Material Girls

Latest Episodes:

9 to 5 x Labour Feminism with Zena Sharman Mar 10, 2026

Show notes

This week we are joined by the incomparable Zena Sharman (she/her). Zena is an essayist and non-fiction writer who is a fan and student of the film 9 to 5 (1980). If you don't know the movie, you almost certainly know the song of the same name written and performed by one of its stars, Dolly Parton. And if you don't know the song, you most definitely know the two other leads of the movie: Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda! And if you don't know them, well hell, we can't wait to introduce you!

In the episode, Hannah and Zena lead us through a history of the feminist labour organizing that directly led to the film's creation. They introduce us to Karen Nussbaum who co-founded an organization called 9to5 in the early 1970s. Nussbaum and Jane Fonda became friends and allies through anti-Vietnam war organizing and developed 9 to 5 (the film) in effort to surface the struggle of working women at the time.

Hannah then draws on work from historian Dorothy Sue Cobblewho argues that contemporary disillusionment about feminism has a lot to do with historical amnesia about the actual diversity of feminist organizing. Hannah suggests that the 1980 screwball comedy 9 to 5, with its depiction of women from notably different backgrounds and with pointedly different gender presentations, might be exactly the feminist text we need in our present political moment. The conversation also touches on queer-coded characters in the story and the super queer team behind the film.

Come for the love of Dolly Parton and stay for the rich conversation about labour organizing, cultural consumption, moral purity and coalition building!

More Zena

Zena is the editor of several anthologies, including The Care We Dream Of: Liberatory & Transformative Approaches to LGBTQ+ Health and Lambda Literary Award-winning The Remedy: Queer and Trans Voices on Health and Health Care. You can buy her newest book, Staying Power (Arsenal Pulp Press), here! Full link: https://arsenalpulp.com/Books/S/Staying-Power

Related Episodes

Sapphic x Radical Feminism

Works Cited

Cobble, Dorothy Sue. The Other Women's Movement : Workplace Justice and Social Rights in Modern America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/sfu-ebooks/detail.action?docID=740297.

Scott, Katherine. “A timeline: The pandemic’s impact on women in the workforce.” Canada Centre for Policy Alternatives 2 July 2024. https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/a-timeline-the-pandemics-impact-on-women-in-the-workforce/.

Sharman, Zena. Staying Power: On Queerness, Inheritances, and the Families We Choose. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2026.

Support Material Girls

To learn more about the show, head to our Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease! Or check out our website ohwitchplease.ca (you can also find transcripts here!). Want to support the podcast and our tiny, hard-working team? Check out all the content we have on our Patreon at Patreon.com/ohwitchplease. Bonus episodes, bloopers, merch, watch-alongs, and more! Need a last minute gift for a friend or family member? You can gift a Patreon subscription at this link: https://www.patreon.com/ohwitchplease/gift!

Music Credits:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pitty Party Preview: 2:00 PM Mar 04, 2026

Show notes

Welcome back to Pitty Party!

We’ve gone analog, baby! In this episode, Marcelle, Zoe, and Gaby discuss fatphobia in the ER (and this season’s biggest op, James Ogilvie), Langdon and Santos’ first case back together, and Hot Nurse Jesse lifting a fax machine, among many other things.

We’ll be back next week to talk all about season 2, episode 9, 3:00 PM.

To listen to the full episode, head to Patreon.com/ohwitchplease now!

Music Credits:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Material Concerns: A Reunion of Sorts Pt. I Mar 03, 2026

Show notes

Content Warning: Suicide, Suicide Prevention/Intervention

We're back with a Material Concerns episode featuring Marcelle, Hannah and Coach! We're back together after a few weeks apart. We begin with a long overdue check in before jumping into a Mailbag Sampler! Thanks Alex from Leadville who submitted a question about Sabrina Carpenter's music video for Manchild!

In Part II, find out what Coach has to say about the Manchild music video — followed by a Make It Make Sense about water bottles (shoutout Sasha P from Instagram who submitted the topic!).To listen, join our Patreon for as little as $54/year! You'll get ad-free episodes, bloopers, a backlog of content and part two of all Material Concerns episodes! You'll also get access to Pitty Party, our recap podcast about HBO's The Pitt. Go to patreon.com/ohwitchplease now to join a tier that works for your budget!

Happy listening! We'll be back next week with a regular format episode!

Check out Carly Boyce's zine/resources we mentioned in the episode here! (Full link: https://www.tinylantern.net/suicide-intervention-resources)

Music Credits:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pitty Party Preview: 1:00 pm Feb 25, 2026

Show notes

NOTE: This episode discusses a case involving sexual assault beginning around 28:50 (right after the conversation about Jasper) and ending at 35:38 (right before the boating propeller injury). Feel free to skip this part of the podcast if that’s best for you.

Welcome back to Pitty Party! In this episode, Marcelle, Zoe, and Gaby dig into two main plot points: a case involving a sexual assault survivor and Robby and Langdon’s long-awaited confrontation. They also discuss Dr. Abbot’s return, check in on some recurring patients, and, to keep it fun, get into some shipping discourse.

We’ll be back next week to talk all about season 2, episode 8, 2:00 PM.

To listen to the full episode, head to Patreon.com/ohwitchplease now! As a reminder, we’re running a Patreon promotion during the month of February! If you join our Patreon at any tier with the code RINGWATCH before March 1st, you’ll receive 50% off your first month.

Music Credits:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wuthering Heights x The Promise of Happiness with Zoe Mix Feb 24, 2026

Show notes

If you've been following the *discourse,* you know that Emerald Fennell's "Wuthering Heights" is a divisive film! So of course, we had to watch it and try to make sense of its turbulent place in the zeitgeist. Rather than ask if the film is a "good" or "bad" adaptation, Marcelle leads us in an episode about marriage as a marker and maker of happiness, our collective imagination around Emily Brontë's source material, Heathcliff as romantic hero, and the lure of the abject. This episode is for the lovers, the haters and the die-hard Sara Ahmed heads!

Related Episodes

The Last of Us x Adaptation Theory

Comics & Memes x Culture Text with Neale Barnholden

Works Cited

“Adaptations of Wuthering Heights” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. February 11, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptations_of_Wuthering_Heights.

Ahmed, Sara. 2010. The Promise of Happiness. Duke University Press.

Anderson, Hephzibah. 2018. “Heathcliff and Literature’s Greatest Love Story Are Toxic.” BBC. July 30, 2018. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180725-heathcliff-and-literatures-greatest-love-story-are-toxic.

“Emerald Fennell defends ‘depraved’ Wuthering Heights film adaptation: ‘I’m just a goth girl.’” The Australian, YouTube video, 3:37, https://youtu.be/QeooWeEEDJg?si=JMf2hQUoASutoKK1.

Support Material Girls

Music Credits:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pitty Party Preview: 12:00 PM Feb 18, 2026

Show notes

Welcome back to Pitty Party! In this episode, Marcelle, Zoe, and Gaby discuss what happens to a beloved patient and celebrate the unsung heroes of the emergency department: the nurses. They also dig into a particularly noteworthy Ring Watch update and some exciting predictions for next episode.

Plus, some news you can use: we made Pitty Party hats! Marcelle, Zoe, and Gaby bravely tried and tested them and can confirm they’re both extremely comfortable AND super cool. We’ll be releasing them once we hit 1200 paid patrons (we’re so close, thanks to you guys!!!) with a discount code, so be sure to join us over at http://patreon.com/ohwitchplease!

We’ll see you next week for season 2, episode 7, 1:00 PM.

To listen to the full episode, head to Patreon.com/ohwitchplease!

Music Credits:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Material Concerns: No Hannahs Allowed Pt. I Feb 17, 2026

Show notes

We're back with a Material Concerns episode featuring Marcelle and Coach! Hannah was traveling so we jumped on mic without them and chatted about our lives and some ideas for upcoming Witch, Please Productions adventures. Part I ends with an "Ok, Hear Me Out" and then we promptly move to Part II for a How the Sausage is Getting Made and a Creature Report!

To listen to Part II, join our Patreon for as little as $54/year! You'll get ad-free episodes, bloopers, a backlog of content and part two of all Material Concerns episodes! Go to patreon.com/ohwitchplease now to join a tier that works for your budget! Plus, in the month of February you can use the code RINGWATCH to get 50% off your membership.

Music Credits:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daddy: A Live Show with Helen Zaltzman and Martin Austwick Feb 16, 2026

Show notes

This audio was originally recorded live at The Rio Theater in Vancouver on July 3rd, 2025.

Folks we are thrilled to be sharing our Daddy Live Show with you as a belated Valentine's Day gift! As you may recall, Material Girls did our first-ever in-person show last summer. Our theme was the term "daddy," and we were lucky enough to be joined by Helen Zaltzman and Martin Austwick.

The show kicks off with a live rendition of our theme song, Shopping Mall, from Vancouver band, Auto Syndicate. The show that follows is part regular format episode, part sing-a-long, part game and a whole lot of theory. In listening to the recorded audio, you may miss some visual gags (like a paddle that says "Dad or Daddy" which we used to vote during the game — or the singular paddle used by Coach that said "no time" and "wait, take that again."). One other thing to note: At the ~55 minute mark when we play a game called Dad or Daddy there were some essential accompanying slides. Click the link to follow along.

Otherwise, as mentioned in the show, be sure to check out Helen's podcast The Allusionist and Zena Sharman's upcoming book, Staying Power.And DEFINITELY check out the Daddy Really Cares music video Martin Austwick made especially for you— and listen to the song on his bandcamp here where you can also do a close-reading of the genius lyrics.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pitty Party Preview: 11:00 AM Feb 11, 2026

Show notes

Welcome back to Pitty Party! Marcelle is back, baby! There’s so much to talk about in this episode, from various workplace disease hazards to some juicy dynamics between our favorite characters. Plus, they dig into some medical terminology 101…and a tragically suspenseful cliffhanger. We’ll be back next week to talk all about season 2, episode 6, 12:00 PM.

And an update: We have returned to our regularly scheduled Material Girls episodes (released on Tuesdays!). That means the Pitty Party fun has moved over to Patreon! If you join our Patreon at any tier (http://patreon.com/ohwitchplease) in the month of February, you’ll get 50% off your first month with the code RINGWATCH. This support is HOW we are able to continue producing the show and paying our team. We've already seen a huge influx of supporters and it means soooo much to us to be able to finish out this recap season strong — so thank you! And... we have some very fun stuff planned if we hit 1200 paid supporters (we're only 75 away!) — so spread the word about Pitty Party and make the leap to a paid Patreon tier today!

Support the Show!

Follow us on Instagram at instagram.com/ohwitchplease and become a free or paid Patreon supporter at patreon.com/ohwitchplease.

Music Credits:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Heated Rivalry x The Puritanical Eye with Hope Rehak Feb 10, 2026

Show notes

We had to go to the cottage!!!

In this episode, Hope Rehak, (writer, educator, and the mind behind beloved Substack "Obsessions This Week") joins Hannah and Marcelle for a giddy and downright delectable conversation about the Canadian television hit, Heated Rivalry. The episode begins with us holding space for everyone's personal relationship to the series (*spoiler: we love it*), then promptly jumps into a rundown of how the show materially came to be! We discuss the popularity of MLM (men-loving-men) fiction written largely by women and trans men — and the correlated rise and mainstreaming of the romance genre. Hope introduces us to the idea of the androphillic gaze (listen to learn!) and offers a quick rundown of the state of fanfiction today. Hannah then offers some theory through Carlee Gomes' 2023 article, “The Puritanical Eye: Hyper-mediation, Sex on Film, and the Disavowal of Desire." What follows is a rich conversation about the myth of political perfection in media, the desire for escape under late capitalism, the perceived notion that consumer habits are the last site of autonomy and the very real pleasure of watching men be masculine, sexy, and tender. If you're interested in Heated Rivalry as its popularity relates to shadow politics, moral panics and the puritanical eye, then this episode is for you. If you just thought it was a horny and fun show, this episode is also for you.