Review: Conspiracy, She Wrote

The 2024 Olympics was, possibly, the first time half of the competitors were women. That is, it is the closest to equality that these modern games have seen. Which is not an achievement to scoff at. It’s something to think about, though. What does the world look like when each piece of the population is seen or fully acknowledged, celebrated, and criticized at the same level? 

It is oversimplifying, but for this review I’d like to discuss this in generalization. As in, when we forget, or ignore half of the population we lose sight of a whole picture. Wives, partners, children, silent laborers fighting to live and support their existence, as well as the existence of others. There have been amazing conversations happening over the past few years and even decades about invisible, household labor that just becomes the woman’s problem. We’re seeing more equal partnerships and even as the patriarchy will fight to its last breath, we see a loosening grip.

Women are being celebrated, acknowledged, venerated, and in between it all, woven into the fabric of humanity is the other side. There’s the other side to everything, isn’t there? Heads or tails, front and back, celebration and criticism. Truthfully we can’t look at the great women of history and the world without looking at the not-so-great women. We have to look at how conspiracy happened, and how it continues to impact everyone. We can’t look at society through the rose-tinted glasses of equality without having some hard conversations. 

Conspiracy, She Wrote is a new podcast from Cristen Conger, of Unladylike. This one tackles conspiracy theories through the lens of women. The fact is, conspiracy comes out of culture, and women are drivers of culture. Specifically, teenage girls are drivers of culture. We’ll get into that more later. 

Everyone believes in a conspiracy theory, and women haven’t been focused on in this sphere of understanding for the thousands of reasons people ignore women. The fact is, historically, women have contributed to both benign and dangerous lines of thought in conspiracy. From white nationalist fears to silly things like Taylor Swift’s easter eggs - women are just as much of these conversations as men are. 

Cristen Conger explores this through conversations with experts, going from the very beginning and then exploring not just what the conspiracies are around famous women, but why they can be dangerous. Many of these trains of thought come from places of fear, from feelings of isolation, and bubble into bigger, more intense issues. Women who are dismissed during post-partum no longer trust the medical establishment with their children, and then we have a host of newly minted anti vaxx parents trying to deal with a measles outbreak. We have race-based fear of powerful Black women not fitting into a mold, and suffering from what has been coined “misogynoir” - hate for Black women specifically. 

Conger has proven an ability to tap into the intersection of womanhood and culture through her work on Unladylike, and now this red string mapping of conspiracy is a zooming in on not just what women did to contribute to today’s mass of online conspiracy, but also how it impacts powerful women who, for most intents and purposes are women who are good at their job. These episodes, each sitting somewhere around 30-40 minutes, are beautifully crafted to throw the punches when needed. The music under moments highlight the attitude of ridiculousness, or solemn seriousness a beat has. Discussing these topics isn’t easy, and weaving them together to expose what they say about our humanity is even harder. In some cases, there has to be empathy for what the world has created in the women of Pastel Qanon. In others, trying to figure out how women can be more powerful than a man leads to wild accusations of human sacrifice and government psy ops. This is a balancing act if I’ve ever seen one, and honestly I think Cristen Conger is set to win the gold on this particular balance beam. 

This podcast is fascinating, frustrating, enlightening, and disheartening. It forces the listener to reconsider, to think, and to acknowledge everything that seems normal, weird, and wacky in new lights. It is a testament to research, conversation, and the hope of humanity. By openly talking about the good and the bad we are brought and wrought, Conspiracy, She Wrote lures the listener into a new mindset. Grab your red string, and go see for yourself. 

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