Monday, July 12, 2021

Music Monday: Free Britney, Bitch

Britney Spears is, hands down, one of the best pop performers we’ve ever produced. “Toxic” is still an all-time banger. Hell, they’re all still bangers. Because Britney embodies the pop aesthetic perfectly. As it turned out, too perfectly. That this very talented woman has been under conservatorship for the last 13 years, and is now petitioning to get out is a painful reminder that free will is never guaranteed. This is what we do, I guess, when women “act out.” Like, sure, she shaved her head and hit a car with her umbrella. Robert Downey Jr. infamously woke up in a strange kid’s bed after yet another drug bender. Yet he maintained his career and his financial and personal decision making and his free fucking will throughout (I mean, he did go to jail a few times, but still no one filed to take away his decision making abilities altogether.) Anyway, this is a long way of saying Free Britney, Bitch.

While obviously the whole jailbait branding of her early career was problematic. But then selling sex is pretty much a fundamental keystone of rock ’n roll. Like if you didn’t realize you were a gay lady before watching the 2000 VMAs, I’m pretty sure you knew right after a then 18-year-old Britney tore off those tuxedo pants. Hello. May the courts realize this and let this not-a-girl-definitely-a-grown-ass-almost-40-year-old woman run her own life. Yet last month the court denied her request to remove her father as a conservator. As if we needed more reminders of the iron-fist patriarchy imposes over young girls and women already. Look, while it’s healthy to seek help — especially in times of mental distress, removing one’s free will is never truly helping. In fact it’s exactly the opposite. So, go get ‘em, Brit-Brit.

2 comments:

Carmen San Diego said...

The fact that Brittany is under conservatorship while Kanye West does whatever it is that he does is insane
But I am still mad that we didn’t get to see you Madonna kiss Christina Aguilera because the MTV people had to show stupid Justin Timberlake‘s reaction…

Panty Buns said...

As more and more details come out about the state of the laws regarding conservatorships,
we all should be feeling more and more outrage.
These laws allow insidious and nefarious denials of the most basic civil and human rights,
with negligible and often no transparency and virtually no accountability.
Britney has even been denied the right to have her I.U.D. removed, thus keeping her from getting pregnant and making the choice to have children.
Articles:
ACLU: Britney Spears' Reproductive Freedom is a Disability Rights Issue
The Nation: #FreeBritney Is Damn Right.
"The law has failed Britney Spears and likely many others -
young, old, often female. Now it's time to change it."
Free Britney NOW