I never thought that saying a fit, rich, blonde, young, able, femme-y white woman was good-looking would be a form of resistance - but here I go: Britney Spears is my ideal body type.
Watching her MTV Video Music Awards “comeback” on Youtube, the first thing I thought was, (and I swear this is the truth) “Wow, she looks really healthy and good.” In fact, I was surprised that she looked so healthy, considering the tales of her consecutive nights of drinking with Paris Hilton. So hearing reports on her “lard and clear” performance have been dismaying to say the least.
No, I’m not saying that I thought she looked all right. I’m not saying her appearance was tolerable. I’m not saying that I thought, from a certain angle, she didn’t look that bad. I’m saying, loud and clear: I thought she looked hott.
There is a lot to say about how Britney Spears has been treated in the media, and one day I will get my notes together enough and write a long post on it. But for the time being, even if my one tiny voice is no match for the millions of voices that are saying she’s ugly and dumpy - and consequently creating and intensifying the epidemic of body image problems suffered by women and men the world over - I’m declaring, I thought she looked just great.
So there.
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12 comments
I often find myself in the strange position of sticking up for Britney Spears. In particular, I remember when it was front-page news that she dropped her kid (or something like that) and people were calling her all sorts of names. Do you know how many new mothers drop their babies? Millions! Motherhood takes some getting used to. It's just that when non-famous moms make mistakes they're not being photographed for celeb gossip mags. Thanks for posting about this, Thea, the nasty comments from so-called respectable news outlets (hello, Associated Press) were pretty vile and do nothing but fuel our culture of body-hating.
Posted by Nicole
September 11, 2007, 9:57 AM
I was appalled to find that the Toronto Star called her "embarrassingly out of shape."
This is what they believe to be embarrassing?
You know what's embarrassing? When a major Canadian newspaper perpetuates bullshit beauty myths and body image problems by implying that this 25 year old mother of two is fat.
Posted by Stacey May
September 11, 2007, 9:57 AM
For me its not about whether she looked good or not or whether having kids justifies weight gain. I think what's more shocking, and really at issue here, is the complete freedom the media feels to evaluate a woman's worth in terms of her body size. this kind of media is not new but it does seem to be at its most frenzied and ferocious these days.
Posted by tuval
September 11, 2007, 12:06 PM
Thanks Tuval, that's a really good point. Some appalling things are so ingrained that they stop being appalling - or even noticeable, for me at least.
Posted by Thea
September 11, 2007, 12:51 PM
Sometimes I like to count the things I do in a single day that, if caught by the paparazzi, would be worthy of mockery. You know, my underwear hanging out of my pants, food on my face... I could probably get up in the 100s if I paid enough attention.
I'm also totally with Nicole on the motherhood thing. I recall recently Brit was accused of "abusing" her children because she gave them too much sugar. Ridiculous.
You're so right Tuval- the fact that she has children is completely irrelevent to how wrong the weight comments are in general. I just think our culture has this completely wrong notion of what women's bodies actually look like.
Posted by Stacey May
September 11, 2007, 1:37 PM
The media picking her body apart like that is inexcusable, but I feel Britney has been complicit with the media, and now she is a victim of her own complicity.
Britney made millions of young girls feel incredibly bad about their bodies, and gave them a completely skewed view of their own sexuality. She had many opportunities to present a different side of herself to the world, especially when she became a fixture in pop culture. Instead, she did what would make her the most money, and a lot of children looked up to her and imitated her.
Now she is being ripped apart by the same screwed up 'standards' of society that made her a wealthy and powerful woman. She is in a position of privilege and power, and she should get herself together and use that power, not to get a 'fit' body or get her over-sexed career going again, but to be an actual role model for young girls. One that doesn't feel she needs to feed into society's perversions on stage in a desperate grab for attention.
Posted by jaye
September 12, 2007, 4:23 AM
Interesting point, Jaye. To challenge you a bit: Britney -- and most pop stars, female actors, etc -- is not in complete control of her career and image. A lot of how these people act and appear is prescribed by standards in the music or film industries; contrived ideas about what's "hot" and what "sells." Sex, as we all know, sells, and female musicians often undergo radical transformations (exhibit A, Nellie Furtado)that may not have been of their own choosing. I'm not saying these women are passive objects to be moulded and shaped, but their managers, record labels etc. have an undeniable influence on their image and career. And it's no secret that the people in charge are often men who see people like Britney as major sources of revenue rather than as "artists" or whatnot.
In our Fall 2006 issue, Anna wrote a great profile of Duhk's singer Jesee Havey, an articulate young rising star who talks explicitly about the pressure she is sometimes put under to be sexy. It takes a strong woman to resist that. (Actor and director Sarah Polley is also admirable for her refusal to be pressured to present herself in a way that makes her feel uncomfortable, she does her own makeup and hair for photo shoots.)
Posted by Nicole
September 12, 2007, 9:08 AM
Sarah Polley was blacklisted by Disney for wearing a peace symbol at a press call during the first Gulf War. She's been a role model for a long time.
Posted by Michelle
September 12, 2007, 9:39 AM
The phrase "blacklisted by Disney" is pretty amazing. (Okay, okay, I know it's not funny, but I'm picturing Thumper and Sebastian the lobster shaking their heads in disappointment at Polley, and subsequently pasting up a photo of her with a big X through it in the Enchanted Castle or whatever.) Something to which we can all aspire...
Posted by Anna
September 12, 2007, 10:22 AM
Nicole – I really hear you on that point, and I did hesitate before writing my comments, because I didn’t want it to sound like I was criticizing women for being victims of a patriarchal society. At the same time, Britney has used exploitative and objectifying stereotypes of women to her advantage, and profited hugely from it. Britney was named THE most influential or powerful person/entertainer of the year at one point …if she wants to continue to exploit perverse images of women because she believes that will make her popular and a huge star, she IS part of the patriarchy in my book. She’s not a defenseless, helpless victim, she is a woman in a position of power who makes conscious choices.
Now that she’s fallen, she wants a feminist backing when it comes to society’s unrealistic and disgusting expectations on a woman’s body? “Society” is made up of individual actions…and I feel she has single-handedly helped to maintain and further society’s connection of female body image to self-worth.
Part of her show was having strippers pole dance on the other tables, and all of this was a show for her ADOLESCENT fans.
Britney as a “symbol of all women”, I would defend passionately against those who felt free to denounce her body…Britney the individual and entertainer who has exploited the sexualization of children and the objectification of women in our culture for her own personal gain, I have absolutely no sympathy for.
Posted by jaye
September 12, 2007, 10:41 PM
I have this feeling that, in reality, there may be a big disconnection between the Britney created by Hollywood and Britney the person. I also think that she is surrounded by people... but still alone. She needs help and, dare i say it, love, to crawl out of the abyss she's fallen into - and no one's giving it beyond the joke that is Hollywood rehab and the false promises of a "comeback".
From Mouseketeer to musician to mother, Britney has spent most of her life in the spotlight - she never really had the chance to be just ordinary Britney Jean Spears and that might be the saddest part.
Posted by Michelle
September 13, 2007, 5:35 AM
I finally watched the whole thing on YouTube last night (now you know how I party on a Saturday) and I have to say, it was pretty rough. I think when the Toronto Star said she was "embarrassingly out of shape" they may have been referring not to the state of her abs (which looked fine) but to the fact that she seemed extremely hungover and barely able to move. I found it painful to watch, like seeing an effed-up girl at a bar stumbling around while her friends (i.e. backup dancers) cover for her and try to keep her from yakking up on herself. It made me sad.
Posted by Anna
September 16, 2007, 12:53 PM
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