wildly curious
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

90s Bitch

Collage of famous women from the 1990s.
AllisonYarrow.com

Journalist Allison Yarrow says in the 90s a woman reaching for power or just in the public eye was often labeled a "bitch." And that word became a weapon used to hold women back.

RadioWest divider.

Journalist Allison Yarrow says that while lots of women made headlines in 1990s - think Anita Hill, Hillary Clinton, and Monica Lewinsky - the story was basically that they were bitches. Yarrow says reaching for power or just being in the public eye meant being objectified and maligned in the new 24-hour news cycle. And the word bitch came to be a weapon used to hold women back. Monday, Yarrow joins us to talk about how this “bitchification” happened and what it means for women today.

Allison Yarrow is a journalist and the author of 90s Bitch: Media, Culture, and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality [Indie bookstore|Amazon|Audible]

Doug Fabrizio has been reporting for KUER News since 1987, and became News Director in 1993. In 2001, he became host and executive producer of KUER's RadioWest, a one hour conversation/call-in show on KUER 90.1 in Salt Lake City. He has gained a reputation for his thoughtful style. He has interviewed everyone from Isabel Allende to the Dalai Lama, and from Madeleine Albright to Desmond Tutu. His interview skills landed him a spot as a guest host of the national NPR program, "Talk of the Nation." He has won numerous awards for his reporting and for his work with RadioWest and KUED's Utah NOW from such organizations as the Society of Professional Journalists, the Utah Broadcasters Association, the Public Radio News Directors Association and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Related Content
  • Great girdle of Aphrodite! Friday, historian Jill Lepore joins Doug to tell the story of Wonder Woman, who she calls the “missing link” in the women’s…
  • When suffragist Victoria Woodhull set her sights on the White House in 1872, women didn’t have the right to vote. She was the first woman to run for…
  • Feminism once had a bad reputation, but these days, it’s the “in” thing. Social media is full of “girl power” messages by celebrities and advertisers. And…