S1 E21. Woman and Gendered Emotions: Pragya Agarwal, Hysterical

The Story of Woman

In this episode, I talk with Pragya Agarwal about her book, Hysterical: Exploding the myth of gendered emotions.

The experience of emotions is universally human, but our ability to display and act on them is heavily gendered. Despite improvements in societal equality, women are still often labelled ‘hysterical’, ‘bossy’ or emotional’. Pragya examines the impact this has on women - and men - including the role it has played in the subjugation of women throughout history, and how a future where emotions are ungendered might look.

Some topics of discussion include:

1. Where the myth of gendered emotions comes from
2. Witches… a prime example of emotional norm enforcement
3. The psychological toll moderating emotions - and emotional labour - takes
4. How these myths undermine women in politics, healthcare, jury trials and more
5. Pragya’s vision of an emotional utopia, and how we can get there

And more!

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Transcription is available here

Become a Patreon for access to the bonus interview with Pragya - hear her talk about the importance of language and the future of emotional technologies.

Vocal Fries: The podcast about linguistic discrimination

Episodes mentioned in intro:

• Maintenance Baes - how not to be an asshole to fat people
• The Duct Tape of Language - bimbos, vocal fries, and the word “like”
• Bulls, apes, bats and chicken - the history of swearing

Mentioned in the episode:

• Sorrow and Bliss - Mag Mason
• A Horse by Night - Amina Cain
• The Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams

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