Yep. You heard right. The backstory does change within the show itself, but I had been pretty surprised by it when I first heard it, too.
And concerning the male-oriented society: In order to enjoy the show, you do constantly have to keep in mind that it is a product of its times. There is a *lot* in the show that would not fly today (no word play intended.), much of it being quite cringe-inducing. But if you can keep its context in mind and are willing to give it some (a lot of) slack as a consequence, it is an enjoyable show.
The format -- short episodes, about half of which are rehashes of the previous episode(s) -- does get to be irritating after a while, but again, I had to remind myself that they weren't intended to be listened to back-to-back, and the writers couldn't assume that people listening to an episode had heard any of the previous ones. (Any episode might be someone's first.)
Joy,
Lynn
