The Women Are Plotting

Remember when you could make a complete ass of yourself without someone recording it and posting it on the internet? Welcome to the Gen X experience. This week on The Women Are Plotting , Etienne, Heidi, and Jane explore what it means to be the generation that grew up analog and somehow ended up living in an entirely digital world. From rotary phones, cassette tapes, Walkmans, and film cameras to...

Does it count as cheating if you never actually touch the other person? This week on The Women Are Plotting , Etienne, Heidi, and Jane dive into the increasingly complicated world of digital infidelity—and quickly discover that cheating in 2026 looks a whole lot different than it did when they were young. From flirty emails and AOL chat rooms to sexting, secret DMs, dating apps, porn, Fitbit affai...

What if the magic we’re looking for is already happening all around us? This week on The Women Are Plotting , Etienne, Heidi, and Jane explore how to find whimsy, joy, intuition, and those strange little moments that make you wonder if the universe might be trying to tell you something. Jane dives into the growing embrace of whimsy as a form of rebellion against doomscrolling, conformity, and an i...

How much of yourself have you changed, hidden, or made smaller just to keep other people comfortable? In this deeply personal—and frequently hilarious—episode of The Women Are Plotting , Etienne Rose Olivier, Heidi Willis, and Jane Gari explore what it really means to live authentically, especially as Gen X women who grew up learning to be agreeable, fit in, and care far too much about what other...

What are you addicted to—and how do you know when something you enjoy has crossed the line into something that's controlling your life? In this unusually raw and personal episode of The Women Are Plotting , Etienne Rose Olivier, Heidi Willis, and Jane Gari take on addiction in all its forms, from cocaine and alcoholism to sex, shopping, relationships, compulsive behaviors, and the endless dop...

What happens when sex stops being private—and somebody else accidentally becomes part of the experience? In this wildly candid episode of The Women Are Plotting , Etienne Rose Olivier, Heidi Willis, and Jane Gari dive into what they jokingly call “secondhand sex”: walking in on people, overhearing them, getting caught, or realizing after the fact that someone else had a front-row seat. The convers...

What if that gut feeling, strange coincidence, vivid dream, or piece of information that seemingly came out of nowhere wasn't just your imagination? In this deeply personal—and occasionally very weird—episode of The Women Are Plotting , Gen X friends Etienne Rose Olivier, Heidi Willis, and Jane Gari explore psychics, mediums, intuition, synchronicities, and their own experiences with things t...

Did fairy tales teach us how to fall in love—or did they completely screw up our expectations? In this funny, personal, and surprisingly revealing episode of The Women Are Plotting , Etienne Rose Olivier, Heidi Willis, and Jane Gari take a hard look at the “happily ever after” stories many of us grew up believing. From knights in shining armor and damsels in distress to Disney princesses and roman...

Is age really just a number when it comes to dating—or might a big age gap actually make for a better relationship? In this candid and decidedly NSFW episode of The Women Are Plotting , Etienne Rose Olivier, Heidi Willis, and Jane Gari dive into the complicated, sometimes controversial, and often very entertaining world of older women dating younger men. The conversation begins with research sugge...

Can you build a meaningful writing life while juggling a full-time job, family responsibilities, and the reality that most authors don't make a living from their books? In this episode of The Women Are Plotting , Etienne Rose Olivier, Heidi Willis, and Jane Gari have an honest conversation about what it really takes to sustain a creative life. From the surprising writing habits of authors lik...

Has social media made us more aware of mental health—or has it made us too quick to diagnose ourselves and everyone around us? In this thought-provoking episode of The Women Are Plotting , Etienne Rose Olivier, Heidi Willis, and Jane Gari explore the growing trend of armchair diagnosing, self-diagnosis, and the explosion of mental health content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. They discuss...

Have you ever dreaded going to work or wondered if it's time for a career change? In this honest and relatable episode of The Women Are Plotting , Etienne Rose Olivier, Heidi Willis, and Jane Gari discuss the realities of career burnout, changing professions, and finding work that aligns with your passions and values. They share personal stories of leaving stressful jobs, reinventing themselv...

We trade honest threesome stories that range from awkward and hilarious to genuinely affirming, and we unpack what makes the difference between casual sex and real sex positivity. We also get practical about consent, safety, communication, and why fantasies are easier than three-person logistics.  • survey stats on threesome interest versus actual participation  • what sex positivity means to us a...

We trade real scam stories, from a dating app crypto pitch to classic IRS impersonation calls, and pull apart the red flags scammers rely on to trigger urgency and secrecy. We also connect the dots between AI voice cloning, fake grandkid cons, MLM recruitment pressure, and timeshares that never stop charging.  • FTC romance scam losses and why dating apps are a target  • Fake grandchild scams usin...

A cult doesn’t usually start with robes and chanting. It starts with a leader who feels magnetic, a group that promises belonging, and a subtle new rule: don’t question the story. We dig into the psychology of cult leaders, the behaviors that signal high-control groups, and why even smart, skeptical people can get swept up when love bombing, isolation, and fear take over. We connect the dots betwe...

We revisit the children’s books and fairy tales that felt normal at the time and realize how many of them were basically horror stories with a moral. We connect the nightmares to bigger questions about censorship, family dynamics, and what we want kids to learn now.  • shifting patterns in children’s book censorship from the 1970s to today  • VC Andrews and the secret pipeline of too-adult reads ...

We get honest, funny, and a little feral about the fictional characters who live rent-free in our heads, from Regency classics to modern fantasy heartthrobs. Along the way we name the psychology behind it, swap our most questionable crushes, and admit what these stories let us desire without real world consequences.  • our favorite literary crushes across genres and eras  • the popularity of class...

First, we share which U.S. state tops the charts for chlamydia, gonorrhea & syphilis--a wake-up call for anyone dating in midlife. Use condoms. Be safe. Especially if you live in or are visiting the certain areas of the country!   From there, we dig into modern midlife dating and dating apps, including what the data says about which age group is the fastest growing online daters (I wonder who...

Aging gracefully sounds simple until you’re staring at a mirror, a sunscreen bottle, and a menu of “quick fixes” that all promise confidence. We get honest about what actually helps, what scares us, and what feels worth it, starting with the most unforgettable skincare lesson imaginable: a family melanoma warning that turned sunscreen into a lifelong habit. If you’ve ever skipped SPF, wondered whe...

Customs doesn’t pull you aside when you look healthy. They pull you aside when you look like you haven’t slept in days, you’re sweating through August heat, and you’re dragging one sad bag while trying not to throw up. We start with that moment at LAX and work backward into a set of vacation mishaps that hit every nerve: missed flights, sudden illness, lost luggage, and the kind of bad luck that m...

Penis size is one of those topics everyone jokes about and almost nobody talks about honestly, so we decided to do it out loud. We start with the basics of micropenis as a medical definition, why it’s considered rare, and what affects male genital development. Then we pivot into what people actually want to know: how size, girth, and sensitivity show up in real sex, real relationships, and real se...

One missing piece of Tupperware should not feel like a five-alarm emergency, and yet somehow it can. We start with the kind of domestic “micro crisis” that turns into a full body stress response, then zoom out to the bigger question: why do adults act like children when they’re overwhelmed, frustrated, or embarrassed? We talk through “Peter Pan syndrome” as a pop psychology concept, including trai...

A terrifying thought flashes across your mind and instead of fading, it sticks. It replays. It mutates. It demands proof that you’re a good person. That’s the lived reality of Harm OCD, and it’s why so many people suffer in silence while the world dismisses OCD as a “neat freak” trait. We sit down with author Kim Conrey to talk about her memoir, You’re Not A Murderer, You Just Have Harm OCD, co-wr...

Someone can go from “texting you nonstop” to acting like you’re engaged after one date, and suddenly you’re trapped in a conversation that won’t end. That’s where ghosting, blocking, and boundaries stop being abstract ideas and become very real decisions. We talk through the psychology of ghosting with research and lived experience, including why people disappear, why excessive texting can push so...

A stranger’s hand on your body. A customer who won’t leave your register. A coworker who hides behind “just kidding.” We go there, because sexual harassment is not a rare horror story, it’s a pattern that shows up in everyday workplaces and gets excused as flirtation, culture, or “that’s just how he is.”  We (Etienne, Heidi, and Jane) trade real experiences from retail and hospitality to the milit...