Like a Virgin: When Pop Stars Become Women

The rise of the internet in the early 2000s ushered in a new era of pop stars – one where teen girls like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera were suddenly available for mass consumption and subject to the omnipresent male gaze. This gave way to pressures for female stars to walk the fine line between virgin and whore. And all the while, the world was watching, waiting for the day they turned from girls to women and stepped into their sexuality. 

By 19, Britney fully embraced her sexual identity in “I’m a Slave 4 U '' and subsequent album Britney; meanwhile, Christina, 21, did the same with “Dirrty” and Stripped. After the album cycles, they both stepped back from the overtly sexual images, leaving us to wonder if it all had to do with the pressure to become the sexual being that society was waiting for them to be.

In this episode, we explore the narratives given to Britney and Xtina, and look at how others like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa and Billie Eilish dealt with the pressure to be sexual pop stars. 

Enjoy this episode? Join our Patreon community or leave us a tip on PayPal! 

Want to talk more? Find us: @name3songs | @sara_feigin | @jenna_million

Check out all the sources for this episode at name3song.com 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices