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Hello and welcome to Intelligence Squared, where great minds meet.
I'm producer Fahey Adedita.
We're going on a bit of time travel for this episode, back to the noughties, with columnist and writer Sarah Ditton.
She's the author of Toxic, which explores how Internet culture changed the face of celebrity forever during the years 2000 to 2009.
The book looks at the era's hostile treatment of female celebrities by the media, focusing on stars such as Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse, Paris Hilton, Janet Jackson and many more.
It highlights some uncomfortable truths about what it meant to be a woman in the public eye at that time.
Joining Sarah in conversation is the writer and broadcaster Helen Lewis, who is staff writer at the Atlantic and author of Difficult a History of Feminism in eleven fights.
Let's join Helen and Sarah now.
Sarah, welcome to the Intelligent Squared podcast.
Thank you so much for having me.
When I first read this book, the theme that came across most strongly to me was cruelty.
How cruel we were to celebrities in the 2010s.