Is feminist theory revealing surprising patterns in American pop culture for today's students?

Time of India

24-07-2025

In lecture halls and dorm rooms across US campuses, a quiet but significant shift is taking place. Students are not only consuming pop culture, but dissecting it. What once passed as light entertainment is now being re-examined through an increasingly critical lens.
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At the heart of this shift lies feminist theory, a framework traditionally reserved for sociology or gender studies classrooms, now serving as a tool for young people to decode the deeper patterns of power, representation, and gender politics woven into American pop culture.
Whether it is the sharp commentary embedded in
's Barbie, the emotional vulnerability in
's latest lyrics, Gen Z students are identifying patterns that challenge earlier notions of passive media consumption.
For many, feminist theory is no longer a purely academic concept. It has become a practical lens for everyday life.
A resurgence in relevance
Feminist theory, in its broadest sense, critiques systems of power, especially those rooted in gender inequality. But today's students are engaging with the theory in more expansive and intersectional ways. In 2025, intersectionality, a term popularised by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, has become foundational in feminist discourse on American campuses.
Students are examining how gender interacts with race, sexuality, class, and disability to influence how individuals are represented and treated in media narratives.
Courses like 'Gender, Sexualities & The Media' at institutions such as New York University and University of California, Berkeley are incorporating social media trends, music videos, and streaming content into their syllabi.
What students are seeing differently
Take, for instance, the evolution of the female protagonist in American film and television.
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The early 2000s 'cool girl' archetype, a trope often associated with male approval and internalised misogyny, is being actively challenged in recent media. Students frequently cite characters like Maddy Perez from 'Euphoria' or Devi Vishwakumar from 'Never Have I Ever' as examples of more nuanced, imperfect portrayals of girlhood and agency.
In classrooms and on student blogs, these representations are not only celebrated for their complexity but also critiqued for the pressures they reflect.
The conversation is no longer limited to 'strong female leads.' Instead, students are asking whether these characters are afforded emotional range, whether they perpetuate racial stereotypes, and how their stories reflect broader systemic expectations.
The 2023 release of Barbie, which continues to be studied in media and gender courses in 2025, is a case in point. While it was commercially positioned as a summer blockbuster, students quickly identified its thematic undercurrents: existential womanhood, consumer capitalism, and the politics of gendered labor.
The feminist backlash and student response
Of course, not all reactions have been celebratory. A segment of political discourse in the United States has taken aim at gender studies, labelling it ideological or divisive. Several conservative state legislatures have proposed restricting funding for courses that include critical gender theory. Yet, students continue to seek out these conversations, often outside formal academic spaces.
What distinguishes today's student engagement with feminist theory is its pragmatism.
Feminism is not seen as an abstract ideology but as a method of questioning narratives. This is especially important at a time when media is omnipresent, algorithmically curated, and globally consumed.
The accessibility of content has allowed students to revisit and reassess media they grew up with. Shows like 'Gossip Girl" and 'How I Met Your Mother" are being rewatched and reevaluated. What once seemed aspirational now raises red flags, about consent, gender dynamics, and identity politics.
Moreover, students are using this lens not only to critique but also to demand better. There is a growing appetite for media that is inclusive, self-aware, and created with intention. This is reflected in student-led petitions for more inclusive casting, feedback campaigns to streaming services, and crowdfunding for independent creators who challenge normative narratives.
As the boundaries between academic theory and cultural analysis continue to blur, the student-led feminist interrogation of pop culture is likely to grow.
In 2025, feminist theory is no longer siloed in textbooks. It is animated through YouTube video essays, Instagram critiques, and classroom discussions that refuse to separate entertainment from ideology.
For today's students, the act of watching, listening, or scrolling is no longer passive. It is informed by a growing toolkit of critical thought, sharpened by the insights of feminist theory, and driven by a desire to make sense of a world saturated with media.
In that sense, feminist theory is not only revealing surprising patterns in pop culture. It is shaping a generation that expects more from the stories it consumes.
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