Britney Spears, once known as “the princess of pop,” has been in the public eye ever since her first single “...Baby One More Time” topped the charts in late 1998. It is clear that the media portrays woman, such as Spears, as sexual objects and men as sexual agents. Men clearly own and pursue their sexuality, unlike women. For most of Britney Spears’ career she was an over sexualized figure in pop culture, appearing half naked and in need of a man in almost all of her music videos. However, it is known that social norms do not allow women to be agents of their own sexuality, so in the late 1990’s Britney Spears publically spoke out against sex before marriage, claiming she would stay a virgin until she found true love. This ideology was contradicting however since Britney was quickly molded into a public sex icon adored my teenage girls and fantasized by many men, making her virginal beliefs seem unlikely.
As many people had expected, it was not long till the day Britney shed her virginity. A couple of years later, in 2004, Spears met Kevin Federline, and soon after married him and eventually had children. Immediately, the media/pop culture created a new “face” for Britney Spears- that of a struggling mother. For example, Spears inspired multiple covers of magazines after she drove with her son, Sean Preston, on her lap while trying to escape the paparazzi. Within hours the one photo of Sean Preston sitting on Britney’s lap while she was driving got onto the computer, it was everywhere. Headlines on the TV, in magazines, etc. read things such as: “Mother of the Year? No,” “Britney Spears Latest Parenting Mishap,” or “Bad Moments in Celebrity Parenting,” among plenty of others.
It is funny, however, because when Dennis Quaid’s children accidentally over-dosed on medication during their infancy it inspired no critiques of his parenting skills or cover stories for that matter. But, if this incident happened to Britney Spears, the media would somehow make it seem as though Ms. Spears doesn’t know how to raise children and this story would most definitely be all over the news within a couple of hours. An excellent example of this situation was presented in an article in The New York times, “When Owen Wilson was hospitalized in August after an apparent suicide attempt, his plight was the subject of a single US Weekly cover story. Not so Britney Spears, recently confined in a psychiatric ward, who has inspired six cover stories for the magazine during the same time span.” This example indicates that when women engage in similar activities or are placed in similar situations as men, they are more prone to negativity and shame from the public eye.
In early 2007, Britney Spears went “crazy” and shaved her head. Around the same time, Spears was photographed attacking paparazzi with an umbrella. Why were these two actions such a huge deal? Why did magazines spend tons of money getting these awful pictures of Britney? It is a socialized cultural norm that women appear submissive, innocent, and beautiful. Spears went from the epitome of female sexuality and beauty to a rebellion of it. Clearly, she over-stepped the boundaries of how the ways a woman should look and act.
I remember reading somewhere that approximately 70% of People magazines' readership is women. Likewise, the consumption of celebrity gossip is higher amongst women. Magazines repackage sexism as simply appealing to their demographic. For celebrities like Britney Spears, Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, etc. - their public interests get turned into life battles that are played out for maximum entertainment. Their media persona outshines their talent. It seems like celebrity women are exploited when ever a misfortunate situation occurs, and gender seems to be the underlying issue.
References
Williams, Alex. "Boys Will Be Boys, Girls Will Be Hounded by the Media."
New York Times. 17 Feb. 2008. 6 Oct. 2008 .
5 comments:
Very interesting post, CC. What impact, if any, do you think that Brittany's role as "mother" has on social interpretations of her public and private behaviors? Does the addition of the label of "mother" add additional norms on a woman even further distinguishing the differences in social expectations regarding women and men?
This post was very interesting. I never looked at paparazzi like that when it comes to women. this is very true because a lot of men is very fascinated when it comes to a women who was so popular at her weakest point. To me this is only proving what some men think about women in power whether it's in the music industry or politics men can't stand it and they will do anything to put women on blast.
Very interesting post. Honestly, I am not surprised though. Given the fact that People is run mostly by women, I can see why they focus on female celebrities. Why? Listen in on girls gossiping. Who are they talking about? Mostly other females. Maybe it is just my personal experiences, but usually when girls gossip, they talk about what "she" did the other night at a party. -CB
I feel like the beginning part of this article could also be looked at in a different way. Because Britney was young and attractive she was able to use her sexuality to make millions of dollars, therefore taking her sexuality into her own hands, especially around the time of 'I'm a Slave for You' and 'Overprotected'. Once she had children, put on some pounds, and decided to try out the bald look, she was no longer considered attractive to the average person. For this reason the media began to trash her and she was not nearly as successful. I feel like women as popular as her are able to use the media mostly to their advantage as long as they take their sexuality into their own hands and portray a strong, sexy female.
I find this very interesting and it definitely all fits together. I think that many magazines such as People, etc. focus on tragedy and mishap that occurs in the female icon's lives because the consumers of the magazine are women. Because the magazine is targeting women they may feel the need to provide women with information or stories that will spark their interest, generate gossip, and ultimately keep them coming back for more. By providing women articles about fantasy celebrity lives, many women get hooked and cannot help but buy more magazines in the hopes of reading more drama that does not so often occur in their "normal or common" lives.
Post a Comment