FREE BRITNEY: mental health and human rights

History and Context

Last week Britney Spears spoke in the latest court hearing in the fight to end her abusive conservatorship. This authentic personal testimony has brought new attention to her case, and more people than ever are fighting for her freedom.

Spears, like many of the early two-thousands stars, became a paparazzi target, which made her the subject of intense scrutiny and shaming. And like celebrities such as Lindsey Lohan and Amanda Bynes, that much constant stalking and media attention can cause mental health problems. Those issues, along with intense overworking since childhood culminated in Spears’ 2007 public breakdown, which triggered the start of her conservatorship.

At that time, one might be able to understand why Spears would need some advice and assistance in healing from her trauma. But this conservatorship has lasted 13 years, and as Britney's mother, siblings, friends, and fans all agree it is time for it to end.

There are many reasons behind how long the conservatorship has gone on, but the main factor is people's desire to profit off of her music. She is in the top 200 artists on Spotify and her music continues to get hundreds of thousands to millions of streams each year, she is a pop culture icon. So it makes sense that people want to profit off of her success, regardless of how that would personally affect Britney.

Other celebrities such as Amanda Bynes have also been under conservatorships following mental health crises most likely brought on or encouraged by intense paparazzi and media attention. And this issue isn’t a good girl gone bad tabloid story, but rather an issue of being thrust into the public eye at a young age, and what that does to a person.

The IUD

The conservatorship also raised even further eyebrows when it was made public that Spears desires to have more children with her current boyfriend, but the conservatorship has forbidden her from removing her IUD as an attempt to control her even further.

Not only does the initial reasoning for the conservatorship, a mental health crisis that happened 13 years ago, cross a line, but this forcing of Britney to make decisions she doesn’t want to regarding her body whilst under an abusive conservatorship crosses an even larger boundary.

This forcing of Britney to keep her IUD in raises similarities to the forced and coerced sterilization of disabled women. Immigrant women at the border also lack sufficient reproductive care.

This conflict regarding the IUD also calls to mind the continued societal issue of a woman's body, and who should have control over it.

Closing

Although in some cases a conservatorship could help someone in need make crucial life decisions. In terms of Britney, and many people with disabilities like Britney some decision-making assistance is what could be helpful, rather than an entire conservatorship that inhibits any independent decision making.

Britney has lived 13 years like this, after this recent hearing there is finally hope that the conservatorship will end and she will get her life back.