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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 15, 2002)
ma/ch 15. 2002 1 ;~ | 5 R f J & 'if lo u t iu s tF w n r m Up-and-coming gay icon Britney Spears: the next Madonna or the next Tiffany .7 1 don’t know quite what it is about Britney Spears— I just can’t take her seriously. Madonna was cool and still is. Tiffany was a flash in the pan— and posing for Playboy isn’t going to bring her back. Maybe Britney is just a “tart in the pan.” (And poor Justin Timberlake! He is one of the biggest teen heartthrobs ever, and the poor boy isn’t getting laid!) • • • • • M ark W alker Wilsonville Hardware Pet Food & Supplies Gardening Tools & Supplies Down-to-Earth Products U-Haul Trailers & Trucks M e n tio n this ad Vor 1 0 % d is c o u n t • • • E va H offman Milwaukie • • M aybe at the ripe old age of 34,1 finally am starting to sound too much like my par ents, but 1 don’t understand what is so interest ing about Ms. Spears. Sure, on the surface Britney and Madonna have a few things in common. Both have made unfortunate forays into film, both have used their sexuality as a marketing device, and both are associated with virginity: Madonna for calling the loss of hers “a career move’’ and Spears for main taining hers as if it is kind of mark of virtue. But there is where I see the similarities end ing. Has Spears said or done anything sociologi cally interesting? Has Britney challenged mainstream ideas about sexuality, religion and hypocrisy? Has she tackled issues of class, racism, sexism and homophobia? Has Spears sent any kind of important mes sage through her work? No. In fact, Spears is little more than a hypocrite. She is ever so proud of her virginity yet sells her sexuality with all the subtly of a prostitute. Madonna challenged the mainstream by holding up a mirror to society and showing us a woman can be articulate, literate, intelligent, sex ually aggressive and nonvirginal and still demand to be treated with dignity and respect. Although I have no problem with Spears promoting sexual restraint (which I think is actually a good thing in this day and age of rampant sexually transmitted diseases), she should follow that message through with her persona and music. Madonna is an artist who has something to say about the issues in our world. Britney is merely a reflection of society and how much work there still is yet to do. w hen Madonna first came out she was older and a much harder woman because of her past than Brit ney and her Mouseketeer years. Their backgrounds are completely different. Although Madonna used sex to sell herself, she also proved to be an intelligent businesswoman. Meanwhile, Britney just tends to be selling sex. Also, Madonna’s style always has been able to change with the times. Meanwhile, Britney just has been putting out bubblegum pop. Hopefully when she is older we can make another comparison and say yes if she is lucky. But Britney has been around much longer than Tiffany was, so she has something going for her. J ason E ngland Portland • • • B ritney Smears is going to be the next Tiffany. She is nowhere near as popular as Madonna was by now. Her “trends” all are taken from other people. She hasn’t offered anything new for young peo ple— except for a horrible voice, crappy melodies and stupid commercials. She needs to crawl back into her hole in Florida with the other teen-age song hags. « AJ G ilbertso n Beaverton • • • iffany. She might be an industry earning power at the moment, but her music lacks originality and stamina. T ' 10920 NW St. Helens Road (503) 286-1291/Fax: (503) 286-9592 Madonna has a quarter-century of musical firsts under her many belts. Britney still will fall short of her maverick inventiveness in 10 years, should she remain popular. Is Britney capable of producing a “Like a Vir gin” in the next year or two? Or “Like a Prayer” in the next 10? Not likely. Madonna’s savvy sense of controversy and artistic daring will far outlive Britney. She will be making original music at 50. If Britney still is singing at 30, we all will have become even more bored with her canned act. Everyone might not like Madonna, but she commands respect for license to self-invention. Everyone likes Britney, but what we hear now is what we’ll hear in the future. W ith o u t a tra v e l a g e n t y o u ’re on yo u r own.® Spring is in the air. C all us about great value vacations. • M exico • J Iaw aii • Europe • South (Pacific LLOYD TRAVEL D eb S achs 1026 NE Multnomah Portland 503-288-5145 n e x t l”P^P7TrrI is just Out on the right track in trying to be “ all things to all people” statew ide, or would Portland advertisers and readers be better served by m aintaining focus on the Rose City? Respond at w w w .justout.com . (D on’t forget to include your nam e, city and daytime telephone num ber.) f VtH TU AU r t ïv * o u t B tA IN J<IEM<B // Computer Repair and Consulting PC or Mac / New or Old f Onsite Repair Custom Built Systems eliminate half an hour of network advertise ments? It looks suspicious to me, but I hope the scheduling decision was because of incompe tence and not homophobia. T homas K raemer Corvallis Judgmental Judge To the E ditor : T > resident Bush recently presented nomina- JL tions to fill judicial vacancies. These nomi nees, far from the moderates he promised in his campaign, have extreme right-wing viewpoints as evidenced by their judgments on record. In particular, Mississippi Judge Charles Pick ering Sr. exhibited his far-right leanings in regard to miscegenation, abortion and even vot ing rights for African Americans. Not only has his record been deplorable, but he also has attempted to hide the tmth about his judgments from the public by refusing to make them avail able to the Senate Judiciary Committee. A glimpse of Pickering’s convictions: • As a state senator and as a leader in the Republican Party he advocated for a constitu tional amendment to ban abortion at the state or federal level. • He assisted in the rewording of the Missis sippi miscegenation law (preventing interracial relationships) to get around challenges regard ing its constitutionality. • As recently as 1993, he opposed the idea of “one person, one vote” and repeatedly rejected measures to expand electoral opportunities for African Americans after passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Check exit his record for yourself. Then call our senators immediately if his nomination is passed to the flexir. Ask them to filibuster this nominee and vote against him. He clearly has demonstrated he is neither a mcxlerate nor capable of clear, un biased judicial decision making. M elanie E dwards Oregon National Organization for Women Action Vice President Sam support To the E ditor : I Am Sam deserved more than one little piece of popcorn (“What’s Poppin’?" Feb. lj. This is a meaningful and uxiching movie. While I was in college, I volunteered to teach mentally disabled students to use calculators to buy food. Being a demanding teacher, I got impa tient and started to raise my voice to a student. He was happy instead of being upset. I guess he had learned something, but I felt guilty for raising my voice rather than proud of my achievement. I heard comments like, “How could Sam (Sean Penn) raise a baby but not an 8-year-old kid?” However, we should not forget he got help from his neighbor. Also, a baby does not talk back to anylxxly. At first, I did feel the lawyer (Michelle Pfeif fer) was flirting with Sam, but on second thought maybe it wasn’t meant that way. She had a busy husband who refused to help her take care of her son. She was touched because Sam was willing to give time and love to his daughter. And emotioas got involved when the lawyer was trying to help him. I could not speak for Sam because I do not know how much a men tally disabled person would know about flirting. This movie was about how he fought for his rights in taking care of his daughter. Also, it showed how some social workers badly handled their cases. The thing I did not like about the movie was that I was not told how he got the homeless girl pregnant. 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