I’ve been meaning to post about this for a while. When Britney got her shit together in the last few months and started taking her medication and cutting down on those buckets of frappuccino and trips to 7/11, there was much excitement that she was ‘back’ (see my post about that here). But in all the mag coverage, this is the shot – of her performing at the MTV awards in 2007 – that is constantly used to illustrate how ‘fat’ she became before this come-back. Usually, it’s an inset shot in a magazine story with big shots of her in a bikini on a beach in the last few months. Now I’m thrilled she’s getting her life in order – for herself, her kids, her family (small tangent: hasn’t KFed been quiet lately? And why do we never hear about his OTHER kids? The boy and girl he had with Shar Jackson? Anyway….).

The performance she gave while wearing the above outfit was a shocker, no question about that. But was she so shockingly fat? So worthy of scorn by the self-appointed body police? THE WOMAN HAS TWO SMALL CHILDREN. At the time of the MTV appearance her boys were aged 1 and 2.

I think she looked pretty damn amazing even for someone without children, let alone having just had two kids in two years and being in the middle of a nervous breakdown.

To me, this is yet another infuriating example of the media trying to recalibrate our idea of what’s ‘normal’, what’s ‘fat’ and what’s ‘hot’. Her mental state aside, I think Britney looked beautiful in these shots. How are the rest of us meant to feel if this is the body that’s held up by the media to be an example of fat and slovenly?