Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Non-fiction novel Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves by Sophie Gilbert has hit the shelves.
Sophie discusses how an inflection point in the late 1990s and early 2000s has turned the ‘women empowerment movement’ into a toxic and objectifying culture that pits them against each other in the entertainment industry, and how it affects women today.
“Unfortunately, today’s popular culture is in thrall to the idea of women fighting and will fan the flames of conflict whenever possible,” Sophie said in an interview.
“On any given day, countless TikTok commentators parse the (often imaginary) details of celebrity rivalries.
“Influencers form girl gangs with their own ornate hierarchies.
“Trends such as ‘Pick Me vs Baddie’ and ‘That Girl’ underscore the idea that women exist in permanent opposition to one other, and must bring each other down in order to thrive,” she added.
The London-based writer focuses her articles on TV, books, pop culture and entertainment.
She won the National Magazine Award in 2024 for Reviews and Criticism, and was 2022 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism.
