A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2025
A TIME MUST-READ BOOK OF 2025

'Essential reading' Irish Independent

'Fascinating and powerfully argued' Daily Telegraph

'A vast, engaging and brilliant historical deep dive into the relationship between pop culture, misogyny and feminism' Stylist

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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.

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'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

'I folded down every single page' PANDORA SYKES, author of How Do We Know We're Doing It Right?

'A book that will make you think, and want to discuss' Glamour

'Blistering' New York Times

'Riveting' Vogue

'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

'Gilbert is a serious and attentive chronicler of a fraught era' Financial Times

"Landmark feminist non-fiction" - Stylist

"A sharp, insightful analysis of how media and pop culture have shaped how women view themselves and each other" - Marie Claire

"Gilbert unmasks the collective regression that continues to influence our views on misogyny, feminism and womanhood today" - Harper's Bazaar

"Gilbert is one of my favorite writers and thinkers, particularly on the subjects of gender and womanhood-and her debut book, which dissects three decades of pop culture through a feminist lens, is sure to be one of the standouts of the year" - The Millions

"A carefully buttressed and sharply written analysis that takes into account a dizzying number of cultural products and characters . . . Truly, Gilbert deserves a medal - not only for her observations and conclusions, but for navigating the sludge she had to wade through to get there. Essential cultural criticism" - Kirkus

"In exploring the years that saw millennial feminism curdle into a wan tool of capitalism (lean in, girlboss!), the book is somehow very entertaining and even energizing, transforming a dismal history into something like a rallying cry" - Boston Globe

"Triumphant . . . a tour de force of cultural criticism" - Publishers Weekly

"Important . . . A detailed analysis on why the feminist movement, through the gaze of pop culture, feels more fragile than ever . . . Gilbert is excellent on the way porn has seeped its way into today's culture" - Irish Independent

"Smart and riveting . . . [Gilbert is] a kind of Lionel Trilling for the TikTok generation" - Vogue

"Gilbert's book has pried open a feminist door that felt long slammed shut" - Slate

"Wide-ranging and incisive" - Spectator

"Incredibly informed and totally fascinating" - Citizen Femme