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

In this triumphant debut, Pulitzer finalist Gilbert dissects three decades of pop culture, from the Riot Grrrl 1990s to the #Girlboss 2010s, arguing that the era’s depictions of women evolved in ways that ended up warping their self-esteem. Analyzing a head-spinning array of cultural artifacts—from high art to gossip columns—she dredges up long-forgotten relics, among them the reality TV show “Are You Hot?” in which “members of the public stripped in order to be assessed by a panel of judges,” and “The Swan,” in which contestants were given “dozens” of cosmetic surgeries. Gilbert identifies a series of interlocking cultural shifts over this period that, in her telling, amounted to a subtle backlash against feminism. Examples include the late-’90s replacement of “angry and abrasive and thrillingly powerful” women musicians, like Tori Amos and Sinéad O’Connor, with more childlike or even underage stars like Britney Spears. Gilbert traces the origins of this drift to the objectifying influence of pornography, which, as it rapidly proliferated in online spaces, began to infect pop culture with a degrading attitude toward women. She also makes a convincing case that the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade was the long tail of this backlash. It’s a tour de force of cultural criticism. (Apr.)