | Mary occupy in our culture, in our faith traditions, and in our gender politics. The Virgin Mary |
| 1:29.9 | remains a critical figure in the way our world considers women. And somewhat surprisingly, |
| 1:35.0 | her influence only seems to have grown over time. So today, I am excited to revisit the book |
| 1:40.8 | that we discussed in season one, alone of all her sex, the myth and the cult of the |
| 1:45.7 | Virgin Mary. But this time I'll be discussing the book with the author Dame Marina Warner. Welcome, Marina. |
| 1:52.0 | Hello. Very nice of you to invite me. I'm so, so honored and really excited to chat with you. |
| 1:58.1 | This is a topic that I have thought so much about and I learned so much from your book. So I'm very excited to chat with you. This is a topic that I have thought so much about and I learned |
| 2:01.8 | so much from your book. So I'm very excited to dig in. But first, I'll read your professional |
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