Did the ‘90s Kill Feminism?

Despite everyone’s nostalgic feelings for the ‘90’s, it was undoubtedly a complicated time for women. 

Feminism was alive and well at the start of the decade, but author Sophie Gilbert explains how the movement’s energy collapsed into a problematic media storm that still lingers today. 

She chronicles the decline through the ‘90s pop culture that shaped women from the Riot Grrrl movement, to the Spice Girls, and beyond in her book 'Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves.’

“At the beginning of the '90s, third wave feminism was very much alive. Anita Hill was testifying in Congress, it was the ‘Year of the Woman.’ You had Riot Grrrl, you had all this energy and this momentum behind trying to make things better for women,” Sophie explains. “And then over the course of the decade, it just kind of flatlined.”

Sophie talks to Sam about her book, how feminism is more fractured than ever, and how the extreme caricatures of women we see today aren’t that different from the tropes of women in the ‘90s.   

Sign up for Sam’s Newsletter to get behind the scenes stuff from every interview each week.

The Sam Sanders Show is a production of KCRW and Sam Sanders Productions.

The Sam Sanders Show from KCRW is your guide to entertainment. Find out what makes your favorite artists tick, dissect the trends that shape our culture, or just make sense of that random meme you can’t stop thinking about. Join us every week to unpack the pop culture we love.

Sign up for Sam’s Newsletter to get behind the scenes stuff from every interview each week.

Sam Sanders is an award-winning podcast and radio host. He’s been named best podcast host by both The Ambies and the iHeart Podcast Awards. He was one of the founding hosts of The NPR Politics Podcast and the host who launched both It’s Been A Minute from NPR and Into It from Vulture.