Burn through the nonsense. Build something real.
I teach women to detect manipulation and decode power dynamics in dating, work, and life. Using equal parts theory and humor, I’ll help you trust your gut so you can move through the world with clarity and agency.
Burn the Haystack Out Spring 2026
The smart woman’s guide to online dating sanity.
Burn the Haystack is the feminist dating guide that flips the usual (read: exhausting and straight-up bad) dating advice on its head.
Jennie blends her signature sharp humor and academic rigor to teach you the applied rhetoric skills to decode hidden meanings, spot manipulation, and filter through dating profiles with confidence. You’ll stop second-guessing yourself and start trusting what you already know.
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How can I help?
Ready to stop wasting time on the wrong people? Learn the method—in dating and beyond
Language shapes power in every part of life (dating just happens to be a gold mine of high-stakes power dynamics). Each month, I break down real profiles, decode messaging patterns, and teach you the rhetorical analysis skills that build clarity and confidence. Take back your power in the wild world of dating, the workplace, and in life. Check out the Burned Haystack archives, your home base for learning the method.
Navigating the dating apps (or thinking about diving in?) Join the community.
Connect with 250k+ women from all walks of life who are navigating dating with intelligence, humor, and zero tolerance for nonsense. Share insights (and woes!), celebrate wins, and remember you're not alone in this. I know, I know—ugh, Facebook? My Midwesterner is showing, but trust me. It's a lively group with a big heart and badass members. Join the Burned Haystack Dating Method Community (totally free of cost and of men).
Looking to strengthen your teams? Let’s work together.
I work with organizations to identify how applied rhetoric can strengthen your team's communication, reveal hidden power dynamics, and build a more equitable workplace culture. Reach out, and we'll figure out together what format makes sense for your needs. Work with me.
What is applied rhetoric?
Decode the hidden meanings in ordinary communication
Applied rhetoric is the study of how people use language to persuade, reveal values, and navigate power. People have far more rhetorical skills and intuition than they give themselves credit for. It’s all about noticing the patterns.
When someone writes "I don't do drama" in their dating profile, they're telling you something specific about how they handle conflict (or, more likely, how they bail immediately). When a colleague uses passive voice to dodge accountability, that's rhetoric in action.
I draw on academic rhetoric and Critical Discourse Analysis and translate them into practical skills you can use immediately—whether you're swiping on apps, negotiating at work, or trying to trust your gut again.
The language people use tells you everything you need to know. You just need a new way to listen.
This is How "Liberal" Men Silence Feminists
An open letter to the pillow pics men on dating apps.
This is What Internalized Misogyny Looks Like
Featured Articles
Professor | Author | Humorist | Cultural Critic
Hi, I'm Jennie Young
I’m here to help you stop wasting time on people who were never going to meet your needs. Hidden just beneath the words we read, hear, and speak, there is another layer of meaning that is richer, more consequential, and more revealing than what you see on the surface.
I'm a professor of rhetoric at UW-Green Bay, specializing in applied rhetoric, humor, and feminism. When I found myself stepping into the world of dating apps post-divorce, all those years studying the invisible layers of power and persuasion became deeply personal.
What started as academic expertise evolved into something more urgent. I realized the tools I'd been teaching could help other women like me establish healthier, safer connections and regain their confidence.
Using tricks and tactics from applied rhetoric, I teach you how to spot the patterns (and then decode them) so you can approach people and life with a deeper and more powerful level of understanding and agency.
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Let’s Stay Connected
Join tens of thousands of women learning the superpower of applied rhetoric, in dating and beyond. Each month, I’ll teach you to decode the messages beneath people’s words and images and how to navigate everyday interactions with clarity and confidence. (We’ll roll our eyes at some truly terrible dating profiles along the way.)