'Toxic' looks back on Janet Jackson, Britney Spears and tabloid culture in the 2000s

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Arts, Books

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

Author Sarah Ditum has an uncomfortable label for the late 90s and early 2000s: the upskirt decade. In her new book, Toxic, Ditum analyzes how digital cameras, the Internet and tabloid misogyny created a perfect storm to permanently alter the lives and careers of nine famous women. In today's episode, Ditum speaks with NPR's Scott Detrow about the infamous Britney Spears interview with Diane Sawyer, the growth of social media throughout that decade, and the way younger generations are now reclaiming autonomy over their public image.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Timbede Armias. I came of age in the late 90s and early
0:09.1	2000s and often think fondly of the pop culture moments that defined that era. I'm talking about
0:15.8	AOL Instant Messenger, MTV's Total Request Live, and of course the pop divas who marked that period,
0:23.5	Britney Spears, Destiny's Child, Jenna Jackson, among many others.
0:28.3	But a new book called Toxic, Women, Fame, and the Tabloid 2000s, argues that for all the
0:35.2	culture that era produced, it was also marked by a really troubling media climate for young women.
0:41.9	In the book, writer Sarah Dytum argues that a confluence of factors led to this toxicity,
0:48.1	and that it made for some cringeworthy moments in coverage that tell us a lot about how we thought about young womanhood at that time.
0:55.7	She spoke about the book with All Things Considered host, Scott Detrow.
1:00.0	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
1:04.7	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, sourcesources and Methods. NPR reporters on the ground
1:12.5	bring you stories of real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:18.9	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:24.3	20 years ago this month, a wardrobe malfunction in the Super Bowl halftime show caused a global meltdown.
1:31.1	If you were alive in 2004, you probably know this moment.
1:34.9	Justin Timberlake reached across Janet Jackson's chest, pulled off one of the cups of her top,
1:39.5	and exposed her breasts to millions of viewers.
1:42.0	The incident and the furor that followed became known as Nipplegate.
1:47.8	Jackson took almost all of the blame for what happened that night and the moral outrage that followed.
1:53.9	Niplegate is one of several moments, and Jackson is one of several famous women,
1:58.7	that author Sarah Dytum takes a critical look at in her new book called
2:02.0	Toxic, Women, Fame, and the Tabloid 2000s. It's a reassessment of a time when popular culture
	...

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