Loved this! Such an important book in our current political climate, I believe every woman, but especially young women, should pick this up! Gilbert tackles the Porn Industry, Music Industry, Reality TV, Politics, and Social Media, then connects it women everywhere in a very engaging way. We are seeing a horrifying reversion to body shaming, diet culture, slut shaming, women's rights being taken away! It is so important for us to know our history and what fights have happened so we can continue to build on them and improve things. Social media and pop culture are fun and can do a lot of good but we know it can also do a lot of harm and that is what this book deals with. For anyone who reads a lot of feminist theory or history then this probably doesn't have a lot of new ideas or information but it was presented very well and I think is a perfect book to start with if you are just diving into educating yourself on these issues!

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!