Girl on Girl

*A TIMES PAPERBACK BESTSELLER* *FOYLES NON-FICTION APRIL BOOK OF THE MONTH* A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2025 A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF 2025 AN AUDIBLE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025 'Fascinating and powerfully argued' Daily Telegraph 'Blistering' New York Times 'Riveting' Vogue 'Gilbert is a serious and attentive chronicler of a fraught era' Financial Times 'Essential reading' Irish Independent *** Cosmetic surgeries are at an all-time high, Ozempic is bringing back 'heroin chic' and the manosphere on the rise - after four waves of feminism, what went wrong? Despite decades of progress, modern womanhood feels more challenging than ever. Atlantic critic and Pulitzer Prize finalist Sophie Gilbert reveals how today's misogyny emerged from another turbulent era: the late 90s and early 2000s. Spanning the past thirty years of pop culture - from Madonna to Taylor Swift, #GirlBoss to OnlyFans, Real Housewives to trad-wives - Girl on Girl shows how every form of media, heavily influenced by the rise of porn, has warped women's relationships with themselves and others. We cannot move forward without fully reckoning with the ways pop culture has defined us - this book shows us how. *** 'A captivating must-read' KATE MANNE 'I folded down every single page' PANDORA SYKES 'Vast, engaging and brilliant' Stylist 'A book that will make you think, and want to discuss' Glamour 'Add this book to the list of titles that urgently provide context and answers to the hell storm that is [ vaguely waves around ] everything going on right now' Harper's Bazaar READER REVIEWS 'I loved this book. It found me in a time I really needed it' 'If you are a living, breathing, human of any gender, this book is eye-opening and important. Just read it' 'The kind of book that will stay with you' 'An absolute powerhouse of a book'

*A TIMES PAPERBACK BESTSELLER* *FOYLES NON-FICTION APRIL BOOK OF THE MONTH* A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2025 A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF 2025 AN AUDIBLE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025 'Fascinating and powerfully argued' Daily Telegraph 'Blistering' New York Times 'Riveting' Vogue 'Gilbert is a serious and attentive chronicler of a fraught era' Financial Times 'Essential reading' Irish Independent *** Cosmetic surgeries are at an all-time high, Ozempic is bringing back 'heroin chic' and the manosphere on the rise - after four waves of feminism, what went wrong? Despite decades of progress, modern womanhood feels more challenging than ever. Atlantic critic and Pulitzer Prize finalist Sophie Gilbert reveals how today's misogyny emerged from another turbulent era: the late 90s and early 2000s. Spanning the past thirty years of pop culture - from Madonna to Taylor Swift, #GirlBoss to OnlyFans, Real Housewives to trad-wives - Girl on Girl shows how every form of media, heavily influenced by the rise of porn, has warped women's relationships with themselves and others. We cannot move forward without fully reckoning with the ways pop culture has defined us - this book shows us how. *** 'A captivating must-read' KATE MANNE 'I folded down every single page' PANDORA SYKES 'Vast, engaging and brilliant' Stylist 'A book that will make you think, and want to discuss' Glamour 'Add this book to the list of titles that urgently provide context and answers to the hell storm that is [ vaguely waves around ] everything going on right now' Harper's Bazaar READER REVIEWS 'I loved this book. It found me in a time I really needed it' 'If you are a living, breathing, human of any gender, this book is eye-opening and important. Just read it' 'The kind of book that will stay with you' 'An absolute powerhouse of a book'

'A captivating must-read for anyone who wants to understand how and why misogyny is as powerful a force as ever' KATE MANNE, author of Down Girl Cosmetic surgeries at an all-time high, Ozempic is bringing back 'heroin chic' and TikTok trad-wives are on the rise - after four waves of feminism, what went wrong? In this blazing, razor-sharp takedown of popular culture in the twenty-first century, Girl on Girl turns 90s and 00s nostalgia on its head, and shows how the media of that era repackaged the feminist movement as a containable, commodifiable (and hugely successful) product: 'Girl Power'. From the Spice Girls to the Kardashians, to #GirlBoss and OnlyFans, Pulitzer Prize-finalist Sophie Gilbert illustrates how the cultural forces of the last few decades have systematically shaped - and warped - women's relationships with themselves and other women. Relatable, wide-ranging and covering TV, film, music, journalism and the internet, Girl on Girl asks how did we get here, and what lies ahead.

'A captivating must-read for anyone who wants to understand how and why misogyny is as powerful a force as ever' KATE MANNE, author of Down Girl Cosmetic surgeries at an all-time high, Ozempic is bringing back 'heroin chic' and TikTok trad-wives are on the rise - after four waves of feminism, what went wrong? In this blazing, razor-sharp takedown of popular culture in the twenty-first century, Girl on Girl turns 90s and 00s nostalgia on its head, and shows how the media of that era repackaged the feminist movement as a containable, commodifiable (and hugely successful) product: 'Girl Power'. From the Spice Girls to the Kardashians, to #GirlBoss and OnlyFans, Pulitzer Prize-finalist Sophie Gilbert illustrates how the cultural forces of the last few decades have systematically shaped - and warped - women's relationships with themselves and other women. Relatable, wide-ranging and covering TV, film, music, journalism and the internet, Girl on Girl asks how did we get here, and what lies ahead.

From Atlantic critic and Pulitzer Prize finalist Sophie Gilbert, a blazing critique of early aughts pop culture What happened to feminism in the twenty-first century? This question feels increasingly urgent after a period of cultural and legislative backlash, when widespread uncertainty about the movement's power, focus, and currency threatens decades of progress. Sophie Gilbert identifies an inflection point in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the energy of third-wave and "riot grrrl" feminism collapsed into a regressive period of hyper-objectification, sexualization, and infantilization. Gilbert mines the darker side of nostalgia, training her keen analytic eye on the most revealing cultural objects of the era, across music, film, television, fashion, tabloid journalism, and more. And what she recounts is harrowing, from the leering aesthetic of American Apparel ads and explicit music videos to a burgeoning internet culture vicious toward women in the spotlight and damaging for those who weren't. Gilbert tracks many of the period's dominant themes back to the explosion of internet porn, tracing its widespread influence as it began to pervade our collective consciousness. Gilbert paints a devastating picture of an era when a distinctly American confluence of excess, materialism, and power worship collided with the culture's reactionary, puritanical, and chauvinistic currents. Amid a collective reconsideration of the way women are treated in public, Girl on Girl is a blistering indictment of the matrix of misogyny that undergirded the cultural production of the early twenty-first century, and how it continues to shape our world today.

From Atlantic critic and Pulitzer Prize finalist Sophie Gilbert, a blazing critique of early aughts pop culture What happened to feminism in the twenty-first century? This question feels increasingly urgent after a period of cultural and legislative backlash, when widespread uncertainty about the movement's power, focus, and currency threatens decades of progress. Sophie Gilbert identifies an inflection point in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when the energy of third-wave and "riot grrrl" feminism collapsed into a regressive period of hyper-objectification, sexualization, and infantilization. Gilbert mines the darker side of nostalgia, training her keen analytic eye on the most revealing cultural objects of the era, across music, film, television, fashion, tabloid journalism, and more. And what she recounts is harrowing, from the leering aesthetic of American Apparel ads and explicit music videos to a burgeoning internet culture vicious toward women in the spotlight and damaging for those who weren't. Gilbert tracks many of the period's dominant themes back to the explosion of internet porn, tracing its widespread influence as it began to pervade our collective consciousness. Gilbert paints a devastating picture of an era when a distinctly American confluence of excess, materialism, and power worship collided with the culture's reactionary, puritanical, and chauvinistic currents. Amid a collective reconsideration of the way women are treated in public, Girl on Girl is a blistering indictment of the matrix of misogyny that undergirded the cultural production of the early twenty-first century, and how it continues to shape our world today.