Back in October 2022, the WNBA’s NYC Chapter held the virtual panel, Transformative Women, with authors of two compelling nonfiction books that tell true stories of impressive women who were ahead of their times in many ways.
- Joanna Scutts, author of HOTBEAD: Bohemian Greenwich Village and the Secret Club that Sparked Modern Feminism
- Betsy Prioleau, author of DIAMONDS AND DEADLINES: A Tale of Greed, Deceit, and a Female Tycoon in the Gilded Age
Members and non-members spanning eight states across the country were joined by moderator Roz Reisner.
Joanna Scutts took attendees back to 1912, when a group of women in NYC’s Bohemian Greenwich Village founded Heterodoxy, a secret club whose members were passionate advocates for women’s rights, including free love, equal marriage, and easier divorce. Over the course of about three decades, its members—socially, professionally, sexually and racially diverse—included socialites and socialists; reformers and revolutionaries; writers, artists, and scientists. Scutts brought to light how unusual it was at the time for women to gather as a group—professionally, as activists, in friendships, and in support of one another.
Betsy Prioleau introduced the group to Miriam Leslie, an overlooked but extraordinary woman who lived nearly half a century before the Heterodites (as the Heterodoxy club members called themselves). When Leslie’s husband died, she took over his eponymous company, Frank Leslie Publishing, and ran it for 20 years. She also took his name. Leslie was a free spirit who flouted feminine convention, took lovers, married four times, and harbored unsavory secrets. It took a web of lies and deceptions, along with multiple personas, to keep her secret life hidden.
In the course of the evening’s conversation, Reisner drew a comparison to the founders of the WBNA who, unable to join the men-only associations of the time, likewise formed a group during the same decade. Scutts and Prioleau highlighted ways that these women—who transformed what was possible and accepted for women in their respective eras—differed.
- Mrs. Frank Leslie was a solitary figure, while the Heterodites came together as a group in action and support.
- For Mrs. Leslie, fashion was both battle armor and as a powerful lure for men. The Heterodites used clothing to defeminize themselves, to play down female sexuality.
- The Heterodites were outspoken activists, whereas Mrs. Leslie believed in leading by example.
Lively conversations—between the authors themselves and between attendees and the panelists—made the event a fascinating and rewarding evening for all.
Susan Knopf is the founder of Scout Books & Media Inc, an award-winning company that produces books for adults and children; develops brands and properties; and consults with corporations, publishers, institutions, and private clients. Scout specializes in children’s books of all kinds and adult nonfiction. She is president of the American Book Producers Association, is chair of the WNBA Pannell Award Committee, and serves as Interim Programming coordinator for the WNBA-NYC chapter. Knopf is a published writer of several children’s fiction and nonfiction titles and co-author of two cookbooks.
