Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves

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! Cosmetic surgeries are 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, Madonna to Taylor Swift, #GirlBoss to OnlyFans - Pulitzer Prize-finalist Sophie Gilbert shows how every form of media, heavily influenced by the rise of porn, has systematically shaped - and warped - women's relationships with themselves and others. 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. We cannot move forward without fully reckoning with the ways pop culture has defined us. '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.