Timberlake at Super Bowl: White male privilege again?
NEW YORK — The booking of Justin Timberlake for the Super Bowl halftime show has triggered a backlash from women, minorities and others who say Janet Jackson was unfairly forced to pay a far higher price than he ever faced for that breast-baring “wardrobe malfunction” at the big game in 2004.
The hashtag #justiceforjanet trended on social media this week after the NFL announced Timberlake would perform Feb. 4 in Minneapolis.
Some argued that Jackson fell victim to a sexist and racist double standard and received harsher treatment over a decade ago than Timberlake did, while he benefited from “white male privilege.”
“His body was not criminalized and demonized in the way that hers was, and that has everything to do with being a white man,” said Janell Hobson, an associate professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies at the State University of New York at Albany.