(If you are here to find the timestamp to skip over the definitions section, skip from 6.20 to 9.54.)
Some historical figures are riddles wrapped in enigmas wrapped in a vest, with a great manicure. Roberta Cowell is one of them. Raised as a boy, Roberta Cowell was a racing car driver, nearly an accidental assassin, and a World War II fighter pilot and a race car driver again before realising she was a transgender woman. Thus began her next grand plan to have her true sex (her words) realised, and her body match her mind.
Thanks to Erin for providing the voice of Roberta Cowell. Erin is a transgender actress, musician and historian based in Victoria. Thanks also to Ben MacEllen for providing the voice of Michael Dillon. Ben is a transgender actor and LGBTIQA+ activist based in Victoria and his website is benmacellen.com.
This podcast contains discussion of intersexuality, transgender issues, transphobia, gender reassignment surgery, outdated language with regards to transgender and intersex people, brief cruelty to animals, facial injuries, surgery and medical experimentation, war injuries, Nazi atrocities, cruelty to prisoners of war, war rape, attempted sexual assault, and some bad language.
We have elected to use male pronouns for Roberta before she began her transition, as she herself did in her autobiography. Discussion of Roberta after she began her transition will then use female pronouns. In the same vein, we use female pronouns for Michael Dillon before he began his transition, and male pronouns thereafter. We have however avoided using their deadnames.
All efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information presented in this podcast however with the nature of historical research, there may be mistakes or inconsistencies. The fallible nature of human memory must also be considered and is a point of discussion in this episode. Nicola also misstated the year Roberta and her wife divorced, and it was in actuality, 1952. Wales is also part of the UK, she meant to say "Welsh people moved across the border to England." Should Wales be part of the UK? That's a question for another time.
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For more information on the podcast, go to womenofwarpod.com or follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @womenofwarpod for updates, sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes shenanigans.
Donate to Minus18, an Aussie charity that seeks to educate, empower and support queer youth, here: https://www.minus18.org.au/
Check out Intersex Australia, another Aussie charity that aims to empower intersex individuals and educate endosex individuals. Find them here: https://ihra.org.au/
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For more information on Michael Dillon check out The First Man Made Man by Pagan Kennedy, just not from Amazon if you can. For more information on Dr Harold Gillies, read his Wikipedia page - and there’s a lot about him in Kennedy’s book also. For more information on Roberta Cowell, start with her autobiography, Roberta Cowell’s Story. For more information about LGBTQ+ people and their experience of serving in the military, check out Serving in Silence by Noah Riseman, Shirleene Robinson, and Graham Willett.
Intro and Outro Music: Frosty Forest by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
S3E8: The Brawling, Boisterous, Scottish Wench — Agnes Randolph and the Siege of Dunbar
S3E7: 12 Nuns, 68.3 metres and 93 penises-The women of the Bayeux Tapestry and the Battle of Hastings
S3E6: Get Up, Stand Up, and Deliver — Truganini, the NOT last Indigenous Tasmanian
S3E5: She’d Probably Hate Her Great-Great Nephew–Dame Mary Gilmore, the Pinko on the Blue Note.
S3E4: The Amiable Madwoman - Doña Manuela Sáenz + the Fight for Spanish American Independence
S3E3: The Woman in the High Castle–Veleda, Seeress of the Bructeri
S3E2: Daughters of Artemis? - The Naval Queens Artemisia I & II of Caria
S3 E1: The Mother in Exile–Alexandra Sokolovskaya, the Creator of the Soviet Union
Bonus: Irish Pirate Queen Chieftain Rebel - Grainne O’Malley and Her Fight for Freedom [Re-Recorded]
Season Three Trailer
S2E9: The War-Wrecked Generation & Anna Coleman Ladd: Copper Masks and Newspaper Dating after The First World War
S2E8 Part 2: No Thought of Glory - Clara Barton and the end of the American Civil War
S2E8: Death, Danger, and Nursing - Clara Barton in the American Civil War, Part 1
S2E7: Fame at any price: The horrifying indifference of Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl
S2E6: A Family Affair: Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian Revolution, and the Iran-Iraq War.
S2E5: A Banana Skirt and a Gold Piano - How Josephine Baker Seduced Secrets from the Nazis
S2E4: The Last Empress of Russia - Saint Alexandra the Passion Bearer
S2E3: A Most Famous Feminine Sea Captain - Gráinne O’Malley, Irish Pirate, Rebel, Chieftain
S2E2 Pt 1: Planes, Trans and Automobiles - Roberta Cowell
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