Whether you saw Britney Spears' performance on last weekend's MTV VMA show - you've undoubtably heard about it. From CNN and The View, major media outlets and bloggers of all stripes, tongues have been wagging over the performance that had been hyped as Britney's Comeback Performance.

Have you seen it yet? No? Here, go have a look.

Back with me? Great. Let's dig in, shall we?

Not the greatest performance ever given by Britney. In fact, it was really bad. And of course, critics and fans immediately leaped to add their opinions into the tsunami-like reaction.

I've always had a certain sympathy for Britney Spears. The girl has been on the fast track since a very early age, and no doubt certain aspects of her upbringing and early fame have made their mark on her. Her precocious sexuality and flashy dance moves, coupled with her catchy songs made her famous, but her recent trials - her marriage and divorce, her stint in rehab and her life as a mother have landed her in the tabloids and splattered across the internet daily.

And okay, she's given gossip-lovers plenty of material over the years. I wasn't surprised that the New York Post immediately threw out the headline "Lard and Clear," but I was disgusted. Again and again, critics gleefully pointed out that Britney is carrying more weight than before, and had no business wearing a bikini on television.

After I rolled my eyeballs down from the back of my skull, I decided to see what other bloggers had to say about this particular attack:

Jen Eyer, at Neurotic Mom, noticed the immediate focus on Britney's middle, too:

As a mom of two, I've been morbidly interested in the criticism heaped on Britney's appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards. Her performance, in case you hadn't heard, was lackluster, but her greatest crime was not being back into pre-baby shape.

Like Britney, I'm still a bit thicker around the middle, so the fat comments hit a little close to home. As this writer said: "Then, as Jay Leno heaped fat-joke scorn upon her head on "The Tonight Show," I felt sad, and paunch-conscious. If Jay thought Britney was fat, then ... then ... Jay thought I was fat! Shut up, Jay!"

Jocelyn Noveck wonders what this focus on appearance says about us in her article Harshest Words Saved For Britney's Body

Was it fair? 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?

There were some, uh, interesting quotes in that article. I particularly liked this one:

In the fashion industry, there's been an effort to promote healthier-looking models. "Girls aren't looking as skinny this season as they did," said Suze Yalof Scwhartz, executive editor-at-large for Glamour Magazine. "There's food backstage. They're looking sexier." At Glamour, she noted, a model won't be featured "if she shows too much clavicle."

There's food backstage! I'm so impressed with that! The fashion industry is actually eating this season. Yay!

I decided to take a look at what some BlogHers had to say about Britney's performance:

Busy Mom is just sad.

I know I've talked about her before, but, the whole thing is actually really sad to me.
She just looked completely lost (scared? baked?), and, I still wonder why no one can help her get herself in order before her career.

Stefania, over at CityMama also suspected drugs were in play:

I'm surprised Britney could even stand up with all that Ativ@n in her system, let alone "perform."

Princessandherpets, a great 13-year-old pop-culture blogger, gave the performance two thumbs down:

... it was horrible, and the way she was trying the lip sink was very bad. She also seemed like she didn’t know her dance moves very well. This will probably be the only time I’ll be writing a post about Britney Spears, because she is a terrible influence for girls my age (any age)

SJ, BlogHer Contributing Editor for Pop Culture points to a funny, but NSFW explanation for Britney's difficulties in life. It is all Christina's fault. No, really.

Over at Mamarazzi, they've turned to photos to illustrate their feelings about Britney's weight:

This is drunk (and quite possibly high) ((and sleeping walking through a comeback performance)) (((and concerned about wig positioning))) ((((and wondering if Kevin's lawyers are about to subpoena the back-up dancers))))

...but this is not fat.

While Robyn at MamaPop gleefully shares yet another NSFW video, this time of a hysterical Britney Fan,who urges us to LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE:

It wouldn't be a day of the week without something to do with Brit making big news. And while it's finally something she didn't do, it's still something AWESOME.
For your viewing pleasure this morning, I've got Britney's biggest fan!

Cheryl Thompson came away from her viewing of the VMA performance with new motivation:

I need to get healthy and back to work before my life and career spiral out of control and I end up friendless, rhythmless, and thinking, "I used to be hot ... now not so much."

So many thanks go out to Brit. You truly are an inspiration.

As for me, I have to agree with Danielle:

All I have to say on the subject is that if one considers Britney Spears fat then WOW. She is thinner than 95% of the females in the United States and I'm still saying WOW. I saw the clip and I am not even interested in her talent or lack of it. I am just blown away on how anyone can even say she is fat..........
If she is fat then I will trade my fat for hers.

Is it fair to focus on her weight as a sign of her failure? Are we obligated to look like we are 17 forever? Can a woman with a healthy build rock a two-piece and boots without being told that she should cover that belly jiggle? Does one crazy performance spell the end of a career?

Over at Vh1's Blog, Rich has this to say:

And you know what else was hot, for real for real? Her body — Brit’s slightly thicker than she was at her python-carrying, Madonna-Frenching, VMAs prime and, Zombie-movie hair excepted, maybe hotter than ever. In fact, a few of the girls on last night’s show were packing a little more than you might have expected. Let’s hear it for the unexpectedly stocky girls of the 2007 VMAs!

For real: good for all of them. They’ll all probably be ridiculed for their extra pounds, but we can only hope that they’ll ignore it and keep reaching for the donuts. Seriously: it’s refreshing to see three superstars of Britney’s, Beyoncé’s and Alicia’s caliber look so healthy.

What say you, BlogHers?

_________________________________________________________

Jenny Lauck refuses to starve to meet some whacked beauty standard.