Women of Controversy: Julia Pastrana

Womanica

Acast Creative Studios

History, Society & Culture, Education

4.3 • 920 Ratings

🗓️ 18 November 2024

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Julia Pastrana (1834-1859) was a 19th century performer often referred to as the “Ape Woman.” She was born with hypertrichosis and gingival hyperplasia, and her physical appearance led her to become a popular attraction at circuses. The dehumanizing language used to promote her act encapsulates the racism and pseudoscience that defined the era of “freak shows.”

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This month we're talking about women who found themselves at the center of controversy -- whether deserved or not.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Before there was internet fraud and phone scams, there were always swindlers.
0:05.4	Female swindlers too.
0:07.4	Discover the stories of women from the past who not only survived, but thrived as con-artists and thieves.
0:16.6	How did they use their feminine characteristics to swindle in a world where men made the rules?
0:23.6	Join me, Lucy Worsley, historian and author, and my all-female team in ladies swindlers, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:36.6	Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica. This month we're talking about women who found themselves at the center of controversy, whether deserved or not.
0:47.6	In February of 2013, mourners gathered at a cemetery in Sinaloa de Lava, Mexico.
0:56.1	A band played traditional music.
1:01.0	Onlookers watched a white coffin adorned with roses be slowly lowered into the earth.
1:04.9	To an outsider, the event might have looked like a typical funeral.
1:10.5	But the woman being laid to rest died more than a century and a half before her burial.
1:17.8	In the mid-19th century, Julia Pastrana was a popular circus performer, singing and dancing for crowds across America and Europe. But in spite of her talents, Julia's fame was mostly
1:23.5	based on people's belief that she was fundamentally different from them. It was the era of circus freak shows, and Julia, for better or worse, represented a major attraction.
1:34.3	Not much is known about Julia's early life. She was born to an indigenous Mexican tribe in August of 1834 in Sinaloa, Mexico. From birth, Julia had hypertricosis,
1:47.4	sometimes known as werewolf syndrome, a condition that causes excess hair to grow all over a person's
1:53.0	body. She was also born with gingerful hyperplasia, leading to enlarged gums and lips.
2:00.2	These two conditions meant Julia looked very different from other young girls,
2:04.7	a difference that defined how she was treated throughout her life.
2:08.9	Julia's mother died when Julia was still a child.
2:11.8	It's not exactly clear what happened to Julia in the subsequent years,
2:15.6	but we do know that she eventually fell into the custody of then
2:18.5	governor of Mexico Pedro Sanchez. He used Julia as a live-in maid and as a source of
	...

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