Subverse Aphrodesia

In The Crimes of Courtney Love: Grinning and Baring It," The Village Voice's Richard Goldstein compares Courtney to Janis -- "the same failure to distinguish between persona and self, the same refusal to draw a boundary between expressiveness and excess, the same insistence on showing pain" -- and suggests that "breast baring is an act of power."

I'm thinking,,, no.

Courtney flashing her breasts may be an act of defiance, but it's more likely a protest of powerlessness in being defined as a woman. She is not, like Sojourner Truth, flashing to prove "ain't I a woman." She's flashing because the world won't let her forget that she's a woman. And I'm guessing that she's more than just a little pissed off about all the rules she's supposed to follow because of it.

Male rock stars have been getting drunk and doing drugs for years. Who drags their children into the conversation? Surely, some of them have children. Legitmate and acknowledged or otherwise. But we don't care. It doesn't really matter, because we don't define men as fathers. We define them as men. Whether or not they've procreated is so far down the list its almost irrelevant. Until of course their kids are grown up to follow in their footsteps.

But Courtney's a mom. Everyone knows it. And how dare a mother behave like a rock star!

Here are my breasts. They have sustained and nurtured living beings. And for as much as society pretends to value that -- they're not going to respect me or even pay me a livable wage for it.

What was it that made Courtney famous in the first place? Her parenting skills? Go ahead and say she took advantage of Kurt -- I've come to expect it. Just remember lots of famous guys have wives that no one will ever hear about. It's been ten years since Kurt gave up and Courtney still can't escape his shadow. She never will.

No matter what she accomplishes or how incredible it might potentially be -- she will always be defined by her dead husband. She will always be assumed a leech. She will always be blamed for his death --a destroyer rather than a creator.

There is no power in her self-exposure. Only the desperate plea of someone who wants us to remember that she's just as human (not only woman) as the rest of us.

Wake up and smell the double standards, Goldstein.