In February 2007, pop singer Britney Spears was pushed to the brink of her sanity by the media. So she shaved her head in a hair salon in Los Angeles for the world to see.
I remember feeling distinctly uncomfortable as a child when Pink sang the words, “And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?” I didn’t quite know what that meant yet — or that I was gay — but I was good at absorbing grown-ups’ emotions and reactions to pop culture. So when my mom gave me Spears’ “Circus”
During my second year of college, Spears was the only person who, to paraphrase her lyrics to “Alien,” made me feel less alone. Life only made some semblance of sense when I was listening to her music. The year I turned 19 was when I started keeping my sexuality less of a secret, often disillusioned at the reactions of anyone around me when I dared to step outside my assigned gender role.
To reexamine the timeline of Spears’ first decade of stardom is to chart a course of our own cultural failings, teaching impressionable young minds that mental health, especially when it comes to women, is something to demean and laugh at. It horrified me that a person whose art had helped me during dark times was not offered the grace and compassion she needed during her own.
Entertainment Entertainment Latest News, Entertainment Entertainment Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: HuffPostCanada - 🏆 61. / 53 Read more »