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The VICE Guide to Right Now Podcast

The Black Female Inventor Who Revolutionized Menstrual Pads

We talk about Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner, the forgotten inventor who helped make periods a little more tolerable for women, on 'The VICE Guide to Right Now Podcast.'
Illustration via Broadly courtesy of Forgotten Women: The Scientists

On The VICE Guide to Right Now, VICE's daily podcast, we delve into the biggest news of the day and give you a rundown of the stories we're reading, working on, and fascinated with.

On our 100th episode, we run through the day's biggest headlines before talking with Zing Tsjeng, the author of Forgotten Women: The Scientists, about unsung female inventors, scientists, and technologists throughout history. One such woman, Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner, was a lifelong inventor who helped revolutionize menstrual pads. Although she never became wealthy for her inventions, she filed more patents than any other African American woman in history.

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