Explorer Club Celebrates 85 Years of Bad*** Lady Adventurers

At their first dinner, a woman showed up with a mummified South American Indian head – only a hint of the Earthly oddities The Society of Women Geographers chased. The whole thing started when a group of well-traveled and sharp as hell women wanted in on the all-male Explorer’s Club, to which the men turned up their noses and said, “You’re not welcome here.” Over tea, the women said “Fine, we’ll start our own girl gang then,” and in 1932 the Society came to be.

The only prerequisite for joining: “Only women who have really done things.” Amelia Earhart, Margaret Mead, and Jane Goodall all became members, and the society continues today. While they’ve put to rest the practice of exhibiting human remains at celebrations, they do continue to give inquisitive women a boost, offering fellowships to the best travelers and geographers who keep looking for the underbelly. Born of oppression, these women spun and continue to spin straw into gold and this, we celebrate.