Op-Ed: #FreeBritney Is About a Generation
By Jessica Wise
Trigger Warning: Content includes mentions of abuse, Bill Cosby, and ableism.
She’s not a girl. She is now a woman.
In the course of just one day, two rich men were able to walk free, while pop princess Britney Spears remains imprisoned in her home by her own father and management.
If you haven’t been following, here are the atrocities Britney listed in her statement earlier last week. This was her first time being able to speak on her infamous conservatorship (beginning in 2008 and spearheaded by her father Jamie Spears) in two years.
Here’s a quick summary of what she said in the recording above:
Britney has no access to the $60 Million fortune she’s earned throughout her 20+ year career.
Britney was forcibly taken to a mental institution after voicing a differing opinion from her chorographer.
The above happened after Britney was forced to tour against her will.
She has no say in when she can see her sons.
Her father and her team drugged her with lithium as well as other medications that resulted in chemical imbalance, depression, and more.
She was not listened to when she expressed her concerns and asked to be taken off the drugs listed above.
Britney’s conservators ordered her to get an IUD and will not allow her to have it removed, even though she has voiced her desire to have another child.
Britney’s entire team (nurses, security, chef) was moved into her home against her will, and her credit cards, passport, and other essentials were withheld from her.
She could not even change clothes without being watched by her conservators.
She was placed on a forced 10 hours/day, seven days/week work schedule, a schedule she said can only be compared to sex trafficking in the State of California. She also was not allowed to see her children or her boyfriend if she did not meet this criteria.
Britney’s mother and conservators denied her self-care treatments during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, but offered these services to the staff instead.
She was not allowed to choose her therapists, or where she could have her sessions.
She was also not allowed to attend her AA meetings or to see the friends she made there, despite some of them living just “eight minutes down the road.”
Britney was threatened by both her father and her team that she and her image would be in harm’s way if she didn’t comply with the above.
Bill Cosby has been released based on a technicality. James Franco is able to write a check and face no charges for forcing on-camera sexual acts between acting students. Meanwhile, Britney Spears and so many women in her situation remain judged and punished for a single (and completely understandable) breakdown she had nearly 20 years ago.
“I’m not lying. I just want my life back. And it’s been 13 years, and it’s enough.”
Britney’s story is about more than a star scorned. She is not alone. After doing her own research on conservatorship laws, Britney said, “There are thousands of other conservatorships out there that are abusive.” Britney is one of thousands of women who struggle with mental health and/or physical/mental (dis)abilities. Her public battle echoes that of many who suffer abuse at the hands of their families and conservators, barring them from getting married or having access to their personal finances. Britney implored that this law be changed, and Congress is actively debating it.
In the United States, and even in other “developed” countries like the UK and Canada, people with (dis)abilities are not allowed to get married without losing income, benefits, or health insurance. According to Social Security Income and Medicaid stipulations, once a (dis)abled person marries, they no longer “need” the additional income because they now have a two-income household with their spouse. This disempowers the (dis)abled party and could force them to depend on their partners if their condition worsens, leaving the door open for financial abuse or worse.
As everyday-millennials are trying to accommodate for alarmingly risings costs of living, all with the same wages from the 90s, we can’t afford for these benefits to disappear. And we shouldn’t have to choose between benefits we need and being with the one we love.
Britney’s story is also about a generation of women who are constantly told to be quiet and blindly obey their elders. This is the case of a slew of millennial women and their predecessors. Gen Xer Monica Lewinsky was villainized in her early 20s for a consensual affair with former President Clinton, a scarlet letter that still follows her 20 years later. Hilary Duff was disenfranchised from developing the beloved Lizzie McGuire character because production was content to the make the reboot a money grab instead of an honest portrayal of modern millennial woman in her 30s.
Millennial women continue to be infantilized and denied choices in their own lives. Britney Spears is almost 40. Hilary Duff is 33. When will women like us stop being handled like little girls?
“Again, it’s makes no sense whatsoever for the State of California to sit back and literally watch me, with their own two eyes, make a living for so many people, and pay so many people, [and pay for] trucks and buses on tour, [only to be] told ‘[You’re] not good enough, but [you’re] great at what [you] do.’”
We’re great at what we do: driving the revenue for the big companies, working longer and harder than everyone else, balancing motherhood and work, and bringing teams together. But not great enough to be decision-makers, managers, speakers, and independent thinkers.
This woman is nearly 40 years old, and is maintaining the livelihood of hundreds of people. Yet, she is somehow not sane enough to choose her own legal team, life partner, and therapists?
Despite these disturbing pleas, the judge denied Britney’s petition to end her conservatorship. In response, Britney did what any fed-up millennial will do in an abusive work environment — quit.
Britney’s manager Larry Randolph submitted his resignation to Jamie Spears this weekend, noting his reason stems from Britney voicing her decision to officially retire from the music business.
Like many an overworked, underpaid woman, she got tired of making an older man rich and never seeing the fruit of her labors — income and personal freedom. The world may never get to experience her talent again because she was mistreated by toxic management who bled her of her time, passion, and creativity.
Sound familiar?
