GIRLS GONE BAD!!!! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

OK magazine obnoxiously, brilliantly, exposes the three big Hollywood players that are so so sorry for their recent fuckups. Nicole for driving drunk and being preggers, Lindsay for being slutty and strung out, and of course, Brit-Brit - for being a crazy, ex-child actor, addict alcoholic, mildly retard fuckup skank.

Bad Girl is not born a Bad Girl. Rather, Bad Girl becomes one.

Let’s give it up for the Bad Girl y’all! Britney Spears is a fucking mess, isn’t she? Or is she… ? Although some may be oblivious to what’s going on with Spears (like the urgent issue of war, for example), her troubled life exposed in the media can help us situate the Bad Girl as she is: taunted, created, destroyed and, eventually, forgiven. First, a primer in Spears-ism 101. Back in November, after her failed marriage with backup dancer/aspiring rapper K-Fed, Spears went on a partying rampage. During this time, her labia was photographed as she entered a vehicle, she became best friends with notorious party-goer/heiress Paris Hilton, passed out at a party on New Years’ Eve in Las Vegas (shortly after midnight), shaved her head bald, entered and left two rehab facilities and, most recently, attacked a paparazzo’s van with an umbrella. She is now doing time in a posh rehab facility, reportedly under threats to revoke custody of her two small children. Now, if we look at the other women in the media who have been the centre of public fascination, we have very telling discourse of controlling and creating this Bad Girl. Past obsessions include Marilyn Monroe, Courtney Love, Nicole Richie, Yoko Ono, Lindsay Lohan and, how can anyone forget the fascination that ended in tragedy, Anna Nicole Smith. Every one of these ladies had a different narrative. Courtney Love was the woman who destroyed a budding rock star, and so was Yoko Ono. Nicole Richie clearly had an eating disorder—our constant monitoring of her body and eating patterns attest to this. Marilyn Monroe was called a man-eater and the public was consumed with her beauty during her short life as an actor. Anna Nicole Smith, an ex-Playboy model who married an 89 year-old billionaire at age 26, will probably soon be immortalized as Monroe has been—as a saint for all to idolize. But to what extent do we participate in the production of the Bad Girl? Yes the paparazzi are evil, “eTalk Daily” are dorks and PerezHilton.com is a douchebag. But, as a public, our fascination sells magazines; our webpage hits sell advertising space. Why is the Bad Girl such a source of intrigue? And at which point do we move from being passive observers to being active participators in her demise? Situating her within the context of media manipulation and consumer production is an informed choice. On March 8, International Women’s Day, I invite you all to problematize and question the Bad Girl.

FREE BRITNEY

She's left her rehab centre in Antigua to come to Sherman Oaks, Calif., tattoo parlour and hair salon for shaving and tattooing. She reportedly said she is sick of people touching her, which is why she cut it all off. The hairstylist refused to shave her so she did it herself. Then she got two tattoos--a pair of lips on her wrist and a cross on her hips. Brit then went to Cedars Sinai Hospital in a brown wig where she left before being admitted.

Funny how as soon as a woman does a strange hairstyle she is deemed out of control or crazy--is identity caught up in head hair? JEEZ.

For the love of everything that is holy--when will people leave her the eff alone?

JUST LEAVE HER THE EFF ALONE

Brit-brit

The folks at page six posted this item about an open letter from Rabbi Boteach urging her to get her shit together. Why didn't he just send it to her? Why make a letter open? Sorry if I'm mistaken, but shouldn't open letter writers at least attempt to send the thing to the person first? I mean then you could be vindicatged in your asshole move of publising the letter, opening it to the public. I really don't know about the etiquette of snail mail, or even much about "paper things" as opposed to virtual ones; but I digress.

February 12, 2007 -- EVEN though Britney Spears forgot to put her Star of David around her neck Saturday night (inset, picking up a friend in the West Village for a night on the town), Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has some advice for the pop tart. In an open letter to Spears, Shmuley said, "Allow me to share with you a teaching of the ancient Rabbis." These teachings include tips like, "Once you become a parent, Britney, life gets really serious . . . We can all pretend that life is one big party devoid of responsibility. And rarely being home, or coming home drunk, or letting your kids see you in a degraded state, will permanently scar your kids." Shmuley continues, "Soon your boys will be surfing the Internet. They'll see a lot of photos of you in poses that no son should ever see their own mother . . . Try and be home with your kids . . . Cover up . . . Limit the visits to the nightclubs." The spiritual leader ends his letter by saying, "I know you can get your life together, Britney. G - d bless you."