Long before the MeToo Movement went public, media misogyny was on full display. And body shaming, invalidating, and belittling primarily women were tools of the trade. Britney Spears was a focal point.
Before and after the Sawyer interview there was innuendo directed at Britney Spears.
There were a few examples in the documentary. A male “shock-jock” radio host asked Timberlake about sleeping with Spears. He was direct “Did you fuck Britney Spears?” to which Timberlake laughed and said, “OK, I did it.”
Timberlake finally apologized after the documentary was released. “I failed,” he claimed.
A male journalist asked a teenage Spears about her breasts. Jay Leno often made Britney the punchline in his late-night jokes. And during her infamous 2008 breakdown, Britney was hounded by the paparazzi.
The images of helicopters filming the young woman as she was being loaded into an ambulance still remain. She was chased, hounded, and maligned.
It is still debatable if the media was telling her story or trying to destroy her to get a better story.
Britney speaks out on media misogyny
Women are often treated as objects and sexualized in stories. And there are also nasty and untrue narratives created to garner attention.
