Oops, she made a fool of herself again

Britney Spears is embarrassed. Meanwhile, TMZ is issuing an R.I.P. for her career. More here.

Meanwhile, the AP looks at the catty commentary about Britney's figure and asks:

Did Spears, lest we forget a mother of two, deserve to be held up against the standard of her once fantastically toned abs, sculpted by sessions of 1,000 tummy crunches? Or was she asking for it by choosing that unforgiving black-sequined bikini?

More profoundly, in an age where skinny models and skeletal actresses are under scrutiny for the message they're sending young girls, what does it say that we're excoriating a young woman for a little thickness in her middle?

I'll admit, some of the commentary on her appearance did make me squirm. That she would be called "fat," or "lard," or "like a house" -- I don't know if I'd call it "unfair," I'd just say its inaccurate. Utterly factually inaccurate. She's not "fat." Good grief! ... That said, whether she can pull off that particular outfit is an entirely different question, to which I daresay the correct answer would be a resounding "no."

The more pertinent issue, IMHO, is that she sucked. Sucked monkey balls, in fact (as the Loy family's resident Britneyologist, Becky, would say).

Comments

[Mad Max, Esquire]

Was she too fat to wear that outfit as a superstar on national TV? Yes. Was she too fat to wear that outfit as a mother of two on a beach in South Carolina? No.

It is all a matter of context.

[kcatnd]

Becky may eventually rise to become the Daily Show's Senior Britneyologist.

[lex icon]

Yes, it's all context. She is much thinner than many women whom I would not call fat, but for a person wearing that, and lazily gyrating like that on stage, within the context, the bitch was thick.

[texasyank]

"The higher the monkey climb, the more he expose."

I suppose I feel bad for Britney, in a way that has nothing to do with my long-standing desire to do her. (The bald period kind of took care of that.) Britney's music was tolerably competent, given the standards of the middle-of-the-FM-dial crapola that is shoveled at us on a daily basis (in my car, I flip between Rome and Rush). Even her latest song--the pathetic lip-synch from last night--doesn't entirely stink.

Viewed from afar, I think Britney went the way of so many megacelebs: straight from nobody saying no to her to everybody dictating everything to her; from nobody objecting to thirty thousand dollar coffee runs to everyone around you saying, Here, take this, wear this, appear here, do this.

The prototype, of course, is Elvis. Not that Britney is Elvis, but: overweight, sweating, mailing it in, visibly barely caring. Sound familiar?

What would have helped her, some time ago, was a character similar to John Spencer's character on "The West Wing," the one guy who could say, Come down, you're making a fool of yourself. And then protect her when she needed it.

[Trisha]

Ok, I only saw the picture as it was posted on Drudge's frontpage, as I could care less about Britney Spears, but I will say this: as a mother of 3, I WISH I had that body!

It is sad that we expect women to look like Barbie dolls in todays society, and then bash them when they don't meet those expectations. The fact that she felt comfortable enough to wear a bikin, even with a bit of baby fat tells me she is proud of her body and doesn't appera to have self-image problems (at least on the outside). I dread going to the beach in a one piece, nay in a bathing suit at all. I wish I had her confidence to say "screw it. I'm a mom and I'm proud of the way I look!" Sadly, society tells us it's not ok and that we must all wear a size 2 (as evidenced by the fact that I can rarely find clothes for my size 14 body, even at WalMart!).

[Admiral Halsey]

Trisha,

The one thing I can confidently say is that Britney has self-image problems on both the inside and the outside (whatever you mean by that). The woman wore a wig for months after shaving her head, and she spends thousands of dollars on make up, hair and personal trainers (the latter is money not well spent) so she's obviously quite concerned about improving her looks.

Not to mention, Britney has exhibited behavior for years that is basically a cry for help. I don't see how anyone could reach the conclusion that she has good self-image w/r/t her "outside."

Also, Britney is like 25-26 years old. She doesn't have a good body for someone that age, kids or not. If she were 36, we'd be having a different conversation.

[I R A Darth Aggie]

Now, if we could only get Brit to wear panties on a regular basis:

The very ‘hairless vagina’ that Sarah Silverman made fun of last night made it’s own special appearnace after the VMAs!

After the disappointing show and after Britney bawling her eyes out, Britney changed clothes and headed to the Bellagio Hotel. As she was getting out of the car she was photographed with no panties on…yet again.

Source: http://www.celebritysmackblog.com/2007/09/10/britney-spears-caught-without-panties-after-vmas/

(potentially NSFW, or may lead you to bleaching those parts of your brain that remembers viewing those pictures)

[Angrier and Angrier]

"It is sad that we expect women to look like Barbie dolls in todays society, and then bash them when they don't meet those expectations."

No it's not. It's called natural selection. A healthy hottie is much more poundable than a lazy fat-ass because the healthy hottie has a better set of genes.

I love how women always bitch about the way men and society objectify them. There seem to be a lot of lonely fat men out there that I don't see all you put-upon women running to comfort. What's up with that? If Brad Pitt suddenly gained 100 pounds, what do you think it would do to his career?

[texasyank]

He could play Superman's dad.

[Angrier and Angrier]

Now THIS is what a hot girl looks like...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4nxT0F_EIs&mode=related&search=

[Joe Mama]

Don't trash talk Britney, or you'll have to deal with this guy.

[Angrier and Angrier]

Joe Mama-

I've never met David K in person, but something tells me he sounds like this guy.

[Angrier and Angrier]

By the way, Joe Mama. We don't agree on much, but I have to admit that is pretty damn funny.