#FreeBritney: Britney Spears’ Victory in the Courthouse
After Britney Spears’ heartful testimony against her father, Jamie Spears, depicting the abuse she’s experienced under her 13-year conservatorship, the pop icon scored a huge victory in court on Wednesday, 14 July. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brenda Penny approved of Britney’s desired replacement attorney, former federal prosecutor Mathew Rosengart to represent her case moving forward.
Why is it a big deal? As hard as it is for us to comprehend, Britney has never been given the option of choosing her own lawyer since her conservatorship started, setting her up for failure from the start. Judge Penny’s decision has now given Britney the freedom to choose her most trusted attorney and get one step closer to ending the decade-worth of abuse she’s had to endure from her family.
Upon his new role, Prosecutor Rosengart spoke to reporters outside the courthouse and urged Jamie to resign as Britney’s conservator: “We will be moving promptly and aggressively for his removal. The question remains, why is he involved? He should step down voluntarily because that’s what’s in the best interest of the conservatee.”
“I just want my life back. It's been 13 years, and it's enough,” pleaded Britney during her testimony on 23 June. Among the obvious governance her father has had on her career, Britney is also not allowed to control her diet, leisure time, finances, and relationship with her boyfriend Sam Asghari. She is also forced to take medication and use an intrauterine device (IUD) for birth control. "If this is not abuse, I don't know what is,” says Britney.
Call it what you want; this is systematic misogyny at its finest. Britney’s conservatorship brings forth the gendered notions of governance men and the law still hold over women. This is not the first case of a conservatorship being used to control women’s rights to own their finances and decide what is right for their own bodies. Honestly, if Britney were a man, none of this would have ever happened.
Britney’s conservatorship only started because of her infamous breakdown in 2008 that had the pop star shaving her head and taking an umbrella to a car. When you compare this episode with that of the many men who have behaved erratically over the years, you'll notice that none of them have ever been treated as unkindly as the law has treated Britney. So why is it that Britney can’t be granted the same freedom to heal and choose what she wishes to do with her own life?
The fact that she’s been suffering for 13 years is proof enough that sexism is very much prevalent here. Britney is currently 39 years of age and is unfortunately still deemed a child in the law’s eyes. The fact of the matter is that everyone should have free will, and that applies to Britney as well. We only hope that she gets the freedom she deserves from now on.
Britney celebrating her win on her Instagram post:
