More Than Just a Tempest in a C-Cup

Janet Jackson’s exposed breast launched a public outcry and bolted FCC Chairman Michael Powell out of his easy chair to defend the sanctity of America’s airwaves. No matter that we’ve had decades of commercials with nearly naked women wrestling over a beer.

The exposure of Jackson’s breast, yanked free by Justin Timberlake, was unexpected and unsettling. But was it worth the gallons of ink and hours of radio and TV talk that followed? Why so much fuss over this particular breast when all around us on TV and billboards, in movies and magazines, online and on the sides of buses, breasts abound?

Because this was not just any breast. This was a single breast that symbolizes a cross-fire of issues that touch the lives of a huge swath of Americans.

Janet Jackson is a black woman. Justin Timberlake, a white male. The fact that both thought it was acceptable to have him rip off Jackson’s clothing suggests that both desperately need a short course in U.S. history. A million rapes of black women by white owners flashed before the eyes of Americans who understand the brutal sexuality associated with slavery.

Jackson is also an aging woman in a business that celebrates young bodies. Was the exposure deliberately choreographed to boost sales of her upcoming CD among younger audiences likely to be “thrilled” by her flamboyant sexuality? Jackson obviously understands that images of the female body are used to drive billions in sales of all kinds of goods. Women in this society pay a price for this unrelenting, often violent, objectification.

But there was something else going on. In a time when our culture is dominated by a handful of corporate entities -- when money, not inspiration, is the driving force -- Timberlake’s adolescent act of sexual aggression made us all understand the corporate imprint on our mental landscapes. This Super Bowl fiasco was a sad reminder that Viacoms -- not Rembrandts -- increasingly sketch our cultural images, usually without any thought to notions of the public good or our children.

No wonder there’s been so much talk. A powerful dose of racism, sexism, ageism and corporate greed got mixed up in that C-cup. In the end, no one liked it very much.