Essay: Britney Spears is a cautionary tale of pornification

Salon's Bernadette Barton joins the discussion about Britney Spears "exploring the gender inequality trapping Britney.  In particular, I examine Britney Spears's story in light of the pornification of society over the past three decades. Pornification, the sexualization of culture also referred to as raunch culture, socializes women and girls to believe (and boys and men too) that a key element of female identity is looking 'hot' like a porn star or stripper. Pornification sells itself to girls and women using the rhetoric of sex positivity and empowerment. 'Look how free you are to express your inner porn star and be sexy.' This narrative falsely equates commodified sexualization with freedom, and devolves the language of sex positivity from an ecosystem of consent, pleasure, safety, and respect into the single expectation that women present themselves as sexual objects first and foremost".