Young girls are being bombarded with contradictory images of thin, sexy women portrayed as the ultimate role model of femininity and all things woman. However, lately there has been a trend in pregnant celebrities to show off their newly acquired tummies in "tasteful" layouts and celebratory spreads. One of the most well-known American Sex Symbol is Britney Spears. While controversy rocked her marriage to Kevin Federline, her career took an unexpected turn south. Spears, previously portrayed as the virginal girl-next-door (while dating Justin Timberlake), suddenly appeared in tabloids with her nipples showing and the presence of her undies coming into dispute. Her lifestyle changed drastically from a wholesome girl to a party animal. The images shown in this post (collaged by me) are meant to represent some of the conflicting images used to portray Spears in the past few years and question what message they send to young girls about their own bodies and self-worth.
Here are two pictures from infamous times in Britney's career. At the top, Britney posed for a fully nude and fully pregnant spread for Bazaar Magazine. Below, that is a picture from the infamous "nipple exposure" night where Britney's breast was pictured in several tabloid magazines and websites. Both pictures are of the same woman but both send very different messages. Jean Kilbourne, author of the book Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel reprinted an excerpt from this entitled The More you Subtract, the More You Add: Cutting Girls Down to Size. In this article, she explores the idea that young girls are bombarded with contradictory images in media and advertising from a very young age. She says, "Girls try to make sense of the contradictory expectations of themselves in a culture dominated by advertising" (Kilbourne, p. 259). She also speaks to the fact that young girls are "more powerfully attuned" to the "images of women" because they embody social expectations and show what we value in a woman. Media portrayals of women (such as the pictures shown here) prove that while being naked is still unacceptable in the general culture, it is alright as long as she is with child, the ultimate goal of every young girl.
The video below depicts stereotypical mixed emotions about pregnancy and weight. While being pregnant (and married) is not a cultural crime, being fat is. The ambiguity of the signs of both physical state make an awkward situation for women in early stages of pregnancy as they begin to see themselves and their bodies changing and now different.
Naomi Wolf wrote a book called The Beauty Myth in 1991. An excerpt reprinted from this publication summarizes the ideology that beauty is socially constructed to dis-empower women and pit us against each other. One of the ways she expresses this sentiment is through reproductivity. Wolf simplifies that the "Beauty Myth" perpetuates the archaic thought that "beautiful women are more reproductively successful" and that is why strong men compete for the most beautiful of all to mate with (Wolf, p.121). This, of course, is a misconception when it comes to reproducing. However, it then extends the thought that while one must strive for beauty everyday to catch a respectable mate, one must also exude beauty while being pregnant for that is the natural way. If Britney Spears is the ultimate woman, an American Pop Icon, then we can also liken her to Wolf's "Goddesses" in that "their only function is to serve as the Divine 'womb'" (Wolf, p. 122). Though Britney Spears is not a goddess, she is worshipped in much the same sense. And therefore, her part as a role model has now extended to "Mother Icon" and we must be able to tell the difference and re-evaluate our roles in response to her.
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The images used in this collage can be found at the following places:http://www.vipflux.com/files.php?file=britpreg_400962526.jpg
http://www.oodora.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/britney-spears-pregnant-pics.jpg
http://d21c.com/sookietex/britney.jpg
http://thesuperficial.com/2007/06/britney_spears_almost_not_quit.php
http://www.britneyspy.com/category/pictures/
http://www.celebnewswire.com/britneynew15gc.jpg
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2007-03/30/xin_1403043010452151041434.jpg
http://www.celebrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/britney-spears-bald-2-19-07.jpg
http://aceandinvisible.blogspot.com/2008/12/tuesday-toppers-top-5-on-tuesday.html
http://www.celebamour.com/2007/09/12/britney-spears-fat/
http://www.celebnewswire.com/archives/bazaar_yes_it_is.html
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Works Cited:
Kilbourne, Jean. "The More You Subtract, the More You Add." Gender, Race, and Class in Media A Text-Reader. Minneapolis: Sage Publications, Inc, 2002. 258-67.
Wolf, Naomi. "The Beauty Myth." Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women. New York: Anchor Books, 1992.
"YouTube - Is Britney Spears Pregnant???" YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 20 May 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8DV40L1B3Y.
