Stuff Mom Never Told You

A century ago, lunch ladies were on the front lines of giving kids the nutrition they needed. Today, many are rewarded with poverty-level wages. Cristen and Caroline trace lunch ladies' history in the nutrition, labor and Civil Rights movements. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Custodians keep our schools, work places and public spaces clean, but they're often treated downright dirty. Cristen and Caroline cover the distinct gendering of janitorial work, why it's harder on women and how janitors organized for justice. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ronald Reagan made "welfare queens" a household epithet during his unsuccessful 1976 presidential campaign. Considering the 20th anniversary of so-called welfare reform, Cristen and Caroline examine the deeper origins and implications of the racist, classist welfare queen stereotype as well as the surprising history of how welfare was originally for white ladies. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cristen and Caroline trace why heroin is more popular among suburban, white women than ever before. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Women work nearly half of all ad jobs, but the industry remains rife with sexism. Cristen and Caroline spotlight the discrimination, harassment and culture that continue to complicate the ad business' relationship with women and people of color. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the early advertising industry, career-minded white women were copywriters, department heads and even agency owners. But their very mission of selling products to women helped erect the industry's glass ceiling. Cristen and Caroline talk trailblazers, monetizing femininity and the whiteness of early ad industry in part one of Mad Women. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The associations between unicorns and all things feminine is nothing new, but where did it come from? Cristen and Caroline dive into unicorns' history as goddesses' pets, symbols for Christ and the stars of Lisa Frank trapper keepers. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lisa Frank is a real person, and she has a stable of sad unicorns and wilted rainbows hidden away in her closet. Cristen and Caroline explore Lisa Frank's rise to girlhood fame and descent into corporate chaos. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Studies have found that breasts have a significant impact of if and how girls and women exercise. Cristen and Caroline work out how breast variety, bounce embarrassment and sports bra technology impact female fitness. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Breast ptosis -- the fancy name for sag -- has way more to do with aging and genetics than gravitiy. Cristen and Caroline explore what's "normal" in in the boob realm to get to the bottom of how and why boob sag happens. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.