Pleasurable & Empowering Emotional Porn (Part 1)

Bookmark this edition—you’ll have a summer’s worth of recommendations.

Wise Women love connecting over the stories that make us laugh, cry, feel seen, and help us process our experiences.

This week, I asked all four of my A Space for Me: Women’s Empowerment Groups to share their favorite books, television shows, movies, and comfort watches.

The energy in the room transformed.

Women who had walked in carrying the weight of difficult weeks suddenly lit up. Faces brightened. Eyes sparkled. Laughter erupted. People who had spent the previous hour talking about grief, stress, caregiving, work, politics, parenting, and overwhelm suddenly became animated as they shared their latest obsessions and beloved favorites.

It was a beautiful reminder that pleasure matters—and we need it now more than ever.

As women, we often feel the need to justify our leisure. We are taught to consume media that is educational, productive, enriching, or somehow useful. Yet sometimes what we need most is a story that makes us feel less alone, a character who helps us understand ourselves, or a comedy that lets us laugh when life feels impossibly heavy.

Stories help us imagine different possibilities for ourselves. They help us challenge limiting beliefs, question oppressive systems, and envision lives that are larger, freer, and more authentic. They can be comforting, healing, empowering, and deliciously distracting.

So here it is: a collection of Wise Women–recommended favorites for pleasure, connection, empowerment, comfort, and escape.

Streaming platforms are current as of June 2026 and may change.

(Because we are actively challenging hierarchical power structures, this list is intentionally not ranked.)

Messy, Powerful, & Inspiring Women

Better Things (Hulu)

Sam Fox is my new role model. This show gives women radical permission to be messy, imperfect, funny, exhausted, fully themselves, and deeply connected to other women along the way.

We Are Lady Parts (Peacock)

This show made Wise Women laugh (and pee a little). It is hilarious, rebellious, joyful, and a beautiful reminder that women finding their voices can change everything.

Bridgerton (Netflix)

Wise Women are obsessed with this show: the romance, diverse casting, body positivity, gorgeous costumes, and orchestral covers of modern music. It is pure delight.

Jane the Virgin (Netflix)

This show is smart, funny, heartfelt, and fun while simultaneously challenging patriarchal and religious expectations of women’s virginity. It somehow manages to be completely ridiculous and deeply moving at the same time.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Prime Video)

Watching Midge refuse to shrink herself is endlessly satisfying. Smart, funny, ambitious women will feel at home in this show.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Hulu)

My last personal recommendation is my all-time favorite show—one I initially refused to watch. “I’m not watching some show about a cheerleader fighting vampires!” I definitely ate my words on that one. Buffy is strong, vulnerable, funny, and constantly reminds us that even when we doubt ourselves, women can save the world. Long before “strong female characters” became a trend, Buffy showed us that women could be powerful without sacrificing their humanity.

The Diplomat (Netflix)

Keri Russell gives us a gloriously messy, brilliant woman in power who is trying to manage international crises, political ambition, and a complicated marriage without ever being tidy or "put together."

Hacks (HBO Max)

A clash of generations, ego, ambition, vulnerability, and female brilliance. Watching complicated women grow, fail, succeed, and challenge each other is incredibly entertaining.

Somebody Somewhere (HBO Max)

Wise Women recommended this as a deeply human show that reminds us belonging does not come from fitting in, but from finding the people who see us.

Veronica Mars (Netflix)

A badass teenage detective learns to stop caring what people think after the unthinkable happens to her, and her intelligence, sarcasm, and survival instincts make her unforgettable.

Wednesday (Netflix)

Wednesday Addams gives us the fantasy of being a teenage girl who simply does not care if people find her strange, intense, or too much.

How to Get to Heaven from Belfast (Netflix)

This is ultimately a story about women showing up for each other through life’s messiest moments. I personally haven’t seen it yet, but I can’t wait to check it out.

Firefly Lane (Netflix)

A big, emotional friendship story for Wise Women who know that women’s friendships can be as formative, complicated, enduring, and life-shaping as any romance.

Grace and Frankie (Netflix)

Wise Women could binge this show over and over. We need more stories about aging honestly, staying fully alive, and maintaining our whole sexual selves.

Girls5eva (Netflix & Peacock)

A reminder that it is never too late to reinvent yourself, chase a dream, or become delightfully unhinged with your friends. Seeing Sara Bareilles as an actor blew our minds.

Nobody Wants This (Netflix)

Speaking of 1990s rom-coms, this feels like the grown-up version: funny, sexy, charming, and full of emotionally available chemistry between adults who are actually trying to be honest with each other. Plus, I love anything with Kristen Bell in it!

Gilmore Girls (Netflix)

This is Wise Women’s favorite comfort show: fast-talking, coffee-drinking, complicated women trying to navigate mother-daughter relationships across generations and classes.

Ginny & Georgia (Netflix)

Modern-day messy Gilmore Girls, with a mother who learned to use patriarchal rules in her favor in order to survive. A favorite Ginny line: "Oh, the patriarchy has way too firm a hold on me. I grew up on low-rise jeans and America's Next Top Model. It's too late for me. Leave me, but save yourself."

Never Have I Ever (Netflix)

Mindy Kaling somehow captures grief, family, identity, and teenage awkwardness while making us laugh out loud.

The Buccaneers (Apple TV+)

Think Bridgerton with even more female rebellion, friendship, and refusal to follow the rules. At its heart, it’s about young women deciding they want more than the lives society has planned for them—and having the courage to go after it.

Bad Sisters (Apple TV+)

Dark, hilarious, and ultimately a love letter to sisters protecting one another from abusive assholes.

Good Girls Revolt (Prime Video)

For every woman who has ever been told to wait her turn, be quieter, or ask for less. This show helps third-wave feminists understand what second-wave Wise Women went through to break into the professional work world.

Comfort, Joy & Low-Stakes Pleasure

Heated Rivalry (HBO Max)

My sister introduced me to this show and is obsessed with these two male hockey players graphically and profoundly overcoming homophobia in sports and society to fall in love. I personally love the stand-alone Episode 3, which feels like a throwback to the rom-coms of the ’90s.

Heartstopper (Netflix)

This show reminded me of what it felt like to fall in love. It is hopeful, tender, and feels like a warm hug.

The Great British Baking Show (Netflix)

Proof that people can compete without being cruel. Also excellent background television for nonpreferred tasks.

Barefoot Contessa (Food Network)

Ina Garten feels like the emotionally regulated aunt many of us wish we had: calm, competent, generous, and somehow able to make roast chicken feel like nervous system regulation.

Parks and Recreation (Peacock)

Leslie Knope is the patron saint of women who care too much, work too hard, and love their people fiercely. She is also a much-needed model of how we wish politicians would lead.

The Four Seasons (Netflix)

A thoughtful look at friendship, marriage, aging, and how relationships evolve across a lifetime. Plus, Tina Fey!

One Piece (Netflix)

Yes, it is loud. Yes, it is chaotic. But underneath all of that is one of the most beautiful stories about friendship, loyalty, and believing in impossible dreams.

Desperate Housewives (Hulu)

This guilty pleasure was hard to admit for some brilliant Wise Women, but they love shutting their brains off to watch other women with more chaotic lives than their own. One Wise Woman said it makes her feel remarkably well-adjusted.

Emily in Paris (Netflix)

Is it realistic? Not even a little. Is it a delightful escape? Absolutely. (Netflix)

Book-to-Screen Favorites

Lessons in Chemistry (Apple TV+)

Watching Elizabeth Zott refuse to accept the limitations placed on women in the 1950s is deeply satisfying. It highlights workplace sexism, single motherhood, reproductive autonomy, and women’s professional identities in ways that still echo today.

Daisy Jones & The Six (Prime Video)

If you have ever been obsessed with creativity, music, ambition, or complicated relationships, this one will pull you in.

Margo’s Got Money Troubles (Apple TV+)

Messy women making imperfect choices while trying to survive will always have a place in Wise Women’s lives.

The Power (Prime Video)

One of the most fascinating thought experiments Wise Women have encountered about gender, power, and what might happen if the rules suddenly changed. The book has been a Wise Women recommendation since its 2016 release, and the show does not disappoint.

Movies, Stand-Up & Documentaries

Amy Schumer: Growing (Netflix)

Funny, vulnerable, and refreshingly honest about motherhood, pregnancy, marriage, and womanhood.

Enough (Netflix)

Watching a woman reclaim her power after abuse never gets old.

Pride (Hulu)

A moving and important look at LGBTQ+ history, resilience, and progress.

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (Netflix)

A lovely reminder that adventure, beauty, and dreams do not have expiration dates.

Classic Escape Movies

Ever After: A Cinderella Story (Disney+)

A favorite for Wise Women missing the fairy tales of childhood, especially because this Cinderella saves herself as much as the prince saves her.

She’s All That (Netflix)

Pure late-’90s nostalgia and comfort.

Mean Girls (Paramount+)

Because some movies become cultural shorthand for understanding human behavior, middle school, high school, and the social survival strategies many Wise Women remember all too well.

Family Viewing TV

Bluey (Disney+)

The rare children’s show that does not bore you to tears and may occasionally make the adults cry first.

Ghosts (Paramount+)

Funny, sweet, and one of our favorite options for low-stakes family viewing.

Rick Steves’ Europe (PBS)

Perfect for when you want to travel, but your current life stage does not allow you to wander the world.

I also asked Wise Women about their favorite things to read and listen to, so those recommendations will be coming your way as soon as time and energy allow.

Take exceptional care of yourself!

Sarah

A Space for Wise Women

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