For 15 electric minutes, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira performed a nonstop celebration of life and lust and Latin pop and Puerto Rican/Colombian/Lebanese culture and identity and costumes and dancing and footwork. It was muscular and sexy. It was unapologetic.
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For transparency’s sake, I did not watch the halftime show, but I have seen lots of photos and read articles like these. My take on the #MeToo movement and the halftime show is this: women should be able to express themselves however they want safely and with no judgement. As long as it is THEIR choice, I don’t care how they feel or what they do. I’ve seen a lot of people making fun of women who want to be stay-at-home moms or housewives because “We’ve come so far from that. Do you want to keep living in the 50s or something?” We should support and uplift each other’s choices (even when those choices include dressing like “sex objects”) because we live in a country and a time where we CAN make those choices! I think it’s frustrating when women nitpick things like this when there are countries in this world where women can’t even leave the house without a man with them. Let these performers live their lives the way they want to! All the power to them.
Let me start by saying that there was absolutely nothing "disgusting" about the halftime performance. To hear that word being attached to the performance actually baffles me. By all means, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but that is a bit extra. Yes there was a stripper pole, but at no point was Jennifer Lopez nor Shakira naked on the stripper pole. They were performing! This was a performance. It's not like they were actual strippers doing their nightly routine for the world to see. They were putting on a show. That show gave a nod to Miami and its culture. And what do you know, Miami is well known for its night life which includes...strip clubs. Are strip clubs appropriate? No, definitely not for all audience. Was there a strip club at the half time show? No. There was a pole, with clothed women dancing. If you watched the show and was old enough to recognize the pole as a stripper pole, then it wasn't inappropriate for you. Was it too much for you? Maybe. But that's because of your own personal tastes. With that being said, I'm happy that this article brought up Adam Levine being shirtless. Was that also disgusting? Inappropriate? Too sexual for the superbowl? Hmm. I think the #metoo movement is about women empowerment, women (and men) supporting each other, women being able to be themselves and be comfortable without having to worry about what is going to happen to them. That is- slut shaming, being sexually harassed, etc. This performance included two Latin girls being themselves onstage and showing off their culture, and for people to call it disgusting goes against everything that the me too movement is about. In no way does this make women any less than they are, and in no way does this contradict what women are fighting for. This actually supports it. I really wish that people saw this performance for what it was.
It’s interesting how people are ridiculing and accusing Shakira and J Lo for being too provocative and sexy during the halftime show, but nobody blinked an eye when Adam Levine went half naked on stage last year. Why should women, like this article iterates, by apologetic for celebrating their body, their womanhood, and their cultures? These women were raising arms, showing the world what they are made of, that they will not bow and you know what, more power to them. I have seen a lot of posts and articles talking about how the internet is making fun of Shakira for her ululation she let out part way through the performance. The call was a Zaghrouta, a traditional Arabic “cheer” like call, and she was celebrating her Lebanese roots and heritage. The call is used most commonly by women at celebrations and has a long cultural history. It is unfortunate and makes me upset people will make fun of somebody for celebrating their culture and showing joy.
The Jennifer Lopez and Shakira halftime show is the perfect understanding of the double standard that exists in the current entertainment and music industry between men and women. One Facebook comment that is showcased in this article states that "women will never be taken seriously if they keep turning themselves into sex objects". Hold up, back up. First of all, women do not turn themselves into sex objects, they are made into sex objects by those who objectify their character, actions, and bodies based on the clothing they are wearing or the way they choose to dance on stage. Also, if I don't recall, last year Adam Levine of Maroon 5 was ripping layers of this clothing off while on stage and nobody batted an eye. The takeaway from this article for me was the idea that in the era of #MeToo, it is not saying that women don't want to be sexy and confident, "they don't want to be raped", and more importantly do not want to be blamed for being sexually assaulted.
It is really upsetting that articles like this one seem to be a constant trend. When I saw the title I immediately thought, “Haven’t I seen this a billion times already?”. Because sadly, I have. It feels like when women do anything remotely daring, it causes controversy. There is always some debate on all sides arguing about it. I didn’t watch the Halftime show, but from the brief glimpses I got, it just seemed like another live performance from these two singers. What makes it so heartbreaking for me though is based on the comments I read, it appears that other women are tearing them down as well. A male performer doing the same thing would get no where near the same amount of press they are. Unfortunately it just feels like another day for women in social media. A woman should be allowed to express herself however she would like, if they follow the rules of the program, which they did, there shouldn’t be an issue. It’s just heartbreaking, but not surprising.
I did watch the halftime show (but only watch about 1/10th of the actual football game). I will say that I have liked other halftime shows in the past more, but I watched it with some friends and found the whole thing very entertaining (I felt like there were a lit of memes to be made about parts of the performance) I agree with Apriah, it wasn’t a disgusting show in my opinion (I can see where parents are going from when they state their opinion of having their children watch, but at the same time I don’t think kids care as much as their parents do…). There was also so much going on that the dancing and costumes were not the sole points of interest. I think that these two women put on an amazing performance, and I applaud the creative and production team that put together this show (even if it wasn’t my personal favorite). Also, shout out to all the people that commented on this posted, I really enjoyed reading what you had to say along with this article.
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