Girl on Girl by Sophie Gilbert
☑️ eARC via @netgalley and @penguinrandomca

Sophie Gilbert is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and you can definitely see why in this sharp deconstruction of 90s-early aughts pop culture and girlhood.

Why did the rage and riot grrl energy of third-wave feminism collapse into the period I came of age in—over-sexualized hyper-objectification yet infantalizing in the most insidious ways? Gilbert takes a deep dive into the nostalgia, music, film, tv, fashion, tabloid culture and rise of materialism and celebrity fixation and exposes the dark heart of it all.

Believe me when I say I was RIVETED by every element of this powerful critique. Everything she says makes so much sense and we are all still suffering the effects of how this regressive misogynistic era shaped our world.

Highly highly recommend. Goes into my top 5 nonfiction books of all time.

4.5/5

This is my kind of non-fiction. Reminiscent of pop-culture essays (which tracks as Gilbert writes for The Atlantic), Girl On Girl tackles it all- the music industry, the porn industry, reality tv, paparazzi, politics, and social media- and how it connects to the realities of women everywhere. As a girl mom and a high school teacher, the way women are portrayed in the media is always at the forefront of my mind. The resurgence of diet culture and decline of body positivity in the past year has been alarming, and it’s important that we continue to use our voices loudly so this generation of women aren’t impacted the way mine was by what they consume. Will be recommending this to everyone!