BlogHer - Britney: Unfitney? Or Misunderstoodney? - Comments

I agree...

ExpectingExecutive — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 01:37:09 -0500

I have mentioned to my step-daughters (ages 21 & 23) on more than one occassion, Britney Spears' actions of late remind me of an overwhelmed new mother (twice over) suffering from Post Partum Depression. It is obvious to those who have walked/trudged that path.

I only wish the best for her and her children.

Erin
Expecting Executive
It doesn't take a village to raise a child, it takes a village to support a parent(s) raising a child.

It's nice to hear everyone's

Super Jive — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 23:43:44 -0500

It's nice to hear everyone's thoughts on this...I'm glad to hear people taking the topic seriously. It makes me think about where I'm at in my life with being a mother.

Gena, great comments. I would zap her away, too, actually. Getting out of LA would be the best thing, I'll bet.

***********
Your Pop Culture Librarian also writes almost daily at I, Asshole.

Post-partum depression

Suzanne Reisman — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 23:00:25 -0500

A friend of mine recently said that Britney's erratic behavior reminder her of what a close friend of hers acted like when she had postpartum depression, and my jaw dropped because it made a lot of sense to me. Spears is young and sheltered, and alienated from those who might have been able to help her. She had two kids in a very short period of time, and postpartum just seems to fit the bill. For the first time, I felt truly sorry for her. My friend's friend was lucky: she was surrounded by caring family who refused to let her shrug them off, and she got the treatment she needed. I hope that the same thing happens to Britney, whether it is postpartum or something else that has caused her to implode.

Suzanne Reisman, Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants

Me too. And I'm just as

kperfetto — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 17:40:48 -0500

Me too. And I'm just as shocked as anyone. Not that the fame, money, hanger-ons is any excuse for her behavoir -- I know someone right now: a young, single mother who hasn't a clue and thinks she can still party all night and drop the kid off with someone else.

Available Light & Five Dollar Radio

Great thoughts Gena

moddivorce — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 17:20:50 -0500

Just think if all of our youths had been captured on film!!! I'd probably want to delete a few incidents and I had great parents and no childhood fame!

When I mentioned Britney as a powerful woman I was referring to her fame and notoriety, which could be used to influence young girls and women in a positive way. Not to mention the insane amount of money she has that could be used for good instead of evil.

Anywho, it's a shame to see such an ongoing train wreck that is her life and it's sad that she does seem to be all alone.

The Road to Adulthood Is Painfull...

Gena Haskett — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 10:10:57 -0500

That photo of the leeches swarming around the car got me to thinking. There is a person in that car who is going through various forms of hell at the moment. If she was not a celebrity we would be a bit more rational or compassionate about her situation. Or not.

I don't watch regular news but despite my best efforts I know she professionally embarrassed herself on stage, she has a substance abuse problem, had her kids taken from her and I'm guessing there is gonna be something else some time in the next few weeks.

Hell of a lot of stuff to face isn't it? And when her so-called support team is dependent on her for income and access to the good life who is she going to turn to?

What tools or skills does she have to cope? When you have been working since 12 years old and you don't know anything but the business how do you become an adult? Most of us get to do that in relative private.

She hasn't even fully explored her teen years yet. That might be why she is in trouble at the moment. Only problem with that is she is 25 years old and has two kids.

If I was all powerful mystically being I'd zap her to a hidden rehab center and part of the day she would have to read books by women who also when through hell and came out the other side. I'd even make her write a book reports just to make sure she read the content. The other part of the day would be rehab, self-parenting classes and forced nature walks.

Tree hugging would be optional but therapeutic.

Gena - Out On The Stoop

Wishing I could hope

SeoulCat — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 21:50:57 -0500

Sadly, I see, and have always seen, Britney as more exploited than powerful. Even back when she was dancing on that stage with the snake draped across her shoulders, I never could shake the sense that she was essentially pushed out there, expected to maintain this incredible facade of a glamourous, successful "woman" when she was barely more than a child.

I agree with zchamu, unless someone who cares about her welfare (and whose judgment isn't clouded by his or her own self-interest) is able to help her, I think she'll continue to publicly self-destruct.

Don't get me wrong. I think she is a very talented person. But one who's not been able to develop a strong sense of her self as a person aside from her public persona.

As for the "should we care" question: Who knows whether we should or not, but she is a famous person (by her own choosing) and, it is understandable that people are interested in what happens to her.

I'm one of the few...

zchamu — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:04:36 -0500

That actually has a lot of sympathy for Britney. The girl has never had a real life or a real relationship. She's grown up with this warped perception of the media as being something she cannot live without. And she's grown up, it appears, without anyone who truly cared simply about her as opposed to her talent or what she could do for them. She has no concept of what a "real" life is.

I'm very afraid that in 30 years we'll be talking about her in the same terms as Marilyn Monroe.. a star that shone so brightly that it burned itself tragically out far too fast.

ThreeSeven... attention deficits at work.

Strange Hope

moddivorce — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 14:19:10 -0500

There must be something about Britney that makes us want her to succeed. I'm not sure if it's because she's a young, powerful woman who, if she gets her life back on track, could be a great testament to girl power, or if it's our empathy for an emotionally struggling young woman. Whatever the reason and regardless of her ignorance, I often find myself routing for her to get it together and make a comeback.

Helene.

Britney: Unfitney? Or Misunderstoodney?

Super Jive — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 12:30:13 -0500

Britney Spears lost her children on Monday. After a court order, she voluntarily surrendered them to her babydaddy, Kevin Federline (A.K.A. “FedEx”). Or at least her babydaddy’s bodyguards. What does this all mean exactly? And why does the world still care?

“I don’t care,” I hear you scoffing. Well, close the tab then.

No! Wait! Come back! Ahem. Anyway, someone cares. Lookit this picture of these paps around her car! They’re like pimples on Sienna Miller’s butt!

Source: Britney.cl

There seems to be alternating opinions about why Britney lost her kids. In some corners she is being pilloried as a party girl and a bad mother on a downward spiral. There are allegations of drug abuse in front of the kids and worse.

Other people, logically, say there are simpler reasons for the court order: she missed court appearances and she did not undergo required drug testing. She did not jump through the requisite hoops for adults going through an ugly divorce. Britney and her mother, after years of peas-in-poddom, had a notorious schism. Maybe, as Jenn Satterwhite suggests, she was missing that support system of caring people who could say, “Hey! Get some sleep! You gotta pee clean on Monday.”

Rebecca at I’m Just a Girl laments the fact that so much attention is being given to this story (and I’m obviously one of the guilty parties here), when there are single moms all over the place who are doing well with their children and their lives. Indeed, where are those examples? Moms who spend time with their kids and make healthy choices do not sell magazines, right? I don’t think anyone can definitively say what being a “good mother” means, but we as a society know when we see how not to be.

All of this media hoopla and he-said she-said made me start to think about Britney as an actual person, rather than as some kind of modern-day Medea. Could this have been prevented? Is Britney even an adult? Part of the apocrypha of Britney’s history is that she quit school at the end of eighth grade, after years of spotty tutoring. After that her life became touring, recording, more touring.

To further my point, I will confess to you that a few years ago my sister and I gleefully watched her hot mess of a reality show, Chaotic, aired when she was in the honeymoon period with FedEx. I thought it would be full of spoiled-brat shenanigans and rocket-scientist moments, but what struck me the most was how alone Britney was. Alone in hotel rooms, alone on balconies, alone on workout equipment, and confiding in her makeup artist, her employee, before shows. The names of the cities flashed across the bottom of the screen, cities that I would give my left spleen to visit, but there were no attempts by Britney to go outside and taste the local food, see some sights, absorb some culture. Each city featured the same homogeneous hotel room and her alone with her ignorance.

At what age are we considered an adult? For me, it was probably seventeen, out on my own with my record collection and a fresh boot print on my ass. Part two of that was when I held my first little howling bologna loaf in my arms at twenty-three with no nanny battalion in sight. For someone like Britney who has been coddled, kept isolated and ignorant, maybe not even having children did it. My first thought is for her children. I hope they are safe and happy. But I also hope Britney pulls out of this nosedive in time to experience the joys (and horrors) that come with a healthy, non-tumultuous parenting experience.