The Judgment of Gender: How Women Are Centered and Silenced in Pop Culture w/ Allison T. Butler

👉 Pitch in on Patreon and fuel the future of free-thinking conversations. https://www.patreon.com/parallaxviews Also visit our returning sponsor Mike Swanson's Wall Street Window for the best financial and trading newsletter around: https://wallstreetwindow.com/ NOTE: I was not able to work with my usual microphone on this one, so please bear in mind audio on my end may sound a bit odd but hopefully not too distracting. On this edition of Parallax Views, J.G. Michael is joined by Allison Butler, author of *The Judgment of Gender: How Women Are Centered and Silenced in Pop Culture*, for a conversation about the ways in which popular culture frames, judges, and often silences women. From the public spectacles surrounding Tonya Harding and Lorena Bobbitt to the broader cultural treatment of women who speak out, challenge expectations, or find themselves at the center of controversy, Butler examines how gender shapes the stories we tell about women and the ways audiences are encouraged to perceive them. The conversation also raises questions that remain urgently relevant amid contemporary cases involving sexual violence, including the Cornell 7 case and the recent sexual assault allegations reported by congressional candidate Bernadette Greene-Placentia. How do media narratives shape public perceptions of victims, perpetrators, and accountability? Why are women so often scrutinized for their behavior while the broader social dynamics surrounding violence and misogyny receive less attention? And what can critical media literacy teach us about questioning the narratives presented to us by popular culture? Drawing on her work in media literacy, Butler invites us to look beyond familiar headlines and celebrity controversies to consider how women are simultaneously placed at the center of public attention and denied the ability to control their own stories.