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It's an old story: Nasty Janet, Naughty Justin

February 17, 2004|By Heidi Stevens, Tribune staff reporter.

Weinstein points to historical roots. "Since long before the Old Testament, women were the seductresses. It was Eve that tempted Adam," she says. "The other interesting intertextuality reference is to black women and white men. There was such a thing called lynching when black men went after white women, but white men were never censured for going after black women, of course."

Clearly, Timberlake tearing the top off of the co-conspiring Jackson isn't the same as Thomas Jefferson fathering children with his slave Sally Hemings or Strom Thurmond fathering a child with his family's 16-year-old black housekeeper. But it's naive to pretend our knowledge of that history doesn't linger today.

"It's not a completely correct parallel because Janet and Justin have similar kinds of cultural capital, which is so rare in history," Brier says. "In that respect it does make it different."

Different results

So what does the Super Bowl stunt and its ensuing debate mean for the two pop stars?

For Timberlake, an image boost.

"Justin has constructed his celebrity in a way in which, of course, the outrage has to be deflected from him," Weinstein says.

"Justin was constructed out of this boy band," she says. "When Elvis was the same age as the 'N Sync kids, he was seen as sexy. But the 'N Sync kids had this innocent sexiness."

Timberlake has been working to lose that innocence since he went solo in 2002, whether he's basking in the news that Britney Spears lost her virginity with him, grabbing Kylie Minogue's rear end at the British Music Awards or dating high-profile older women (Alyssa Milano, Cameron Diaz, even Janet Jackson for a time). This is just another notch in his bedpost.

"He's certainly been trying to position himself, with his haircuts and his facial hair, as an adult," Weinstein says. "This only helps his career."

Meanwhile Jackson, 37, is pushing a new album in a world full of female stars whose bodies sell as many, if not more, records as their voices do. Her last album debuted at No. 1, but that was three years ago. Since then, younger pop stars Spears, Christina Aguilera and Beyonce garnered much attention for flaunting their bods. We hadn't heard from Jackson. Until the Super Bowl.

It remains to be seen how the scandal will affect sales of Jackson's forthcoming album, scheduled to be released March 30. Her single, "Just a Little While" which radio stations picked up the day after the Super Bowl, is playing on 106 mainstream top 40 stations and 20 adult top 40 stations, according to Chuck Taylor, senior editor at Billboard Radio.

In the meantime, we'll continue to hear her angrily denounced at FCC hearings and criticized in letters to the editor -- we still live in a world that directs its outrage at the artist who flashes what the porn industry makes a reported $10 billion a year selling.

Meanwhile, we give a pass to the artist who sings, "Gonna have you naked by the end of this song," and then tries to follow through on his promise.