The Lex Juliae: How Augustus Brought Women to Heel

Ancient History Fangirl

History, Society & Culture

4.5 • 518 Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2026

⏱️ 95 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

⁠⁠⁠⁠Help keep our podcast going by contributing to our Patreon! You may have noticed that MAGA (Republicans in general, really) are weird about women. That weirdness is ancient. It goes all the way back to ancient Rome, all the way back to ancient Greece, and all the way back to the beginning of the city-state, when gender-based oppression was built into the foundations of the polis. Augustus was similarly weird about women, and so were (and are) many fascist leaders from more modern times. Augustus enacted laws called the Lex Juliae two thousand years ago, as part of his project to dismantle democracy and install an authoritarian state with himself at the head. Join us as we deconstruct those laws, compare them to Project 2025 and 2026, and try to figure out why oppression of women is so important to fascism. Sponsors and Advertising This podcast is a member of Airwave Media podcast network. Want to advertise on our show? Please direct advertising inquiries to advertising@airwavemedia.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.
0:07.0	This episode is brought to you by our Patreon members. Thank you so much.
0:12.0	Join our Patreon for extra episodes, interviews, extra content, and to help support the podcast and help us continue to do the work we do.
0:19.7	Go to patreon.com slash ancient history fangirl to learn more.
0:25.1	I want more babies in the United States of America.
0:43.3	I want more babies. I'm Jenny Williamson.
0:44.9	And I'm Jen McMenemy.
0:47.4	And this is Ancient History fan girl.
0:52.1	So, Jen, have you noticed that MAGA is weird about women?
0:57.9	They cannot be normal about women. When you say MAGA, do you mean the esteemed Make America Great Movement? That's indeed what I mean. Do I think they have a problem with women?
1:06.9	Hmm. Yes, yes. I'm checking the hell yes box.
1:13.8	Maga cannot be normal about women. Even the women in Maga cannot be normal about women.
1:19.0	Maga is so fucking weird about women. There's a historical reason for that, Jen.
1:24.9	Are you telling me there's a precedent maybe somewhere in ancient history that
1:27.9	loosely ties back to this podcast? Please go on. What if I told you that the baggage Maga has with women
1:33.8	goes all the way back to ancient Rome, all the way back to ancient Greece, and all the way back to
1:38.5	the foundations of Western civilization itself? Would you be surprised? Uh, we've been running this podcast for a long time,
1:46.5	so no, that would not surprise me. What if I told you that there's specific weirdness about
1:52.6	women and gender is ancient and it's a symptom of fascism? And what if I told you that
1:57.5	Augustus was very similarly weird about women? Would that shock you in any way at all?
2:03.2	The only thing that could shock me is if we could definitively prove that they both had micropenuses,
2:07.5	and then I might have a theory. I am not drinking enough yet to talk about that.
	...

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