Britney-bashing Is A Bit Off

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Topic: Entertainment

Britney-bashing Is A Bit Off

By Gareth Eastwood 2008-02-04

The wild thrashing about of Britney Spears in recent times brings home a surprising fact about pop divas in the modern world. Their increased vulnerability as mothers brings them no protection against being thrashed by the media. In fact, it makes them sitting ducks.

While Britney is being fed to the lions Heath Ledger has just dropped dead, presumably with drug involvement. Yet he clearly suffered nothing like the troubles of Britney after he separated from the mother of his child. How much easier is life for a male idol?

I'm astounded that the public, certainly the feminist lobby, haven't stood up and loudly cried "back off and give a young mother a chance." After all, the world wants entertainers like Britney and it wants them to give their all into the bargain. But just how much is 'all'? Their children?

Massive pains have been taken in recent decades to engrave on our minds the enormous physical, emotional and psychological drain of childbirth and mother-hood. We are also fully aware of the huge personal investment demanded from rock and movie stars. The two combined would be vastly more than the average Britney knocker could ever hope to cope with.

It's easy to say "she has to consider her children" and therefore justify lambasting her for drug and booze involvement, but is that realistic? Unless I'm mistaken, young mothers who aren't in the public eye are given far more sympathy and understanding for that, despite the pressures on them being far less.

Should we shun every artist and actor who abuses drugs and alcohol, settling only for the rest? About the only 'rest' there'll be is the one the entertainment industry is laid to.

The world knows that. We say 'tut, tut!', then overlook their transgressions in the interest of getting what we want from them. We can refuse to give anything in return we feel like withholding, but not without consequences. We can certainly say 'if you don't like the heat stay out of the kitchen', but some of the best female talent on earth might just decide to do that.

Previous generations of women were far less likely to have their children taken from them and handed to the father. Even so, many singers delayed child-bearing, some of them forever. Today, seeing what has happened to Britney Spears, the choice is becoming clearly defined. A woman can have fame and fortune or she can have children. Try to have both and you can wind up in a padded cell.

Can we justify thrusting that choice onto our shining stars, from whom we ask so much?

Gareth Eastwood contributes articles to www.mindesque.com. He is an enthusiastic Rock 'n' Roll Dancer and teacher in Adelaide, South Australia. He maintains a premier website dedicated to Rock n Roll Dance at www.rocknrolldance.com. He also created and runs a large singles social network in Adelaide based around www.garethevents.info/