Britney recently confessed to Mario Lopez that she's considering retiring after her Vegas run is up. I once read an article that began, "Britney is so famous that it's hard to imagine a world in which she doesn't exist." Well, in two years, we might find out what that world would look like. I'm guessing it probably won't look that great.
I was a freshman in college when I first heard ". . . Baby One More Time," Britney's first smash hit. I liked the song, but didn't immediately become enamored with the singer. I saw the video, and even though Britney looked amazing, I still didn't fall in love with her. Truthfully, I never bought either of her first two albums (I downloaded them illegally). In my defense, it was hard for a straight, college boy to go out and buy a Britney CD (remember, there was no iTunes back then).
By album three, her first self-titled album, I got up the courage to actually purchase it. At that point, like much of America, I had fallen in love with Britney. It wasn't the VMA snake or the "I'm A Slave 4 U" body. If I'm being honest, it was the whole package. She had the personality of someone you went to high school with: bubbly, but not annoying; sweet, but not boring.
The only thing that really changed over the past 10-plus years was that while America sorta gave up on her, her true fans never did. There's no doubt that on the road of life, she's seen her fair share of bumps. But, really, who hasn't? I know that I've had many ups and downs going from birth to where I am now. I've been the victim of some poor circumstances and I've caused my own pain.
Life is a learning experience that you never quite figure out until you're dead. I'm sure Britney will make more mistakes. You don't stop making mistakes just because you get older. I'm right there in the 30-club with Britney and I'm definitely not done screwing up.
I don't think Britney will really retire in two years. If she does, she'll leave behind quite the legacy. However, she'll also leave behind a lot of sad fans. I wonder if she truly knows the impact she's had on people's lives. She more than anyone else has encapsulated the phrase, "Be Yourself." Have you ever thought, even for a second, that Britney was ever being fake? Some artists you don't know about, but you always know with Britney.
When Britney retires, whether it's in two years or 20 years, she won't get a gold watch, she won't get a party, she won't even get a pat on the back and a "good job." She might get a thanks and a "don't let the door hit you on the way out." Many people have written her obituary for years; in fact, the AP wrote her actual obituary in 2007. Critics have been trying to get rid of her for years.
Here's the truth: we need Britney, warts and all. We need someone to look utterly bored during a boring interview instead of faking it, we need her quotes, we need the sexy videos, the songs, the choreography that everyone seems to think they can do better than Britney. But mostly we need a counterbalance to all the weird shit we see nowadays.
Yes, somehow Britney has become the most normal person in pop music. She keeps in tongue in her mouth and doesn't dress in meat.
I'm gonna miss Britney when she goes.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
More Britney than Britney: Britney Jean delivers on all the promises
It can be hard to live up to a legacy. If you have a famous parent, people expect you to achieve the same level of fame. It's even harder to live up to a legacy if that legacy is your own.
Britney Spears didn't have famous parents. Her mom taught and her dad cooked. She forged her own legacy through hard work and determination. Her debut album and single both went #1. Her followup sold 1.3 million copies in its first week of release, a record that still stands. There's only one problem with being that good: you can only be that good for so long.
Every album after her second was successful. All but one reached #1. But because she couldn't top her second album, people wondered if she was finished. In fact, since her second album came out in 2000, people have been wondering if she was finished for 13 years.
No matter how many albums she sold, and she sold plenty given the nature of the music business, critics couldn't help but point out how each album after her second sold less and less. Even though one million here and a couple million there is pretty impressive, it wasn't 10 and 20 million like her first two albums. Therefore, something had to give. Either Britney really was finished or people would just have to accept that she'd never be able to top her first two albums.
If you accept the music for what it is, and not worry about how much it sells, you can really enjoy it. Britney knows that. If Britney wanted to sell millions of records, if that was her only goal, she would have simply copied the popular trends. Instead, she stayed ahead of the game: on Blackout she introduced EDM and dubstep-style music to the masses. When that sound got played out, she went in a different direction for Circus. A couple years later, Britney brought that sound back, even harder, with Femme Fatale.
It's hard to constantly stay ahead of the trends, though. You can only push music so far before you push it off the cliff. At some point Britney realized that fact. Therefore, she had to find another way to stay creative and ahead of her peers. What did she do? She created Britney Jean.
The mash-up has become very popular over the past decade. Taking two styles and combining them has worked for Jay Z and Linkin Park. It also works for Britney. While Britney Jean doesn't mash-up two different music styles, it mashes up two ideas: dance songs and personal songs.
Every pop artist has in their back pocket the treacly ballad designed to make you weep or to make you feel. They also have uptempo tracks designed to get you moving. Britney Jean gives you both, minus the treacly part. There are no tender weepy ballads here. No Everytime. What Britney has given us are thoughtful, even poignant songs about love and heartache that just happen to be set to a beat you can dance to.
She could have mailed this effort in. She didn't have to co-write every track on the album. But she realized something: if she wanted to continue to have success, she had to evolve. The dance-floor diva had to let people see behind the curtain. She may not reveal everything - a good magician never does - but she's pulled back the curtain to give us lessors a sneak peak.
Perfume is the story of a woman who's afraid her boyfriend still has feelings for an ex. She may not name names, but this is personal. Alien let's us know that Britney wants to go home. She's never belonged in Hollywood, and now she's finally telling us. In Passenger, Britney reveals that she's finally ready to let someone else take the wheel. Maybe it's Jesus, maybe it's not, but it's from her heart.
Britney gets so personal on this record that she even duets with her sister. They sing about drinking wine and chilling out. I know, Britney doesn't drink. But don't look at the wine as anything other than a metaphor. Perhaps Britney is now finally ready to relax. I don't know if she'll ever get to go "home" - she is a celebrity, after all, and the camera never disappears - but if she's comfortable enough to work with her sister, maybe she can turn Hollywood into home.
Britney's been a loner. Britney Jean reflects that fact. She has love now, though, thanks to her boyfriend and her children. Maybe on a future record, she could include this lyric:
I was happy being alone until I got lonely/Now I just wanna spend my life with you
Britney Spears didn't have famous parents. Her mom taught and her dad cooked. She forged her own legacy through hard work and determination. Her debut album and single both went #1. Her followup sold 1.3 million copies in its first week of release, a record that still stands. There's only one problem with being that good: you can only be that good for so long.
Every album after her second was successful. All but one reached #1. But because she couldn't top her second album, people wondered if she was finished. In fact, since her second album came out in 2000, people have been wondering if she was finished for 13 years.
No matter how many albums she sold, and she sold plenty given the nature of the music business, critics couldn't help but point out how each album after her second sold less and less. Even though one million here and a couple million there is pretty impressive, it wasn't 10 and 20 million like her first two albums. Therefore, something had to give. Either Britney really was finished or people would just have to accept that she'd never be able to top her first two albums.
If you accept the music for what it is, and not worry about how much it sells, you can really enjoy it. Britney knows that. If Britney wanted to sell millions of records, if that was her only goal, she would have simply copied the popular trends. Instead, she stayed ahead of the game: on Blackout she introduced EDM and dubstep-style music to the masses. When that sound got played out, she went in a different direction for Circus. A couple years later, Britney brought that sound back, even harder, with Femme Fatale.
It's hard to constantly stay ahead of the trends, though. You can only push music so far before you push it off the cliff. At some point Britney realized that fact. Therefore, she had to find another way to stay creative and ahead of her peers. What did she do? She created Britney Jean.
The mash-up has become very popular over the past decade. Taking two styles and combining them has worked for Jay Z and Linkin Park. It also works for Britney. While Britney Jean doesn't mash-up two different music styles, it mashes up two ideas: dance songs and personal songs.
Every pop artist has in their back pocket the treacly ballad designed to make you weep or to make you feel. They also have uptempo tracks designed to get you moving. Britney Jean gives you both, minus the treacly part. There are no tender weepy ballads here. No Everytime. What Britney has given us are thoughtful, even poignant songs about love and heartache that just happen to be set to a beat you can dance to.
She could have mailed this effort in. She didn't have to co-write every track on the album. But she realized something: if she wanted to continue to have success, she had to evolve. The dance-floor diva had to let people see behind the curtain. She may not reveal everything - a good magician never does - but she's pulled back the curtain to give us lessors a sneak peak.
Perfume is the story of a woman who's afraid her boyfriend still has feelings for an ex. She may not name names, but this is personal. Alien let's us know that Britney wants to go home. She's never belonged in Hollywood, and now she's finally telling us. In Passenger, Britney reveals that she's finally ready to let someone else take the wheel. Maybe it's Jesus, maybe it's not, but it's from her heart.
Britney gets so personal on this record that she even duets with her sister. They sing about drinking wine and chilling out. I know, Britney doesn't drink. But don't look at the wine as anything other than a metaphor. Perhaps Britney is now finally ready to relax. I don't know if she'll ever get to go "home" - she is a celebrity, after all, and the camera never disappears - but if she's comfortable enough to work with her sister, maybe she can turn Hollywood into home.
Britney's been a loner. Britney Jean reflects that fact. She has love now, though, thanks to her boyfriend and her children. Maybe on a future record, she could include this lyric:
I was happy being alone until I got lonely/Now I just wanna spend my life with you
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Work Bitch Just Can't Push the Envelope
There was a time when anything that Britney Spears did was controversial: perform a strip-tease, dance with a snake, wear nothing but crystals/a red leather catsuit/nothing, and of course make out with a woman. Nowadays, that envelope is pretty hard to push. In the last couple of months we've seen videos featuring nudity, strippers, giant bears (?), hot dogs (?), and lots of tongue. And that's just from Miley Cyrus. Let's not even talk about Rihanna's booty shaking "Pout It Up" video.
We've seen it all it seems, so when Britney dropped her "Work Bitch" video featuring whips, chains, bondage, and sharks (!) the general reaction wasn't "Oh My God," it was "Oh." It's a great video and the response has been positive, but in a world in which twerking is the norm it just can't shock us.
Go back to the late 90s when Prodigy dropped their video for "Smack My Bitch Up." That video featured a first-person look at what we think is a guy doing drugs, getting drunk, abusing women (and men), and finally getting laid. Turns out it was a woman doing all that. It was so controversial that it could only air late at night on MTV. Today, if you just blurred out the boobs, you could air that in the middle of the day.
Therefore, how do you shock? How do you push the envelope? Britney is whipping girls in her video and she has one girl with a Beats Boombox in her mouth like a ball-gag. Yet, there's no outrage, no one crying foul. Maybe her and director Ben Mor didn't intend to shock anyone. Maybe they both know that the envelope has been pushed so far that it's not even worth trying.
Obviously, we've come along way since Prodigy asked us to smack our bitch up. We can see things on the Internet we never could: sex, blood, you name it, it's out there. So, Britney whipping some girl on the ass is pretty tame. In fact, we've pushed the envelope so far that the only way to shock is to not shock at all. In that regard, maybe "Work Bitch" is shocking.
Congrats Britney, you found a new way to push that envelope.
We've seen it all it seems, so when Britney dropped her "Work Bitch" video featuring whips, chains, bondage, and sharks (!) the general reaction wasn't "Oh My God," it was "Oh." It's a great video and the response has been positive, but in a world in which twerking is the norm it just can't shock us.
Go back to the late 90s when Prodigy dropped their video for "Smack My Bitch Up." That video featured a first-person look at what we think is a guy doing drugs, getting drunk, abusing women (and men), and finally getting laid. Turns out it was a woman doing all that. It was so controversial that it could only air late at night on MTV. Today, if you just blurred out the boobs, you could air that in the middle of the day.
Therefore, how do you shock? How do you push the envelope? Britney is whipping girls in her video and she has one girl with a Beats Boombox in her mouth like a ball-gag. Yet, there's no outrage, no one crying foul. Maybe her and director Ben Mor didn't intend to shock anyone. Maybe they both know that the envelope has been pushed so far that it's not even worth trying.
Obviously, we've come along way since Prodigy asked us to smack our bitch up. We can see things on the Internet we never could: sex, blood, you name it, it's out there. So, Britney whipping some girl on the ass is pretty tame. In fact, we've pushed the envelope so far that the only way to shock is to not shock at all. In that regard, maybe "Work Bitch" is shocking.
Congrats Britney, you found a new way to push that envelope.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Big Brother Proves the Internet Has Flaws
For some ungodly reason, the TV show Big Brother has decided to start a live Internet feed. That means you can sit on your couch and watch people sitting on their couch. It's pretty meta. It's also pretty fucking stupid.
Of course, watching people 24 hours a day, racism and bigotry is bound to show up. Because when we don't like somebody, the easiest thing to do is to attack their race. Hate an Asian person - make fun of their driving. Hate a black person - offer them fried chicken and watermelon. Hate a gay person - call them a queen (or queer or faggot).
Seriously, is there nothing better to do than watch people behaving like morons? I can think of 50 things better to do. Here's a list:
1. Mow your lawn
2. Mow your neighbors lawn
3. Repaint your house
4. Put on an orange jumpsuit and pick up trash along the highway
5. Try on every item in your closet
6. Make borsch
7. Vacuum
8. Listen to every album Justin Bieber has ever released
9. Watch all 10 Friday the 13th movies in order
10. Donate a kidney
11. Alphabetize your soups
12. Download every single picture ever taken of Britney Spears
13. Watch every season of the Jersey Shore
14. Take apart your computer and put it back together
15. Cry
16. Dance the Macarena
17. Do the electric slide
18. Read the Bible from cover to cover
19. Learn Finnish
20. Bike ride to the northern most point in Canada
21. Light yourself on fire
22. Write a poem in iambic pentameter to Miley Cyrus
23. Twerk
24. Climb on the roof of your house and just stand there
25. Vomit
26. Liquify a cookie
27. Memorize the phone book
28. Play freeze tag, stay frozen
29. Watch the VHS tape of your parents' wedding
30. Play a round of golf with your eyes closed
31. Teach your goldfish yoga
32. Follow every single person on Twitter. Literally, every person
33. Build a time machine
34. Listen to your wife tell you about someone she doesn't like at work
35. Work Bitch
36. Sell your VCR on ebay
37. Read the Collected Works of William Shakesspeare
38. Buy a pair of yoga pants in every color
39. Create a program similar to Facebook (but not so similar that you'll get sued)
40.Sleep
41. Shoot a sex video that has no sex in it
42. Buy one scratch ticket for every day you thought about strangling someone
43. Shoot a rhino
44. Get breast implants, then have them removed the next day
45. Fall down
46. Get up
47. Cook every meal in your cookbook in one day
48. Knock on people's doors and offer to iron their shirts
49. Take up smoking
50. Swim from Cuba to Florida
Of course, watching people 24 hours a day, racism and bigotry is bound to show up. Because when we don't like somebody, the easiest thing to do is to attack their race. Hate an Asian person - make fun of their driving. Hate a black person - offer them fried chicken and watermelon. Hate a gay person - call them a queen (or queer or faggot).
Seriously, is there nothing better to do than watch people behaving like morons? I can think of 50 things better to do. Here's a list:
1. Mow your lawn
2. Mow your neighbors lawn
3. Repaint your house
4. Put on an orange jumpsuit and pick up trash along the highway
5. Try on every item in your closet
6. Make borsch
7. Vacuum
8. Listen to every album Justin Bieber has ever released
9. Watch all 10 Friday the 13th movies in order
10. Donate a kidney
11. Alphabetize your soups
12. Download every single picture ever taken of Britney Spears
13. Watch every season of the Jersey Shore
14. Take apart your computer and put it back together
15. Cry
16. Dance the Macarena
17. Do the electric slide
18. Read the Bible from cover to cover
19. Learn Finnish
20. Bike ride to the northern most point in Canada
21. Light yourself on fire
22. Write a poem in iambic pentameter to Miley Cyrus
23. Twerk
24. Climb on the roof of your house and just stand there
25. Vomit
26. Liquify a cookie
27. Memorize the phone book
28. Play freeze tag, stay frozen
29. Watch the VHS tape of your parents' wedding
30. Play a round of golf with your eyes closed
31. Teach your goldfish yoga
32. Follow every single person on Twitter. Literally, every person
33. Build a time machine
34. Listen to your wife tell you about someone she doesn't like at work
35. Work Bitch
36. Sell your VCR on ebay
37. Read the Collected Works of William Shakesspeare
38. Buy a pair of yoga pants in every color
39. Create a program similar to Facebook (but not so similar that you'll get sued)
40.Sleep
41. Shoot a sex video that has no sex in it
42. Buy one scratch ticket for every day you thought about strangling someone
43. Shoot a rhino
44. Get breast implants, then have them removed the next day
45. Fall down
46. Get up
47. Cook every meal in your cookbook in one day
48. Knock on people's doors and offer to iron their shirts
49. Take up smoking
50. Swim from Cuba to Florida
What It Feels Like For a Britney Fan
I remember watching the movie "Wreck-it-Ralph" on April 15 when my phone sent me an alert from the ESPN app Scorecenter that read: "Two bombs go off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon." I kept watching the movie, but I quickly turned on my computer to see what the hell happened. Sure enough, two bombs did go off at the Boston Marathon finish line killing three people and wounding 200 more (many severely).
I spent that entire week addicted to the news. First came the reports of what happened, then came the call for help in identifying the suspects. Next, police tracked down the suspects and even managed to kill one. By that Friday, authorities has shut down the entire City of Boston, along with many neighboring communities. Eventually, police apprehended the second suspect.
I know what you're thinking: how could this have ANYthing to do with Britney Spears. It's simple: when your town gets bombed, you get upset. You feel remorse for the victims and anger at the people who did it. And those feelings are genuine.
Now, here's where Britney comes in. When she didn't perform this morning on Good Morning America, many people flipped out. They swore they were done with her, said they hoped her song didn't get to #1, and claimed that she didn't deserve any success. Keep in mind these are the same people who vote for her in every poll 100s and 100s of times. These people routinely buy her songs for not only themselves, but anyone else, just to ensure a #1. These people are crazy obsessed.
Yet, when their expectations aren't met (even if those expectations are unrealistic), they drum up all sorts of anger toward Britney. That's not realistic or healthy. It's one thing to get angry at two men for killing innocent people, but it's another to get angry at a woman because she didn't perform her latest single on TV.
It's fantastic that Britney has such devoted fans, but remember to keep things in perspective. There are legitimate reasons to feel angry. However, it's foolish to be angry with someone whose biggest crime is not doing something she never said she would do in the first place.
Imagine if you got a call from your mom around dinner time asking you to come home. She didn't say it, but you assumed based on the timing of the call that dinner would be ready. When you get home, there's no dinner. Should you be mad at your mom for not having dinner ready? Doesn't that seem foolish since she never mentioned dinner?
There are so many things to be mad about in this world: murder, rape, bombing other countries, war, social injustice, and racism just to name a scant few. But trust me, Britney Spears not performing on GMA is hardly something to be bothered about. Direct your anger toward something that really deserves it.
I spent that entire week addicted to the news. First came the reports of what happened, then came the call for help in identifying the suspects. Next, police tracked down the suspects and even managed to kill one. By that Friday, authorities has shut down the entire City of Boston, along with many neighboring communities. Eventually, police apprehended the second suspect.
I know what you're thinking: how could this have ANYthing to do with Britney Spears. It's simple: when your town gets bombed, you get upset. You feel remorse for the victims and anger at the people who did it. And those feelings are genuine.
Now, here's where Britney comes in. When she didn't perform this morning on Good Morning America, many people flipped out. They swore they were done with her, said they hoped her song didn't get to #1, and claimed that she didn't deserve any success. Keep in mind these are the same people who vote for her in every poll 100s and 100s of times. These people routinely buy her songs for not only themselves, but anyone else, just to ensure a #1. These people are crazy obsessed.
Yet, when their expectations aren't met (even if those expectations are unrealistic), they drum up all sorts of anger toward Britney. That's not realistic or healthy. It's one thing to get angry at two men for killing innocent people, but it's another to get angry at a woman because she didn't perform her latest single on TV.
It's fantastic that Britney has such devoted fans, but remember to keep things in perspective. There are legitimate reasons to feel angry. However, it's foolish to be angry with someone whose biggest crime is not doing something she never said she would do in the first place.
Imagine if you got a call from your mom around dinner time asking you to come home. She didn't say it, but you assumed based on the timing of the call that dinner would be ready. When you get home, there's no dinner. Should you be mad at your mom for not having dinner ready? Doesn't that seem foolish since she never mentioned dinner?
There are so many things to be mad about in this world: murder, rape, bombing other countries, war, social injustice, and racism just to name a scant few. But trust me, Britney Spears not performing on GMA is hardly something to be bothered about. Direct your anger toward something that really deserves it.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Britney Spears and Sexual Promiscuity
Are Britney Spears fans sexually promiscuous? Does Britney's music (and accompanying videos) or her overall image cause sexual promiscuity? Are her fans more sexually promiscuous than fans of, say, Adele or Taylor Swift or Selena Gomez?
There's no doubt that from a young age Britney has been portrayed as something to be desired, lusted after, objectified, and fantasized about. The media called her a Lolita - an underage girl who attracts the attention of grown men (named after the book of the same name about a grown man who begins a sexual relationship with a 12-year old girl). Even though Britney was 16 when "Baby One More Time" came out, she still fit the definition of an underage girl; and we, the general public, began our sexual relationship with her then.
There's little doubt that Britney has inspired sexual thoughts in almost all (straight) men at some point in her 15-year career (and some gay men, too, more than likely). From her school-girl outfit in her "Baby One More Time" video to the red catsuit in her "Oops I Did It Again" video to baring her midriff in her "I'm a Slave 4 U" video, Britney has always tapped into the male fantasy.
From the female perspective, while they may have never sexualized Britney as the men did (and still do), judging by the outfits worn at Britney concerts over the years, they clearly took notes of what Britney wore and how she was portrayed. And they attempted to be seen the same way. You couldn't go to a Britney concert and not see teenage girls (and some even younger) dressed in school-girl outfits or baring their midriff (with belly-piercing intact). Imagine being the father of a young girl and beside being concerned about how Britney dressed, you now have to walk past thousands of Lolitas showing way too much skin.
Over the years, Britney has been the stuff of fantasy: dancing around in tiny, little outfits, shaking her ass for prying eyes, and appearing on the cover of magazines wearing next to nothing (or not wearing anything at all). Obviously, Britney inspires sexual thoughts (ironically, Britney claimed to be a virgin as she inspired many dirty thoughts in the minds of young boys (and grown men)).
Even if she wasn't having sex, she was clearly putting those thoughts out there. In fact, Britney ushered in a whole new era of dirty old men. These weren't just fathers, either. Many men above the age of 40, with or without kids, lusted after her (in another ironic twist, her innocence and squeaky clean image caused most of the dirty thoughts. Even when she dirtied it up with the "I'm a Slave 4 U" single and video people still saw her as pure. It wasn't until her marriage to Kevin Federline and subsequent divorce that her purity went out the window in the eyes of the general public (as did the fantasy most men harbored for her)).
With all those sexual thoughts in the air, floating around, it's only a matter of time until they manifest into the actual act of sex. When young girls walk around half-naked in high heels, it can only be assumed they're doing more than showing it off. While Britney may have never told people explicitly to have sex (her songs always tease the idea of sex, but never actually talk about doing it), she clearly influenced her female fans to dress that way (and her male fans to have sexual desires). Combine the two (women dressed like they "want it" and men who are more than eager to give it to them) and you have a recipe for copious amounts of sex. Therefore, it's only natural to assume Britney fans are sexually promiscuous.
Of course, the media hated Britney for it. They claimed she compelled young girls to dress provocatively. Those same girls, however, would likely claim that Britney empowered them to be bold and not care what people thought.
The media also claimed she intentionally sexed it up to inspire a reaction in grown men, one they weren't supposed to have about a 16-, 17-, 18-year old girl. Truthfully, the media put a lot of the blame on the shoulders of her managers, saying they took advantage of Britney.
Today, the media's opinion of Britney has less to do with how she influences young girls or what thoughts she inspires in grown men since she's no longer a Lolita nor a major influence on teenage and pre-teenage girls. They're more concerned with whether she's a train wreck or not.
However you look at it, Britney continues to induce a sexual reaction from men (though less since she lost her purity to the general public). Even though her fans are older (and subsequently less apt to take style cues from Britney), her concerts are still packed with barred midriffs and belly-piercings proving that Britney's influence is never-ending.
There's no doubt that from a young age Britney has been portrayed as something to be desired, lusted after, objectified, and fantasized about. The media called her a Lolita - an underage girl who attracts the attention of grown men (named after the book of the same name about a grown man who begins a sexual relationship with a 12-year old girl). Even though Britney was 16 when "Baby One More Time" came out, she still fit the definition of an underage girl; and we, the general public, began our sexual relationship with her then.
There's little doubt that Britney has inspired sexual thoughts in almost all (straight) men at some point in her 15-year career (and some gay men, too, more than likely). From her school-girl outfit in her "Baby One More Time" video to the red catsuit in her "Oops I Did It Again" video to baring her midriff in her "I'm a Slave 4 U" video, Britney has always tapped into the male fantasy.
From the female perspective, while they may have never sexualized Britney as the men did (and still do), judging by the outfits worn at Britney concerts over the years, they clearly took notes of what Britney wore and how she was portrayed. And they attempted to be seen the same way. You couldn't go to a Britney concert and not see teenage girls (and some even younger) dressed in school-girl outfits or baring their midriff (with belly-piercing intact). Imagine being the father of a young girl and beside being concerned about how Britney dressed, you now have to walk past thousands of Lolitas showing way too much skin.
Over the years, Britney has been the stuff of fantasy: dancing around in tiny, little outfits, shaking her ass for prying eyes, and appearing on the cover of magazines wearing next to nothing (or not wearing anything at all). Obviously, Britney inspires sexual thoughts (ironically, Britney claimed to be a virgin as she inspired many dirty thoughts in the minds of young boys (and grown men)).
Even if she wasn't having sex, she was clearly putting those thoughts out there. In fact, Britney ushered in a whole new era of dirty old men. These weren't just fathers, either. Many men above the age of 40, with or without kids, lusted after her (in another ironic twist, her innocence and squeaky clean image caused most of the dirty thoughts. Even when she dirtied it up with the "I'm a Slave 4 U" single and video people still saw her as pure. It wasn't until her marriage to Kevin Federline and subsequent divorce that her purity went out the window in the eyes of the general public (as did the fantasy most men harbored for her)).
With all those sexual thoughts in the air, floating around, it's only a matter of time until they manifest into the actual act of sex. When young girls walk around half-naked in high heels, it can only be assumed they're doing more than showing it off. While Britney may have never told people explicitly to have sex (her songs always tease the idea of sex, but never actually talk about doing it), she clearly influenced her female fans to dress that way (and her male fans to have sexual desires). Combine the two (women dressed like they "want it" and men who are more than eager to give it to them) and you have a recipe for copious amounts of sex. Therefore, it's only natural to assume Britney fans are sexually promiscuous.
Of course, the media hated Britney for it. They claimed she compelled young girls to dress provocatively. Those same girls, however, would likely claim that Britney empowered them to be bold and not care what people thought.
The media also claimed she intentionally sexed it up to inspire a reaction in grown men, one they weren't supposed to have about a 16-, 17-, 18-year old girl. Truthfully, the media put a lot of the blame on the shoulders of her managers, saying they took advantage of Britney.
Today, the media's opinion of Britney has less to do with how she influences young girls or what thoughts she inspires in grown men since she's no longer a Lolita nor a major influence on teenage and pre-teenage girls. They're more concerned with whether she's a train wreck or not.
However you look at it, Britney continues to induce a sexual reaction from men (though less since she lost her purity to the general public). Even though her fans are older (and subsequently less apt to take style cues from Britney), her concerts are still packed with barred midriffs and belly-piercings proving that Britney's influence is never-ending.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
The Thighs Have it
I'm reading way too much talk about whether or not thighs touch and whether or not that's a good thing or a bad thing. Girls whose thighs touch think it's wrong if they don't touch, while girls whose thighs don't touch think it's wrong if they do. Maybe they're both wrong.
I'm a guy, so I don't know if I qualify for the discussion, but my thighs don't touch. Does that mean there's something wrong with me? I doubt it. If my thighs did touch, should I be concerned? I doubt that, either.
There are websites devoted to this topic, where girls discuss how they managed to go from touching thighs to separated thighs ( a thigh divorce, perhaps). They seem awful proud of themselves. That's sad. Is there a website where girls discuss how they managed to get their separated thighs back together? Probably not. Should there be? Should either website exist? Probably not.
Here's something that might even be sadder than websites devoted to thigh management: parents drilling into their kids' heads that women whose thighs don't touch have problems (or that somehow separated thighs are a bad thing). Thighs are just thighs, neither good nor bad. If they touch, fine. If they don't, fine.
Parents, and by that I mean moms, don't need to tell their children, and by that I mean daughters, there is or isn't a problem with thighs touching or not touching.
Britney Spears' thigh touch, Paris Hilton's don't. Does that make one woman any better than the other?
Maybe we should just stop paying so much attention to thighs. I can tell you as a man I've never heard another man say, "I would have slept with her but her thighs touched." Nor has any man said, "She'd be a great girlfriend if her thighs touched."
Ladies should not be afraid to having touching thighs nor should they be afraid to have a little space in between. That's the message we should send - that it's perfectly normal to have thighs of any size. Moms don't need to put down other, perfectly healthy women to give their daughters confidence. A woman who's 5 feet 10 and 120 lbs is not a bad role model, just as a woman who is 5 feet 5 and 160 lbs is not a bad role model.
Here's a suggestion: put your knees together, if your thighs touch give yourself a pat on the back; if they don't touch give yourself a pat on the back. This way, everyone wins.
I'm a guy, so I don't know if I qualify for the discussion, but my thighs don't touch. Does that mean there's something wrong with me? I doubt it. If my thighs did touch, should I be concerned? I doubt that, either.
There are websites devoted to this topic, where girls discuss how they managed to go from touching thighs to separated thighs ( a thigh divorce, perhaps). They seem awful proud of themselves. That's sad. Is there a website where girls discuss how they managed to get their separated thighs back together? Probably not. Should there be? Should either website exist? Probably not.
Here's something that might even be sadder than websites devoted to thigh management: parents drilling into their kids' heads that women whose thighs don't touch have problems (or that somehow separated thighs are a bad thing). Thighs are just thighs, neither good nor bad. If they touch, fine. If they don't, fine.
Parents, and by that I mean moms, don't need to tell their children, and by that I mean daughters, there is or isn't a problem with thighs touching or not touching.
Britney Spears' thigh touch, Paris Hilton's don't. Does that make one woman any better than the other?
Maybe we should just stop paying so much attention to thighs. I can tell you as a man I've never heard another man say, "I would have slept with her but her thighs touched." Nor has any man said, "She'd be a great girlfriend if her thighs touched."
Ladies should not be afraid to having touching thighs nor should they be afraid to have a little space in between. That's the message we should send - that it's perfectly normal to have thighs of any size. Moms don't need to put down other, perfectly healthy women to give their daughters confidence. A woman who's 5 feet 10 and 120 lbs is not a bad role model, just as a woman who is 5 feet 5 and 160 lbs is not a bad role model.
Here's a suggestion: put your knees together, if your thighs touch give yourself a pat on the back; if they don't touch give yourself a pat on the back. This way, everyone wins.
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