EP 160: Spice Girls, Teen Comedies, & Girlbosses: How 2000s Pop Culture Shaped Millennial Women

In this episode of the Mo News Podcast, producer Sari Soffer Sukenik sits down with Sophie Gilbert, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of her new book, Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves. Sophie reflects on the pop culture of the ’90s and 2000s — the rom-com boom, the teen sex comedies, the rise of the “cool girl,” and the commercialization of “girl power” — and how these cultural touchstones shaped millennial women’s self-image, relationships, and ambitions. The conversation ranges from Spice Girls to American Pie, from rom-com nostalgia to the cultural legacy of #MeToo, and from Janet Jackson's Superbowl wardrobe malfunction to Instagram’s double-edged impact. Sophie argues for a more mindful relationship with the media we consume—and what it means to raise the next generation with awareness of how culture shapes us all.