RIGHT FUCKING ON.
I was just about to post on this myself.

That gets me too. I actually think she looks really good, but I could slap whoever decided "sparkly black too tight bikini!!" was a good look for someone who recently had two babies. It's like they were assuming that she HAS to prove she's still as sexy as ever, but I don't see the problem with letting her have a more "grown up" sound and look now. I mean hell, the woman has two kids!!! She's not going to do well selling to her previous demographic.

YES! I am struggling with post-baby fat... almost 2 years later. This woman had two kids. I thought her body looked FABULOUS. Until I heard the blogs / news reports my main thought during the horrid, coma-inducing performance was "well, she got her body back in shape!"

I hate this too. She is a normal-size woman. If she's fat then there's no hope for any of us, which is, I assume, the conclusion we are expected to draw.

Sucky performance, though.

THANK YOU.

The performance was utterly tragic. She looked bored and barely recognizable in comparison to the old, high energy Britney Spears. Plus, her performance was hyped to the max. So I understand the disapointment of entertainment fiends.

But fat? C'mon people. We can do better than that. No need to go into the discussion of "what is fat and who defines it?" but I can tell you that she isn't anywhere near overweight.

There are a whole lot of things about that womyn that are unhealthy but her weight isn't one of them.

I saw that this morning and was infuriated. People should be ashamed of themselves. Furthermore, with everything going on in our country and in the world it is also infuriating that Britney's performance is front-page news! There are a lot of things we should care about right now, and the fact that a talking head on CNN thinks Britney looks fat is certainly not one of them!

Instead of applauding her for even getting up the guts to go do it, we slam her because she is fat, off kilter, and clearly uncomfortable. If we look at her outside of the ideal, she is struggling like the rest of us to deal with the bipolar of modernity--living reality while presenting an ideal. Unfortunately for Brit Brit, she is incapable of presenting the ideal, and so, we eat her alive.

I am much skinnier than she is and I still would not have the ovaries to get up on that stage, yet I look at her and think, wow, what a train wreck. Never mind that my own life is a train wreck that I'm slowly fixing.

I found that the fact that women are just disposable objects who are conditioned to cultivate external approval rather than internal was also highlighted by Brit Brit's Ex, Timberlake. As a man, he does not have to conform to bust-waist-hip measurements. His success was not based so much on how sexy he was, and so, perhaps he has not been tricked into basing all his self-worth on how his breasts and belly button look.

Maybe Brit Brit (like millions of other women) has been unable to make the transition from Boy Toy to a real, feeling human, and can't handle the pressure of being forced continually into the limited role of sex object. While Timberlake, like the Rolling Stones (not to compare music) can probably go on singing on stage until he is in his 60s, Brit Brit is realizing that only her body matters--never mind her courage for even stepping out on stage.

So many of us our struggling with this bipolar society, and Brit Brit brought it home for me last night.

Oh I am so fucking tired of this. Britney Spears is not fat. Yes, she's put on a few pounds, but I'd be more concerned if she hadn't, seeing as she just had two kids.

And like Jessica said, no one cares if a man's gotten a little chubby. (Except for Al Gore, he's the exception that proves the rule, I guess.) People seem to care more about a male musician's music than his appearance. Crazy, isn't it? But I suppose that's what women are there for, to look pretty, and if they don't meet our expectations, if they stray one step from the ideal path we've set for them, suddenly they're fat, ugly, and talentless.

Brit Brit is realizing that only her body matters--never mind her courage for even stepping out on stage.

I would hardly call what she did courageous. More like an act of desperation and a last gasp for her "comeback" since her album, which more than likely will bomb if that song she performed last night is any indication, comes out in two months. Having gone through the hoopla out here (CA) when Spears performed in several House of Blues concerts they were absolute and total disasters, much the same way this was only with fewer back up dancers. Spears even chewed gum during one of them, not even bothered to keep up with the lip synching, much like she did last night, 'cept without the gum. I guess that means she learned something.

She made an ass of herself professionally and she should have had someone to tell her "maybe you shouldn't do this," but from what I've heard, like Dubbya, she's gotten rid of all the common sense in her camp for yes people who continue to approve of her bad career choices (her personal life is a separate and private matter as far as I'm concerned).

She shouldn't have performed last night in that condition (and by condition I don't mean her body, I mean professionally, she looked like she didn't even want to be there), whether or not it was "courageous" to get up and show her post pregnancy body for everyone to see it only showed how far she has fallen as a performer.

Sars at Tomato Nation did a good post about this a while back. Britney really hasn't gained much weight, especially considering she's had two babies, but because her whole schtick was the young hard-body image it affects her disproportionately. She's not a great singer and she doesn't have great songs, her image and her performance were everything. And last night her performance was off and her image was not what everyone expected it to be. A change of costume would've helped (I agree with the idiocy of the sparkley bikini) and some energy would've gone a lot further. But the comments are cruel and unnecessary, there's no reason to expect any 25 year old woman to look exactly the same as she did at 17 or 18.

The one other good example of this that comes to mind is Madonna. She knows she's not the best singer or the best song writer, so she throws everything into her performances and makes it work even after 2 and a half decades. But no one can honestly expect drive like that out of every female pop star who comes along.

Thanks for posting on this. I watched her performance with my roommate last night and the first words out of her mouth were: "Her body doesn't look that in shape. I bet that's why she doesn't look comfortable." I was disgusted and told my friend that I think it was more a matter of her mental state and the pressure from the entertainment industry.

Has anyone heard the news that Sarah Silverman made some disparaging remarks about Britney Spears and her children ("cutest little mistakes) in her opening monologue? I've read some speculation that this is what caused Spears to just go through the motions on her opening act.

Not only is she being lambasted for her body, but also for being a bad mother. Poor woman. I hope she can get through this...and I don't even like Britney Spears.

I think she looked pretty hot and she is definitely not out of shape. I was pissed when her "paunch" made headlines.

Her performance looked half-rehearsed, and she looked stoned, in my opinion. What she didn't look was fat. I actually saw her and thought, well, she's lost the baby weight, anyway. Then the media started going on about how "chunky" she looked. If she's fat, I'd be happy to be fat. No, she doesn't look like a professional dancer or a toned athlete anymore, but she looked sexy and cute. Now if she could just get it together enough to perform like a pro again...

I'm not a fan, BTW, I hate her music and she always irritated me with the ultra-sexy image coupled with the "I'm a virgin" schtick. But I feel bad for her, she was shoved into this life before she was old enough to make a choice, and she's obviously been screwed up by it. And now everyone's enjoying watching her flailing around. I don't know if she has a substance abuse problem, or a chemical imbalance, or just needs a lot of therapy, but I think the poor girl should take a few years off, raise her kids, and get her life together and her emotions on an even keel outside of the spotlight. But she probably doesn't know who she is without a camera pointed at her. Like I said, I feel sorry for her. Money and fame doesn't buy happiness.

man I totally agree. I'm so sick of see those tabloid while I'm in line getting groceries. All summer its been pics of britney in a bikini with headlines like "look how she's let herself go!" and "celebrity cellulite". It's sick. and come on, doesn't she have three kids?! Do people really expect her to have the body of an 18 year old still? She's a woman, she's got a womans body. argh.

well, considering she still seems to rely on her body so much, she could do some work at it. the woman has all the money in the world, but does she put the effort in to her image, no. she put on a lackluster performance and just doesnt put enough effort in everything she does. she has her kids fetch her cigs, goes out late everynight, and is an example of a bad mother and performer overall. stop defending her jyst because people bash her body. yes, they go too far, but the former star has a duty to do what it takes to make it in the pop industry. she played into it before, cant stop now because you are too lazy.

If Britney is fat then someone please institutionalize me because that means there is no help for moi (and every other woman I know).

oh man, i just took a look at the pics from the show.. if that's out of shape then I don't know what in shape looks like, cause my body certainly doesn't look that good. shite!

Now it's clear that Britney, mentally speaking, is coming apart at the seams and her "performance" was embarrassing. But fat? Come on people.

If Britney is "fat", then what the hell would you call Neil Cavuto?

Oh, but that's different, right?

I read that she was fat, and then I watched the video. I spent, what, 3 minutes looking for a paunch? She didn't look fat at all.

Just makes me glad I'm not famous, I guess.

Well, for the past 2 years I've been really happy with my post-baby body.

Looks like I was wrong.

For the record, I looked like Britney now *before* I had my son.

From the response she was getting I expected her to actually, you know, be slightly overweight.

Disgusting.

Even a lot of The Superficial posters are saying she wasn't really fat, so that's saying something. It's a bit disturbing that "legitimate" news people are actually commenting on her as if she is huge or something. And as far as I know from reading gossip sites, most people are more concerned about her getting her shit together again and less about how much she weighs anyway.

On the other hand, I have no sympathy for her at all for her performance. She has made millions of dollars by showing her body off, and being an object for public consumption. That it has finally come back to bite her in the ass is no surprise.

I also doubt that Sarah Silverman's comments had anything to do with her not performing well. The fact that she partied all weekend instead of rehearsing probably played a more significant role. If Britney cannot take the comments of a comedianne by now, then she has no business being up on stage in the first place.

Ultra Magnus,

I agree that she wasn't up to performance standards and probably needed a handler to tell her that.
What does the desperation stem from, the need for external approval, or a chemical imbalance or or or...

"If Britney cannot take the comments of a comedianne by now, then she has no business being up on stage in the first place." - sepra

Yeah, you got a point there. There are billions of negative comments said about the Am prez and he keeps on with what his approach.

Silverman did her less than funny bit AFTER Britney performed. It was disgusting. Calling someone's children "the most adorable mistakes ever"-how classy!

All I could think was that someone put her in clothing that just plain didn't fit, not that she was fat. How many millions, and you don't have a tailor?

For some reason, I really hoped she would kick butt, despite not really liking her music. It was sad to watch.

THANK YOU.

Of all the things wrong with her performance, they chose to tear her apart for her "beer gut". And yes, I swear I read a review that mentioned a beer gut.

At my smallest, I didn't have a stomach like that. She's had two kids! She looks better than I did at my tiniest! Give the woman a break!

As thordora said, Silverman's bit was the next thing after Britney's performance, if you can call it that, so there's no way her spirits could have been affected by Silverman's mean-spirited but hilarious bit. The kids joke was stupid, but I can't help but love how Sarah Silverman doesn't give a fuck what anyone thinks of her, ever, and refuses to join the celebrity-worshipping cult of crappy media that covers lame-ass events like the VMAs.

What bothers me in addition to the fat stuff is how the media is acting like her falling apart is some kind of affront to the rest of us. Like going through a divorce on national TV would bring out the best in anyone else.

I should state that Spears heard Sarah Silverman's comments during her rehearsal for the monologue...not during the actual VMAs. So, it could still have been a factor.

Yes, yes, yes, THANK YOU!!! If I had a body like that, you'd better believe I'd be showing it off everywhere.

The child (yes, that's what she is, developmentally, even as a mother of 2) is quite simply the result of years spent in the "media" machine.

I'll admit quite freely that I have posted my fair share of Britney snark on sites like Jezebel. But, today, all of us over there felt sadness for her and outrage at much of MSM for claiming that she is fat.

Has she finally suffered enough for her sins? Apparently, even fellow female Sarah Silverman doesn't think so.

Just want to point out my opinion that the problem with the media's slandering of Britney is not really deconstructed by turning it on its head and saying "Britney is not fat, she looks good, she just had two babies leave her alone, etc., etc.'. When we do this, the underlying message that Britney is measurable by the amount of weight she carries still remains. Instead we have to deconstruct the basis for judging her entirely - should her appearance matter in the first place? And does it seem to matter more because she's a woman?

The child (yes, that's what she is, developmentally, even as a mother of 2) is quite simply the result of years spent in the "media" machine.

I'll admit quite freely that I have posted my fair share of Britney snark on sites like Jezebel. But, today, all of us over there felt sadness for her and outrage at much of MSM for claiming that she is fat.

Has she finally suffered enough for her sins? Apparently, even fellow female Sarah Silverman doesn't think so.

A bigger scandal: that MTV has the gall to offer awards for videos when they haven't aired one since 1995.

I have no idea, at this point, where her desperation is coming from medevil but I would venture a guess that it's from a woman who needs to just take a fucking break from this industry and get her shit together in private. She did have fame thrust upon her at a young age but then again so did Christina Aguleria (sp?) and a few others from the Mikey Mouse club and they seemed to have weathered the storm and found mature, adult lives. Perhaps Britney had more stringent handlers who kept her immature, who knows, but she's now 25 and has to act like an adult, she had/has horrible taste in men, most women will at some point in their lives, but she doesn't seem to be learning from her mistakes at all and she seems like she wants to regain her past "baby one more time" glory and she's going about it in the completely wrong way. There seems to be a desire for approval, either from the public or from romantic partners and it's blinding her judgment. I'm pretty sure drugs and alcohol are involved and it's not helping.

THANK YOU! This is exactly why I love Feministing. I started reading the news about Brit being sooo "FAT" and headed over here immediately, knowing you awesome ladies would already be calling "Bullshit" on the whole damn thing. Yeah, the performance was HORRID, incredibly dissapointing and whatnot, she's not the dancer she used to be, but jesus christ do we have to fucking bring weight into everything?? THIS is why girls struggle with eating disorders-- they see a normal looking woman for once who might not be under 100 pounds, and the NEWS is calling her overweight!! Yeah, that will really help body image issues out......

When was the last frigging time a male musician's beer belly made news?

True, but I can't remember the last time I saw a male "musician" dancing in a too-small sparkly speedo either....

btw, has anyone noticed that people are just like "oh and she lipsynced so terribly" . I just realised that suddenly no one has a problem with lip syncing?! When did this happen. I'd say thats real news..

I agree w/you all here re: Britney is not fat.

She does, however, have $$$, and you would think with all of that money she could afford a better getup. It was tacky to say the least and also sad that she feels the need to wear that kind of outfit for a "comeback" routine.

Plus, her music and singing has never been good. It's not like she has an amazing record to fall back on.

Being the pop culture ignoramus that I am, I knew nothing of this, so I went and googled it. About half way down the first page of results was bollyclips advertising video of "hot, sexy" Britney Spears performance at the awards. So somebody liked it.

Just in case people haven't seen it, here is a photo of the new fat britney with her giant paunch (according to "news" reports).

http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2007/09/10/2007-09-10_britney_spears_behaves_but_mtv_comeback_.html

It's sad to see that in these days, if a woman weighs an AVERAGE weight, she's fat.

I also think that maybe she's being labelled as fat because she's Britney Spears. It's nothing new to be judged more when you're in the spotlight.

WHEW. Reading this and all the comments here have made me feel less like slamming people's heads into walls. I had to post angrily about it too. I mean, shit, there's so much in that "performance" to take on ... and yet we're stuck saying that this 26 year old woman who has just had two kids in less than two years is "jiggly" and "out of shape," among other things.

YES, it's AMAZING that she isn't that same 17 year old the whole world got to fantasize about. Stupid bitch, growing up and developing into a flawed human being who had babies. Way to ruin the jerking off!!

UGH!

I think Angie and Genny are exactly right. She was always less a musician than she was a brand; unfortunately for her, that brand centered entirely on her status as forbidden fruit. Her career as a sex symbol began when she was underage, and even after she was 18, she cultivated the appearance of being underage by wearing Catholic schoolgirl outfits and making ridiculous public proclamations of virginity.

Every stage of her career since then has been carefully calculated to allow her to appear incrementally more debauched than the last time you saw her, taking her from singing vaguely sexual teenybopper songs to making out with Madonna at the VMAs to letting cameras into her house to film her and K-Fed drunk and eating junk food in bedroom. Her public image has always been a voyeuristic narrative about her fall from grace. Now that all of the available narrative elements have been used up, Britney can no longer titillate, and the last thing left to do is to publicly destroy her. Sorry if this sounds cynical, but I think the people around her have always known where her career was going.

Side @ Queen_Nerd: the only time I can ever remember anyone making a big deal out of a male musician's body was when the pix of Axl Rose in Rio came out:
http://www.mygnr.com/bootleg/2001/RockInRioIII/RIR_III_PIC_AXL_39.jpg

Really just the exception that proves your point.

People lose sight of reality when talking about celebrities. If I saw Spears walking down the street and didn’t know who she was, I would probably think she looked very fit and sexy. Given how she used to look (much better) and how she became one of the biggest stars in the world based almost solely on flaunting those looks, however, I immediately thought of how she had let herself go when I saw this video. If a celebrity builds a career on looks, they will be judged on their looks much more harshly than the rest of us, plain and simple.

missjulied: "True, but I can't remember the last time I saw a male "musician" dancing in a too-small sparkly speedo either...."

Bingo. And yeah, entertainment media DOES prattle on about male entertainers' guts, too. (John Travolta anyone?)

I agree with the posters who suggest, though, that jumping up and protesting that she's NOT fat and she looks GREAT and blahblah etc. are just completely underlining the importance of her body image. Also reinforcing the notion that FAT = BAD.

Truth is, if I didn't read about it AT FEMINISTING, I wouldn't know much about her performance at all, or the supposed controversy.

By the way, I found some (minimal) contact information for Nekesa Mumbi Moody, the credited writer on the linked Associated Press story - the one that mentions her "paunch." (I don't know if this is relevant, but I might as well mention that my Googling also indicated that Nekesa Mumbi Moody is a black woman. What's the etiquette on this?)

http://www.ap.org/pages/contact/contact.html

They say you should direct communications to info@ap.org on that page; they gave a fax number for the department she works at, but otherwise it's pretty barren...

Although she's not fat, she has the all over bloated look that comes from drinking, partying until sunrise, and not sleeping before the performance. That's because she did so, against advice.

Putting aside gender inequality in performers, what constitues, "fat," etc., wondering, "well if THAT'S fat then what do I look like?" means nothing. You cannot compare the two, because a celebity has the luxury of making her (or his) appearance a full-time job, with trainers, nutritionists, personal chefs, and sufficient time for exercise and rest. This is why most of us do not look like celebrities.

For some reason I wanted Britney to do well, too. I don't give a crap about pop music but I feel horribly about the way her body and reputation is torn apart and shoved in my face in tabloids and banner ads and everything. I feel like she was built up to be this oversexed little nymph and now that she's suffering the fallout of that everyone's delighting in humiliating her. I mean, how is someone expected to deal with such horribly negative attention WITHOUT developing an addiction to alcohol and drugs? I know the woman's got millions, but I wouldn't trade places with her for the world. I bet if she committed suicide there'd be snarky posts about it on TMZ. I wish everyone would leave her alone. Lord knows I'm sick of hearing about the minutae of her life.

She's a glorified stripper. She can't sing. BUT I SHOULD BE SO "FAT."

I feel like there are two issues here, and somehow fusing them together was unsettling to me.

First, there is the issue of the unreal pressures out there about what the "ideal" body is for a woman, and how generally unrealistic and sexist and awful that is.

Second, though, there is the issue of Britney Spears, who basically was able to capitalize on this (and create new stereotypes about women, etc.).

I definitely see the pressures put onto women about their bodies as absolutely wrong, but at the same time I see Britney as somewhat of a creator of this poisonous environment for women, rather than a victim of it. I mean, her success was based solely on “I’m hotter than your girlfriend� type of mentality. So seeing her fail is kind of satisfying because it is saying that it doesn't work. And I'm sorry, but I don't feel bad for her because she has willingly participated in this and has created a shitty living environment for the rest of us (how many girls are anorexic because of her?).

So yes, I wish people wouldn’t see her body type as fat, but at the same time I don’t feel bad for her personally because I think she had it coming.

Since when is music really about who is the most musically inclined? It's about LOOKS!!! Justin Timberlake isn't Mozart but he's hot!!

Britney's job is to be in the best shape that anyone can possibly be in. Did you really think it's about her "music?"

Yes, she's not "fat" compared to the typical American but in terms of her career (i.e. what she's getting paid for) she is "fat."

Welllll... but Britney Spears isn't a "real" musician/singer. She's a "sexy" image that manufactured pop gets filtered through. So in a way, snarking on that image is a valid criticism. And like others have pointed out, she helped create this atmosphere where image matters more than talent (although it could be argued that the blame rests with her parents/handlers and she's honestly probably too dumb to grasp what's being done to her--not to mention very young when she started out).

I don't know. As icky as it is, and even though I don't think she really is fat, I don't think it's that black-and-white.

And in terms of making money, she's made more than most physicists, engineers, mathematicians that I've ever met.

So her body is her "brain" and she let it go.

critisizing women's bodies is wrong.. no matter who they are.

People are saying "she got whats coming" but don't you realise that it's just going through the motions of making a woman washed up. She was hot because they said she was hot and now she's not because they said she isn't.

I don't see how one is any better than the other and I don't like the idea of people revelling joyously that she's not 18 and the "hotter than your girlfriend" gal anymore.

I don’t see why she gets such special treatment, that somehow she can be a huge hypocrite but garner our sympathies. First, she makes the general population feel bad about their bodies, and makes a ton of money doing it. But then, when she doesn’t fit into her own created ideal, we are supposed to criticize society for insulting her body. But when does her own decision-making come into play? And why does she get to keep her millions and have our sympathies?

And why does she get to keep her millions and have our sympathies?

Because cruelty has a cumulative, negative effect on a person's psyche. It has a cumulative negative effect on society! You can embarrass someone to death, you know. It doesn't matter that she has millions of dollars, there is no benefit in plastering her cellulite or the details of her divorce all over the airwaves.

Why is it Britney's fault? If she wants to have six-pack abs, fine. That's a damn lot of work to accomplish, and let's get real--you've never seen an anorexic Britney. I actually think her body image projection is way healthier than a lot of women in entertainment. Who we need to be blasting are the people who tell young girls and women that they are disgusting if they don't look like that. I have more problem with her wardrobe choices, which make girls think they have to pimp out their bodies to be worth anything.

I have grown sympathetic towards Britney Spears and the grief she got during the MTV Awards. Spears is NOT FAT. I am sick and tired of hearing the media, such as the pro-anorexic Augusta (GA) Chronicle, talking about women's bellies. Stuff like that is what resulted in the needless death of Ana Reston, which should have sparked worldwide outrage against our good-for-nothing media. Anyone else outraged over Reston's needless death?

"Who we need to be blasting are the people who tell young girls and women that they are disgusting if they don't look like that."

I think where I really differ in this conversation is that I think Britney is one of these people telling young girls and women that they are disgusting, whereas y’all (ha!) do not. But, alas, I must revise my point. Just because she has (in my opinion) helped create this society does not mean that I should be a part of it, no matter what.

But, I feel like Britney has had a “cumulative negative effect on society,� as well as a “cumulative, negative effect on a person's psyche� (as in, mine). But my negative bashing gets me nothing, whereas hers get her a lucrative career. Bummer for me.

I teach a Media Literacy class at the high school I work at and we've been discussing the VMAs. (There was an interesting NYTimes article about it we read on Friday.) Anyway, I let them watch some of it in class today and it was the first time I had seen the Britney performance. I mentioned to them all the talk on the internet of her being "fat". I was pleasantly surprised (and oh so proud!) that they all seemed genuinely shocked that people would think that and didn't agree. :) Kids surprise you sometimes!

I teach a Media Literacy class at the high school I work at and we've been discussing the VMAs. (There was an interesting NYTimes article about it we read on Friday.) Anyway, I let them watch some of it in class today and it was the first time I had seen the Britney performance. I mentioned to them all the talk on the internet of her being "fat". I was pleasantly surprised (and oh so proud!) that they all seemed genuinely shocked that people would think that and didn't agree. :) Kids surprise you sometimes!

Let's get real for a moment here.

She was hired for one reason and one reason only: her looks. If she can't handle that as her job, there will be some other person to take her job.

As much as feminists cry about women being "used" for their bodies, they make a lot of money using their only "skill." (Otherwise, she would probably be working a $15/hr job like the rest of us.)

I'd rather be a pop star, than be a construction worker any day.

My concern is that some young girl will read these articles calling Britney fat and say "if she's fat then I must be huge..." and proceed to throw up dinner.

Heck, I'm an enlightened feminist and I still had that "if she's fat..." reaction, as many of us here did. Although I was able to intellectualize it to myself, a typical 13-year old girl doesn't have that same capacity.

Who cares if she has more resources than the average person to maintain her looks, or that it's her job to do so? What matters is that the average woman doesn't have a personal chef, trainer, and millions to throw around, but is still expected on some levels to look like Britney Spears anyway.

Hilarypo, was there some kind of quote I missed where Britney was bashing on fat girls? Because otherwise I don't understand where you're getting this from: "I think Britney is one of these people telling young girls and women that they are disgusting".

As much as feminists cry about women being "used" for their bodies, they make a lot of money using their only "skill." (Otherwise, she would probably be working a $15/hr job like the rest of us.)

Dude, what? Feminists make a lot of money off of their bodies? Or... Britney Spears is a feminist? I don't follow.

I meant that women, in general (and men, i.e. Justin Timberlake), make a good living using their only valid skill, i.e. exercising and looking fabulous.

(Honestly, can you name more than 10 famous actresses that don't have drop dead gorgeous bodies? It's not about acting...)

I understand that, Jenn, but I don't think that tearing women apart who fall just barely outside the ever-narrowing limits of acceptably attractive is going to help.

I understand hating people like Britney because she is the impossible standard that we all get measured against. Then again, I've also survived an eating disorder, and I can tell you that when I looked closest to Britney in her heyday I was at my most depressed.

Ok bottom line:

It would be unfair to criticize a surgeon or physicist or electrical engineer based on their body.

But, Britney, she's a packaged product.

Well, I think her body looks great and I wish that bodies like hers were included in the media more often.

Under Zenith, I guess I was working with the understanding that doing something that you know enforces certain social norms (i.e. selling “music� because you have become the stereotype of what it is to be hot, part of which is not being a realistic size), then you can in part be blamed for them. But you are right, I am making assumptions about her that probably aren’t true – if she went on stage looking the way she did, she probably didn’t think she looked fat, or didn’t think it was wrong to look what is perceived by some as fat.

Forgive me for sounding like a bitter complainer, and don’t worry – I feel plenty shitty by now about what I’ve been saying, so you guys don’t have to keep bashing me for my 20 minute “Britney-got-a-taste-of-her-own-medicine�-ness.

Jenn, how do actresses and pop singers constitute "women in general"? And in any case, just because most actresses and female singers are thin doesn't mean they don't have talent. It could mean that they do, and that some agent along the way informed them the only way they'll get an opportunity to use that talent is to be thin.

(Honestly, can you name more than 10 famous actresses that don't have drop dead gorgeous bodies? It's not about acting...)

Plenty of actresses are talented in their own right--I suspect they understand that they will not make it in that business unless they are thin, and thus have to be skinny to keep working.

It's an injustice to truly talented people that this is the way things are. But Jenn, you seem to be advocating that it's the way things should stay, and that women (and men) in entertainment have a duty to continue to fit that mold.

Fair enough hilary =)

Sigh. I knew that the trolls would show up eventually.

*headdesk*

I think that she's a terrible performer, and that my dogs is a better singer, but I agree that it's in poor taste to insult her weight. Compared to everyday people, she's not exactly fat. She just cranked out two kids.

I never thought the day would come that I'd defend her.

Whoops...my dog is a better singer. singular. I am not a blithering moron.

Well, she does look thick in the middle. She's holding herself out as a sex object, wearing a bikini, and having male dancers 'worshiping' her femaleness and falling down at her feet. Seems right to point out that she's getting a little fat. As pointed out previously, we generally don't hold men to the same weight standard as we do women but few men hold themselves out as sex symbols with adoring women falling down at their feet. However, I suppose if Schwarzenegger or Stallone had an action-movie and looked all fat and flabby we would be just as critical.

Seems right to point out that she's getting a little fat.

Why? Are women who are "a little thick in the middle" not allowed to be or feel sexy? Are they not sexually attractive to anyone? And how is Britney's body even BAD?

Shit like this makes me feel awful about myself. If Britney's "fat" then I'm a whale. And I'm not even that big. But I guess everyone who passes me on the street feels nauseated at the sight of me.

What do people expect? Women don't STAY 18 forever. Maybe she could have worn a more modest outfit, but her body still looks amazing for someone who just had two kids.

What the hell are those folks talking about?

Britney Spears is NOT fat!

Unless of course somebody takes the Hollywood anorexic/bulemic 70 pound curveless adult woman body as the "norm", and regards any woman who actually has adult secondary sex characteristics as "obese".

Which proves just how hopelessly sexist Hollywood is (not to mention hopelessly out of touch with the mainstream of American society).

From what I've read on the music industry blogs, the reason Britney Spears' performance was so lackluster was because she was under heavy pressure from MTV's censors.

She was told that if her performace was too sexual, she'd be yanked from the lineup - with the unspoken assumption that she'd be unwelcome at any future MTV live telecasts.

That's a lot of pressure - no wonder her show was so lackluster!!

One more word on the Britney Spears "fat" commentary - maybe it's because I read hip hop industry blogs (which judge women's bodies by far more forgiving and realistic Black standards - that is, they like their women curvy) but until I read this blog, I had no idea that anybody thought Britney was "fat".

I feel sorry for White women - it's bad enough that, like every woman, they're judged by body, rather than character, but the body standards they're judged by are just so damned unrealistic!!!

GREGORY - So MTV censors prevented her from dancing and lip synching competently?

Whatevs, Sgt. York. I do NOT believe that a male in an action movie would be criticized as heavily as Britney was for being "fat."

I think the reason women "hold themselves out" as sex symbols is because that is what we're taught to do by society, not because that is what we want to do, per se.

Well, she does look thick in the middle. She's holding herself out as a sex object, wearing a bikini, and having male dancers 'worshiping' her femaleness and falling down at her feet. Seems right to point out that she's getting a little fat.

Because heaven forbid that a woman gets "worshipped for her femaleness" while she has a few curves.

And can we stop saying how Britney looks great for just having had two kids? Not only does her body look good even if it hadn't just gone through 18 months of pregnancy, but it doesn't matter because we shouldn't be judging women by their bodies regardless of who they are- marketed product of not, she's still a woman and you are still a feminist.

Has it occurred to anyone who's criticizing Britney that "putting oneself out there as a sex object" is a SURVIVAL STRATEGY for women in the patriarchy?

Well, she does look thick in the middle. She's holding herself out as a sex object, wearing a bikini, and having male dancers 'worshiping' her femaleness and falling down at her feet. Seems right to point out that she's getting a little fat.

You have no idea how hurtful this statement was. What, fat women aren't allowed to be seen as sexy? If you think Britney's getting a little fat you'd probably flip your lid if you saw me on the beach, and everyone I know thinks I'm in great shape! I mean seriously, by what ridiculous set of standards is Britney fat? She probably weighs 125 pounds!

Sgt. York, I ask that you consider what you've just said.
Women are "worshipable" only if they are in perfect physical shape. If they get "thick in the middle," they no longer qualify as sexual beings and are no longer worthy of sexual attention. Not that "sexually attractive" is the highest achievment a woman should strive for, but you're essentially saying that *certain* women couldn't possibly be sexually attractive or lusted after. And that they shouldn't consider themselves worthy of admiration.

That's very troublesome.

Kudos to Sgt. York ~

The music/TV/movie industry makes money off of the participants being in superb physical shape. That's not to say that being something other than that isn't hot.

If women don't like the standard, boycott all movies, TV, magazines (Cosmo, People) and maybe things will change. Until then, sorry.

"The music/TV/movie industry makes money off of women being in superb physical shape."

Fixed that for ya.

And those women make money too!!

(Making money off of being hot --- what do you think Britney would've done if she was just average looking?)

And those women make money too!!

(Making money off of being hot --- what do you think Britney would've done if she was just average looking?)

And those women make money too!!

Only if they're physically perfect! How are you not getting this?

SGt. York: "Seems right to point out that she's getting a little fat."

Err.. yes, if "fat" means "healthy weight" and "somewhat thinner than average".

Maybe this is a stretch, and it probably wasn't her intention, but the VMAs was the first time Britney was ever somewhat of a positive role-model.

Rather than being extremely slender, she was show-casing a body that is somewhat thinner than average as sexy.

"However, I suppose if Schwarzenegger or Stallone had an action-movie and looked all fat and flabby we would be just as critical. "

That definitely goes on. I remember when Arnold S. got all flabby, it was all over the tabloids. If they caught Brad Pitt with a gut, it would be all over the news (of course, it works the other way too. Everyone went ga-ga over Matt Lauer when they saw him with his shirt off).

Seems right to point out that she's getting a little fat.

Seems right to point out that you just made yourself sound like a pedophile. Because only 11-year-old girls with implants are likely to have the type of bodies that men like you expect.

Oh, and Jenn, if women are making such great money by selling their bodies, why is only one woman among the top 20 richest people in the world, ranked at number 12? Seems to me that if being super skinny and white or light-skinned were as lucrative as you claim, all those half-naked skinny white women would be on par with the world's billionaires by now. You sound to me like somebody who would've told black people back in the day that if they don't like slavery, they should just stop being slaves. Things aren't as simple as they seem, and change doesn't always happen overnight.

I also find it extremely bizarre that you're on a feminist website telling women to stop buying Cosmo and similar shit because, um, most feminists don't. If you really gave a crap about women, you'd be spreading your "message" somewhere where there are women who buy Cosmo.

"""Whatevs, Sgt. York. I do NOT believe that a male in an action movie would be criticized as heavily as Britney was for being "fat.""""

Possibly not, but do you remember all the stories and photos of Arnold Swarznegger in the media a few years ago?

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/attachment.php?attachmentid=40264

Possibly not, but do you remember all the stories and photos of Arnold Swarznegger in the media a few years ago?

Exactly. A FEW YEARS AGO. With female celebrities, it's EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR. I'm not saying it's right when it happens to men, but it happens to women all the goddamn time, every day, every second. Take a look at the shitty-ass tabloids that are all over in the grocery store lines -- how many men do you see being shamed for their bodies and every other aspect of their lives compared to women? And little girls are in line with their parents all the time at the grocery store, learning at the tender age of 3 the only thing they're good for in the world. And then we wonder, when girls see this crap that earl