Summary

In Nisey Williams’ essay Why I Hate Britney, she uses a variety of reasons to analyze the evolution of pop culture and its effect on our youth. Her essay is directed entirely at Britney, mainly blaming her for sexually influencing young people. However, she does also acknowledge that Britney is not the only culprit.

One of her main criticisms of Britney is her choice of clothing. She notes that, “While [Britney] hopes to save her virginity for marriage, she also wears see-through outfits and dances like a stripper on the MTV Video Music Awards” (par. 5). To Williams, Britney’s choice of sexually appealing clothing is part of the reason that teens have been wearing more revealing clothing, also.

She also links this to being a factor in the rise in sexual activity among middle school- and high school-aged children. Some of her statistics show that children are more increasingly having sex by age fifteen, and there are more reports of sexual activity, such as oral sex, among middle school students. These statistics are not linked directly to today’s sexually driven pop culture, as “experts are torn on the long-term effects our sex-heavy pop culture may have on children, but many agree that there are likely negative consequences” (par. 10). She draws that the more sexy our pop icons appear, the more our young people are going to strive to acquire the same image.

This also leads her to her next point, and that is the increase in words such as “sexy” in children’s vocabulary. She uses an interview from Good Morning America to show this. Their interview separated boys and girls and asked them about issues pertaining to pop culture, where Williams claims that “the relationship between the mature concept of sexiness and popular music became obvious” (par. 11). They found that the two groups claimed that performers like J. Lo put certain actions in her videos “to look sexy.”

Overall, Williams presents a fair argument and uses reliable sources to back up her opinion. Her sources show that pop culture could have a dramatic effect on the mindset of children and how they view what they should be like, how they should dress, and what ideals they should carry. Her essay is persuasive enough to make parents think about what their children are surrounding themselves with in terms of pop culture.