The imprisonment of Russell Brand for rape and sexual assault this week, alongside allegations of sexual misconduct against comedian and children's author David Walliams, has prompted a re-examination of 2000s pop culture.
Walliams has denied the allegations made against him in reports by the Guardian and ITV News, but is now under investigation by the Met police for separate sexual misconduct claims.
Sophie Gilbert, author of Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves, stated that "The popular culture of the 2000s was profoundly, openly, cheerfully horrible to women." She suggested that a shift from third-wave feminism to postfeminism in the 1990s fostered an environment where women were expected to embrace their own objectification.
Anna Tippett, an academic specialising in the sexualisation of popular culture, noted that women who challenged the prevailing culture risked being labelled "prudish, humourless or outdated." She added that there was "considerable pressure either to appear ‘in on the joke’ or to remain silent."