As my recent discussion of feminism and the fear production that results is still fresh in my mind I couldn’t pass up the chance to comment on this Salon article that strives to somehow decide we are all evil because Britney is making some money. Personally, I like the girl… and not just because she is amazingly pretty and has a voice that makes you think of words to make her say.
I like her because she seems to have her sh*t together and is making a place for herself doing exactly what she wants to do.
Let me cut right to the chase and tell you how the article ends:
“And so we have Britney, a girl for our times. A virgin and a whore. A girl who doesn’t know what she’s doing, but boy does she do it. A girl who lets you hurt her, and who pretends, and maybe even believes, that she likes it. A girl whose pain is our pleasure. A girl who gets even, but only as long as it’s hot. A Mouseketeer turned near-kiddie porn star. A girl, finally, who feeds something black and blue in all of us, but who wraps it up in a pretty pink bow.” – article
::sigh:: In a perfect world with a god, yes.
How on earth does “Strawberry Saroyan”, the author of this gem, come up with this stuff? From a few images on MTV she has constructed a fantasy world of abused innocence and tortured sexuality for Britney that even I didn’t manage. Here is a girl, she supposes, who acts out all our fantasies of the willing abuse victim for us – scratch that, “Strawberry” doesn’t think it’s an act at all.
Scratching almost millimeters deep in true knee jerk fashion and armed with the sort of trash pop psychology that is best suited to the pages of “Elle” – oh wait, she does write for Elle – the oh so observant “Strawberry” has it all figured out. Britney is abused. Abused by all of us.
Boo-hoo. I feel so dirty inside.
Personally, I don’t see it that way. I think Britney knows exactly what she is doing – making a ton of money and having a blast it seems while she does it. I know, I know, it’s probably just shallow of me to think you might need more than the words to a few pop songs to be able to diagnose deep seated abuse and accuse a whole culture of living out it’s rape fantasies. Bad Soulhuntre!
But wait! There’s even more! Some very sensitive left over 90’s style guys see it too… that, or they are just trying to make me hot.
“So, in the first single she’s letting you kick the tar out of her, and on the next one (“Sometimes”) you’ve got her running and hiding in terror. Eventually, it gets to the point that even the most simple “I miss you/I’ll be there/I’ll popmail you some digicam shots of the boob job my mom bought me”-style sentiments become quite spooky. Spears might sound as if she’s trying to sing like a real, live, all-growed-up dance-pop diva who can get into real live clubs and even buy drinks, too, but she really just sounds like a Backstreet Girl — under your thumb.” – article
I will continue to be amused at the shrill screaming of the victim culture that seems to enjoy referring to itself as a type of feminism and passing itself off as journalism. Because nothing will bring them out like a success that doesn’t buy into their view of the world. Make no mistake, Britney is the worst nightmare of the victim/feminist culture. The idea that you don’t have to pretend you that you hate sex… that you can succeed if you work hard and get a break or two… that just maybe the whole world isn’t stacked against you.
Britney is a heretic of the worst kind to the victim culture intelligensia. She is making a success of herself – without the help of NOW or the government protecting her. Good lord, I bet she doesn’t even realize Hillary Clinton is her only chance to survive in our rape infested world!
No, they think, she can’t actually be happy. That would mean that you can actually succeed in this world if you work hard. That would mean that she might actually enjoy looking pretty and shaving her armpits. Can’t be… obviously she is exploited.
Interestingly, that moralistic aversion to exploitation doesn’t keep Salon from running her picture every chance they get, or having an entire section devoted to the pop diva. All in the name of protecting us of course. One of the things I love about Salon is their supreme pragmatism.
Britney links: Everything2 on Britney, The Official Website, Photo 1, Photo 2, Photo 3, Sweet 16 Webcast, Salons Britney Section
