Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sophie Gilbert

@sophiegilbert.bsky.social

29K followers 300 following 130 posts

Staff writer at The Atlantic: TV, books, culture, women. GIRL ON GIRL is out now: https://bookshop.org/p/books/girl-on-girl-how-pop-culture-turned-a-generation-of-women-against-themselves-sophie-gilbert/21683668?ean=9780593656297

bookshop.org

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Sophie Gilbert @sophiegilbert.bsky.social · Apr 29

Girl on Girl is out today! And got the review of my literal dreams from the Washington Post—I am truly a bit emotional at someone seeing what I was trying to do with the book so clearly. wapo.st/3ECIW0t

Review | How 2000s pop culture taught us that sex is a currency

In “Girl on Girl,” Sophie Gilbert turns a critical eye on misogyny without settling into outrage or pity.

wapo.st

2 4 42

Reposted by Sophie Gilbert

Melanie D’Arrigo @darrigomelanie.bsky.social · 11h

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

1.3K 15K 40K

Sophie Gilbert @sophiegilbert.bsky.social · 20h

Gasped at the ending to this. (It's all cool edgy fun and games until someone gets chatbot-induced psychosis.) www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

The Most Reviled Tech CEO in New York Confronts His Haters

Avi Schiffmann says he’s enjoying the angry reaction to the Friend AI pendant. Is he serious?

www.theatlantic.com

1 5 8

Reposted by Sophie Gilbert

Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 23h

“Secretary Kennedy is entitled to his views. But he is not entitled to put people’s health at risk.”

Six former surgeons general condemn RFK Jr.

Opinion | Six surgeons general: RFK Jr. is a threat to the health of Americans

It was our duty in office to warn of dangers when we found them. We’re doing that again today.

www.washingtonpost.com

69 980 3.2K

Reposted by Sophie Gilbert

David Gilbert @davidgilbert.bsky.social · 2d

Over the weekend, Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller repeatedly attacked judges, calling them part of an "organized terrorist attack" on the US government....

On Saturday, the home of a judge who ruled against Trump, went up in flames

time.com/7323442/sout...

House of South Carolina Judge Criticized by Trump Administration Set Ablaze

Authorities are investigating a fire at the home of a South Carolina judge who had reportedly received death threats in what could be the latest incident of political violence across the country.

time.com

77 1.2K 2K

Sophie Gilbert @sophiegilbert.bsky.social · 2d

😱

1 1

Sophie Gilbert @sophiegilbert.bsky.social · 2d

We are parching our planet for racist AI memes and for men to have chatbot girlfriends who don't challenge them www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

‘Obedient, yielding and happy to follow’: the troubling rise of AI girlfriends

AI dating sites claim they remove potential for exploitation, but critics say they are reinforcing harmful stereotypes

www.theguardian.com

1 3 14

Reposted by Sophie Gilbert

Cristian Farias @cristianfarias.com · 2d

This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...

3.5K 16K 44K

Reposted by Sophie Gilbert

Jack Tripper @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 2d

The fact they jumped straight to AI actors modeled after women when, if I’m not mistaken, male actors are a higher labor cost kind of says it all doesn’t it,

Dr. Damien P. Williams Wants A Better Sociotechnical Paradigm @wolvendamien.bsky.social · 3d

Like… it's kind of right there, no?

"AI" generated image of woman with dark hair sitting in a chair in front of posters with random shapes and symbols meant to look like images and text on movie posters, all superimposed with a post from k.w.bogen reading
"AI actresses can't negotiate. They can't say they'd prefer their bodies not be shown certgain ways. They can't refuse degrading scenes. They can't express distress about disturbing content. They can't ask the creators :why would you do that to me? Why put any woman through watching that? If AI film winds up being the path, we're about to see an entirely new generation (and more brutal depiction) of media misogyny."

62 1.3K 4.8K

Sophie Gilbert @sophiegilbert.bsky.social · 5d

The JDV description!! Note-perfect!

Reposted by Sophie Gilbert

Alexandra Petri @petridishes.bsky.social · 7d

if the Trump Hegseth address had been an email www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

To: Entire Military Leadership of the United States, Stationed All Over the World, Who Would Have to Be Flown In Very Disruptively and Expensively If This Weren't an Email but for Some Reason Were an Urgent In-Person Address
From: Pete Hegseth
CC: Donald J. Trump
Subject: WARFIGHTER ETHOS
PLEASE DROP EVERYTHING YOU ARE DOING TO READ THIS EMAIL AT ATTENTION. THIS IS NOT SPAM AND I AM EXTREMELY SOBER! YOU ARE TOO FAT TO FIGHT WARS!

23 310 1.7K

Reposted by Sophie Gilbert

Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin @ecmclaughlin.bsky.social · 11d

Shockingly, it turns out there is a limit to what is tolerable. This is an opportunity to be exploited. Record everything. Get loud.

And get trained in bystander intervention.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/n...

ICE Officer ‘Relieved of His Duties’ After Pushing Woman to Floor

www.nytimes.com

52 280 810

Sophie Gilbert @sophiegilbert.bsky.social · 12d

He did this, unmasked, in full view of multiple cameras and onlookers. If you saw this kind of assault happen on the street you'd call the police.

Brad Lander @bradlander.bsky.social · 12d

I was back at 26 Federal Plaza today, where an ICE agent violently threw this bereft woman to the ground in front of her kids. She had not touched him. She did not pose any threat. She had to be taken to the hospital. (🎥: Elias Eliahu)

1 4 19

Reposted by Sophie Gilbert

The Tell-Tale Brian Phillips @brianphillips.bsky.social · 12d

What an incredible homage to its two inspirations, Embassy Vestibule In A 2003 First-Person Shooter and Buffet Room In The Old Soviet Hotel Where I Stayed When I Had Covid In Ulaanbaatar Last Year

PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 @patriottakes.bsky.social · 12d

Trump brags about White House upgrades as Americans struggle with high prices

6 31 280

Sophie Gilbert @sophiegilbert.bsky.social · 12d

such a good idea!

Sophie Gilbert @sophiegilbert.bsky.social · 13d

It's *terrifying* every time you have a fever during pregnancy for exactly this reason

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias.bsky.social · 13d

This Tylenol thing is so stupid and evil — untreated fever during pregnancy is actually dangerous!

Reposted by Sophie Gilbert

Moira Donegan @moiradonegan.bsky.social · 14d

I do think it’s conspicuous that no real public conversation has emerged over the reality that the rise of AI means that women and girls no longer have a choice about whether their image is made into porn; that this is now a cost of entry for their participation in public life.

8 40 200

Reposted by Sophie Gilbert

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 18d

“There’s an invisible thread that connects all of us women who go through an experience of public shaming,” @monicalewinsky.bsky.social tells @sophiegilbert.bsky.social at #TAF25.

Watch more: bit.ly/3IkhDd9

2 8 39

Reposted by Sophie Gilbert

The TCA @tvcritics.org · 18d

TCA condemns ABC and Disney’s capitulation to the government’s demands of censorship.

Television Critics Association

The Television Critics Association (TCA) condemns ABC's indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which is the latest in a series of actions aimed at silencing critics of the Trump administration.

The Walt Disney Company's capitulation to the demands of the FCC chair this week represents a wanton disregard of the First Amendment's guarantee to a right for people and the press to speak without government retribution.
TCA stands with the Writers Guild of America, which said in a statement it is "united in opposition to anyone who uses their power and influence to silence the voices of writers, or anyone who speaks in dissent," and SAG-AFTRA, which said this "is the type of suppression and retaliation that endangers everyone's freedoms."

The government attempting to punish creatives, writers, and/or journalists for speech that officials do not like is authoritarianism. Corporations that profit from the words of television stars, writers, and journalists must defend their employees from governmental pressure, which is different from setting their own creative and editorial standards.

4 61 170

Sophie Gilbert @sophiegilbert.bsky.social · 20d

"Kudos to whatever stylist absolutely nailed her request to go to the royal palace in 'Babadook Mode.'"

Kurtbert Barlowko @albertburneko.bsky.social · 20d

this is so stupid defector.com/nice-hat-mel...

Nice Hat, Melania | Defector

President Donald Trump is in the United Kingdom, meeting with the British royal family. Here we see him with the King and Queen of the U.K., plus a British functionary of some sort, and also Kung Lao ...

defector.com

2 10

Sophie Gilbert @sophiegilbert.bsky.social · 20d

This is terrifying

Adam Steinbaugh @adamsteinbaugh.bsky.social · 20d

"we have to get them off the internet. We can’t let them communicate with each other. I’m all about free speech, but"

talkingpointsmemo.com/news/texas-c...

Texas Congressman Says Trans People Need To Be Taken ‘Off The Streets’ After Charlie Kirk Shooting

The killing of right wing activist and influencer Charlie Kirk has prompted...

talkingpointsmemo.com

1 2 10

Sophie Gilbert @sophiegilbert.bsky.social · 20d

Wrote about TASK (I love TASK) www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

A Bleak World Without Women

"Task," HBO’s new Delaware County–set crime drama, has violence, vengeance, and a point to make about men.

www.theatlantic.com

1 2 12

Reposted by Sophie Gilbert

Gina Murrell @ginamurrell1.bsky.social · 21d

Robert Redford was an early supporter of Ms., the feminist magazine cofounded in 1971 by Gloria Steinem. For the October 1975 “Special Issue on Men,” that was Redford’s back—with an issue of Ms. in the back pocket of his jeans—on the front cover. nymag.com/news/feature... #feminism #RIPRobertRedford

On the full-color front cover of Ms. magazine’s “Special Issue on Men” (October 1975) is Robert Redford’s yellow T-shirt-clad back—with an issue Ms. in the back pocket of his blue jeans.

1 62 190

Reposted by Sophie Gilbert

James Kelleher @jameskelleher.pilcrow.ie · 25d

The 3 stages of grief: denial, anger, ballroom

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 25d

Q: My condolences on the loss of your friend Charlie Kirk. How are you holding up?

TRUMP: I think very good. And by the way, right there you see all the trucks. They just started construction of the new ballroom for the White House, which is something they've been trying to get for about 150 years.

200 940 4.5K

Reposted by Sophie Gilbert

Michael Caley @michaelcaley.bsky.social · 26d

broadly I think something people miss about bsky is that the two main groups which did not migrate over here en masse are moderates and low trust / shitposter leftists

this is a disproportionately a high trust liberal to left space

Alex Kirshner @alexkirshner.com · 26d

I wrote about the caricature of Bluesky that right-wing Twitter accounts were pumping out to hundreds of millions of people yesterday @slate.com. Hey, Bluesky did finally become an echo chamber. Just not the one these people were pretending it is: slate.com/technology/2...

No, Bluesky Isn’t Celebrating the Death of Charlie Kirk

Despite what right-wing influencers want you to believe, liberals actually hate political violence.

slate.com

28 110 950