Culture

Is It 2007 Again? Why Can’t We Leave Britney Alone?

by Ky Stewart  27 September 2023
Britney Spears dancing with knives video

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Another day, another barrage of gross commentary around Britney Spears’ well-being after she posted a video of herself dancing with knives she says are fake. As expected, the media immediately jumped to “Britney needs help” and “sparks concern” tropes because that’s what they always do. 

 

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Britney told us in ‘Circus’ that there are two types of people in this world, the ones that entertain and the ones that observe. Britney has always been the one entertaining us and clearly people can’t help but observe and obsess over her mental state. It’s tiring.

I thought we were doing better when it came to attacking women. We just saw how the public rejected buying into the smear campaign against Sophie Turner but it’s annoying to see how quick they reverted back to their old games for Britney. I shouldn’t be shocked given how they treated Amber Heard.

This should go without saying but please don’t dance with real knives. They are sharp utensils whose entire purpose is to cut through things so waving them around in the air feels like a mistake. If Britney’s knives are actually real, she should absolutely not be dancing with them — not because she’s “unstable” but because they are knives. Her mental health is, in fact, none of our business. And yet, the public (still) appears to consider it fair game. 

Is it a little unusual to post yourself dancing with knives? Sure. But that doesn’t mean we need to resurrect old tropes of Britney Spears being unhinged, needing help, and justifying her conservatorship. If people really cared about Britney, they wouldn’t question whether she should be put back into a system she said “traumatised” her. 

This isn’t just isolated to dancing with knives though. People will question her even when she is doing a harmless activity, like dancing on a stripper pole. It seems like we only take issue with women when they don’t fit the mould carved out for them. The Independent put it perfectly: “We wanted a #FreeBritney who didn’t make us feel uncomfortable — one who behaved the way we wanted and expected.” As they pointed out, that doesn’t actually make her free. It takes away her agency. The article continues, “Britney Spears has been infantilised all her life and we continue to do this now … we are primed to see her as broken, as needing rescue and pity.” Exactly. There are plenty of middle-aged women on Instagram who post weird shit but when it’s Britney we need to call the police. 

Let me ask you this. If the intense media obsession with her in the early 2000s led her to have a public breakdown, do you think doing the same thing now is going to help her? If the media actually cared about Britney they’d be consistent. I don’t see them showing concern for men in music who grab their security guard’s gun. Heck, we’ve even normalised corporate axe-throwing events. 

I’d argue that the most dangerous thing in Britney Spears’ world isn’t a knife but rather the men who have controlled her for most of her life. It’s also worth mentioning that she’s dancing in a country where children are being gunned down in school. So maybe some of the concern over what Britney Spears is doing on Instagram could be put to better use.

Update: Britney posted another Instagram dancing video with the caption “Lighten up about the knives I’m copying Shakira”. See? Relax, everybody. 

Ky is a proud Kamilaroi and Dharug person and writer at Junkee. Follow them on Instagram or on X.

Image credit: Getty