the weight of motherhood

Music: Space: Tin Planet (1998)

More important than Patraeus' pending report on Iraq or how much weight college freshpeople will gain this year, the top headline this morning was Britney Spear's "comeback" performance at MTV's Video Music Awards last night (video is here). Admittedly, her rather uninterested going-through-(and-forgetting)-the-motions performance is entertaining to watch. I'm not so sure, however, the overly critical pouncing is warranted. Perhaps St. Britney did want to perform, although I gather her publicist et al. was really pushing for this to overshadow the years of bad publicity and the K-Fed albatross. Critics of the performance are also only fleetingly mentioning that the act she had worked on with illusionist (and rumored squeeze) Criss Angel was cancelled by VMA folks at what---at least in showbiz---most of us would term "the last minute." This was a hurried act that, given all the promotional hype, was bound to disappoint.

What totally surprised me was Perez Hilton's "open letter" to Britney rant. Perez, now a legitimized celebrity reporter with the added bonus of foul language and absolute freedom to say what he wants, begins his open letter with a "Fuck You" and it gets worse from there: "Your performance was beyond pathetic. The old Britney Spears, who was at one point (a long time ago) truly great, would be embarrassed by your lack of professionalism and utterly shiteous appearance at the VMAs." Apparently key to this appearance was the "beer belly" Perez was clearly interested in deriding.

If Perez can be said to reflect the interests and thoughts of many readers (not to mention that strange gay misogyny one sometimes senses in the insensitive cattiness of some men), it would seem the criticism here is really leveled at motherhood. How dare Britney be a mother, the critics intone: she destroyed her career.

Sadly, women still face the same kind of derision in the academy.