The ‘Three Marias’

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2024

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In May 1974, people gathered in Lisbon, Portugal, to see whether three women would be sent to jail for writing a book.

Maria Teresa Horta, Maria Velho da Costa and Maria Isabel Barreno’s ‘Novas Cartas Portuguesas’ was banned after it was published and they were put on trial.

The case of the ‘Three Marias’ became famous around the world. Laura Jones listens to an archive interview of Maria Teresa Horta, who is now 87.

Archive audio is courtesy of Tommaso Barsali and Riccardo Bargellini, at Valigie Rosse from 2018.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Women in Los Angeles, USA protesting about the 'Three Marias' being on trial in Portugal. Credit: Los Angeles Times/Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast, but this is about something else you might enjoy.
0:05.4	My name's Katie Lecky and I'm an assistant commissioner for on demand music on BBC Sounds.
0:10.7	The BBC has an incredible musical heritage and culture and as a music lover, I love being part of that.
0:17.4	With music on sounds, we offer collections and mixes for everything, from workouts to
0:22.4	helping you nod off, boogie in your kitchen, or even just a moment of calm. And they're all
0:28.1	put together by people who know their stuff. So if you want some expertly curated music in your life,
0:34.9	check out BBC Sounds.
0:46.3	Hello, this is the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Laura Jones.
0:55.3	For this moment in history, I'm taking you back more than 50 years to the heart of Portugal's capital city Lisbon. On the 7th of May, 1974, when people gathered to see whether three women would be
1:02.0	sent to jail for writing a book. This is the story of the three Marias.
1:16.1	It was time in Portugal for women to have a say about sexuality.
1:22.0	Women's sexuality was attributed to the husband, to the man with whom they lived.
1:26.0	If the man prefers such and such, so would she.
1:31.0	This was such a suffocating thing I used to talk about with women.
1:37.2	This is Maria Theresa Oter, a Portuguese feminist poet, journalist and activist.
1:47.0	I was born in a country that wanted freedom, a terrible country, a country of police, a country of cruelty,
1:54.5	a country of imprisonment and torture. And I found myself at a very early age saying, it's not possible. The authoritarian dictatorship of the Estadu Novo, or New State, was in power,
2:02.6	with Prime Minister Antonio de Oliveira Silazar in charge.
2:07.7	Maria Theresa's country was one where women's rights were few.
2:11.6	She needed an outlet for her frustrations, and that was poetry.
2:16.0	Her first book came out in 1960. In my own way, I'm a very insubordinate person.
2:24.6	To me, poetry is freedom and what I value most in my life is freedom. It is adventure. It is the
	...

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