My book Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves is out now. An excerpt is available to read at The Atlantic.
"Across 10 rigorously researched but never stuffy chapters, Gilbert has compiled perhaps the first comprehensive examination of turn-of-the-millennium mainstream, cool-kid trends and ephemera, and how they were largely molded by those in power to sell a generation of girls and young women reality-warping lies: that self-objectification is empowerment, that disciplined conformism is a lifelong project, that sexism is comedy." The New York Times
"Girl on Girl covers how American culture writ large treated women from the 1990s to the 2010s. It’s to Gilbert’s credit that she makes a cohesive history emerge from this morass of references — from “Kids” to “The Hangover,” Heidi Montag to Marie Calloway, Bridget Jones to Cindy Sherman — that arise out of this era. A Pulitzer Prize-nominated critic and staff writer at the Atlantic, she draws examples from the tenor of blog coverage, bro buddy comedies, postfeminist auteurs and the detractors who obsessed over women over these decades. Throughout, her organization is as confident and nimble as her arguments." The Washington Post
"Chapter by chapter, Gilbert methodically shows how the backlash against second- and third-wave and riot grrrl feminism fueled the rise of incel culture, trad wives, the stay-at-home girlfriends on TikTok, and much more. There is a lot to unpack here, but it is well worth the effort." Associated Press
I've given interviews about Girl on Girl to Vogue, The Cut, Harper's Bazaar, Glamour US, Glamour UK, Dazed, BOMB, Our Culture, The Social, All of It With Allison Stewart, KERA Think, C-SPAN, and MSNBC.
"Across 10 rigorously researched but never stuffy chapters, Gilbert has compiled perhaps the first comprehensive examination of turn-of-the-millennium mainstream, cool-kid trends and ephemera, and how they were largely molded by those in power to sell a generation of girls and young women reality-warping lies: that self-objectification is empowerment, that disciplined conformism is a lifelong project, that sexism is comedy." The New York Times
"Girl on Girl covers how American culture writ large treated women from the 1990s to the 2010s. It’s to Gilbert’s credit that she makes a cohesive history emerge from this morass of references — from “Kids” to “The Hangover,” Heidi Montag to Marie Calloway, Bridget Jones to Cindy Sherman — that arise out of this era. A Pulitzer Prize-nominated critic and staff writer at the Atlantic, she draws examples from the tenor of blog coverage, bro buddy comedies, postfeminist auteurs and the detractors who obsessed over women over these decades. Throughout, her organization is as confident and nimble as her arguments." The Washington Post
"Chapter by chapter, Gilbert methodically shows how the backlash against second- and third-wave and riot grrrl feminism fueled the rise of incel culture, trad wives, the stay-at-home girlfriends on TikTok, and much more. There is a lot to unpack here, but it is well worth the effort." Associated Press
I've given interviews about Girl on Girl to Vogue, The Cut, Harper's Bazaar, Glamour US, Glamour UK, Dazed, BOMB, Our Culture, The Social, All of It With Allison Stewart, KERA Think, C-SPAN, and MSNBC.