I thought the Superbowl to be "family" rated. Guess not, judging by the sexual gyrations of the scantily clad performers on the stage. I'll show my age and state that this should not have been allowed on TV.
12
The half time show was glitzy and glamorous but devoid of creativity or class. Both these talented singers presented as cheap night club dancers with the focus on their pelvic movements and region. Empowering? Whom? Definitely not women. Because it fit in neatly with age old tropes of women as sex objects!
22
Oh, brother. If you didn't like it. you should have walked away. If you didn't want your kids to see it, turn it off. If you were offended, stop watching any entertainment at all. If you didn't like her outfits, don't wear things like that. If you don't like the dancing, pole or otherwise. again, don't watch. Super simple, seems to me. I thought it was a really good show, although I did prefer Bruno Mars' performance a few years ago. I hope those offended at the fabulous dancing Sunday were just as upset about him singing his hit Locked Out of Heaven.
6
yet nothing compares to what Charlotte Rampling is doing for Givenchy at 73...
3
I found the half-time show mortifying. If I were in the room with my 10-year-old granddaughter, I'd have turned the TV off. I don't have a grand son, but the damage would be equally bad. I, and the three other adults I watched the game with, felt that the show was lewd and lascivious. It legitimized the objectification of women and endorsed male dominance and misogyny. It said to boys and girls who watched that it's okay for girls to be roped up (literally) and subjugated prone and supine (literally) and that the way for them to be valued is by twerking and otherwise exposing themselves to male sexual fantasies. Shakira's licking the microphone in that context was unbelievable. How could a show like this be tolerated in the age of "me too"? I am a left coast secular humanist, but I checked out comments before I wrote this, and the only one I found that I agreed with was evangelist Franklin Graham who said, "This exhibition was Pepsi showing young girls that sexual exploitation of women is okay." He should have said young boys too. I never thought I'd agree with anything he said before now. Can anything be done to overcome the damage this show caused for a generation of young football fans and other children who will see it on YouTube? I doubt it.
13
I'm not convinced there is any practical takeaway for most of us from the performers' attire, or that there was meant to be. People should wear whatever they want, and what makes them feel good and beautiful. But most women, regardless of age, are not going to look very good in an outfit like that Versace bodysuit, nor would it be considered appropriate for most occasions outside of a dance studio or a performance hall. On most adult women, in most settings, clothing reminiscent of 7th grade or a pole dance doesn't work very well. Overly youthful and sexy clothing doesn't work well on most men either, though they tend to get less flack for it. As far as this 50+-year old is concerned, I'll stay away from shiny bodysuits in public, even if J-Lo looks fantastic in one on stage. Which is not at all the same as saying I'm covering myself in sackcloth and a widow's veil.
4
Your article nailed it! You articulated how so many of us feel after watching J.Lo and Shakira's powerful performance. Yet there are many women who are still left wondering how to liberate themselves from the fear of being judged for wearing the wrong clothes, especially women in their 40’s and 50’s. This is a conversation that effects us on a subconscious level. Because when we don't feel powerful in our own skin, how will we gain the confidence to pursue our goals and dreams?
1
What's surprising is in western culture cheerleading is considered a sport and taught in schools. Wonder how parents don't see the skimpy dresses the girls have to wear to perform for men's pleasure in these football games.
14
J.Lo is controlling her own narrative which IS empowerment. However, when women use being scantily clad as "empowerment," and "power," I don't think they are seeing the reality. Men never take off their clothes to be empowered or to have power.
9
I am borrowing someone else's words here and I am sorry I can't trace back the source but this sums it up quite well:
Jesus Christ on a strip pole - ain't that America?
4
J Lo is absolutely gorgeous and fit but this column doesn't address the total disparity between the perfected body and face you can cultivate with money and medical interventions. It is really unconscionable to hold her up as an example of flaunting 50 when her appearance is totally unrealistic and perhaps emblematic of the pressure for women to not age. I say this as a 47 y.o. who is frequently complemented on looking much younger, but I still have crows feet, narrow face, and changed body of a middle aged woman. I loved the brave politics and the Latinx culture of the show but found the skimpy outfits sadly reductive and frankly outdated. (My 8 year old said there were too many "butt moves.")
11
Just watched it on Youtube. What a national embarrassment. Also reinforces negative stereotypes about Hispanic and "urban" culture. Vulgar.
7
To quote Coco:
“A woman should be two things,
Who
and
What
she wants.”
Loved the half time show!
Love these women!
And shut up all you negative mysogynists!!!
14
I loved the half time show. It was a great spectacle brought to you by 2 amazing women who can do it all. We should be praising their performances, not bashing them. Fifty isn't a bad word or a bad age. Loved JLo and her daughter's duet. Was it political? Was it feminist? Who cares? It was Miami, hot!
6
Everyone just stoppppp talking about women like this. Don't you see how these stories meant to promote "empowerment" mostly redux to 1.) how important it is we are and stay sexy, and 2.) how important it is we breed and raise a family. On top of that, it's extra belittling to see women praised for doing a good job just doing their job-- like when you get excited that your dog performed a trick well. Like people expect us to not do it until all of a sudden we do? That is the problem. Please write about us like humans, not "women."
5
You have to admire the discipline the 50 year old J Lo needed to perform as she did at Superbowl LIV ... but after the extravagance of the costumes lost their impact - and the provocative knee-slides into camera became one-too-many - her routine could have been cut and pasted from the big-screen at Hooters. Missing was originality and simple creativity. Out of five - I'd give it a three.
7
Hey, good for JLo, she most likely has numerous personal trainers, makeup artists, hairdressers, stylists, etc., and is able to work out for five hours a day. She looks great. The rest of us Bozos on the Bus shouldn't give it another thought.
9
Always liked Shakira and JLo, they looked great and they still do so amaizingly. With this, we may hope every Person (man and women) may dress and look whatever they feel like. It is just fine to look 32years or 40 or 50 or 60 or whatever age - as long as we feel like it.
1
'Don't dress your age' is your cutting-edge message? How about it's time women dressed their power instread of their age or their (male-defined) sexuality ?
How about women in the entertainment industry take the lead in rejecting sexist stereotypes?
How about they stop flaunting their bodies as if that's what they should be judged on?
Jennifer Lopez is a (very good) entertainer with an army of assistants, gymnasts, make-up artists and no doubt surgeons to help her look the way she does. But what wider point is she making? What kind of ideal is she expressing?
Women are under enough pressure as it is, to spend endless time and money in an effort to look as young as possible. I say we reject it all. There is no point to it, it does not advance us, it does not give us any real rights or power, it does not improve our lives. Youth worship is simply a symptom of an ageing society.
Oh, and the day I don't see another plunging neckline, naked waist or thigh, or open back on the red carpet I'll know women have truly broken free of all this ageist sexist nonsense. After all, Hollywood men manage to look glamourous without benefit of Hollywood fashion tape.
18
Wasn't that the same outfit she wore to the Met gala last May?
4
Thanks for a great column! Inspiring!
1
This article encourages ageism and the objectification of women. Why can’t women look good at any age? You are penalizing someone for taking care of themselves. Kudos to JLo and Shakira.
7
Dorothy Zbornak has and will always be #1 in my book!
1
Yawn. Uber-wealthy celebrities whose job it is to look young and can afford whatever medical intervention that takes.
Yawn. Football.
This kind of sums up America for me. Ugh.
9
In natural daylight and within 10 feet, that outfit may not be quite the monument to agelessness that it's being touted as.
To be fair, however, "dress your age" ceased to have meaning decades ago when middle-aged men began to refuse to give up boy clothes (T-shirts, jeans, shorts, trousers with elastic waistbands) and went around in public looking like they auditioned for the role of Beaver Cleaver in 1956 and were still waiting for their callback.
The fact is that most of us lack the time, resources, or even interest to put forth the considerable effort it takes to maintain a body like that. For some, striving to achieve such an image after a certain age may even carry health risks. Time and/or gravity have the final word regardless. Ms. Lopez is only a step or two behind Madonna, who's looking more and more like a bawdy old lady who stumbled into Teen Town by mistake. And as for poor old Cher! Oh, well, as long as they're happy; it's their bodies, after all.
3
J. Lo's performance was fabulous. But the overwhelming majority of American women do not possess the genes, the time, the money, nor the energy that it takes to have a body, or "dress like" J.Lo.
Her "job" is to be exceptionally strong and fit so she can perform the way she does. Good genes no doubt help.
We have to stop judging women's sexiness by their age, how they dress or how they look.
As a late middle age woman, almost every area of my life is on the ascent: my emotional maturity and well-being, my curiosity and creativity, my intellect, my sex drive, my peace of mind, and my physical health.
I am one of the only women my age I know who has never taken anti-depressant, anti-anxiety, or sleeping meds. Why?
Because I've worked hard to take care of me - all of me - from the inside out...and so, there was only some time for trying to workout enough to look 10 years younger than I am.
So, my looks and my physical body are the one area of my life not on the ascent. I'm clearly not "rockin' hot"...not on the outside.
Oh, well.
2
Yeah, Jo Lo and Shakira are talented and great...for now. But how's about all the rest of us gals who never looked like that when we were twenty, and look even less like that now that we are sixty? And actually, never cared about it anyhow?
I'm glad they look fantastical and all, but what is the feminist message? You can satisfy a man a little longer than you previously thought?
Eventually you will age like the rest of us mere mortals.
Sadly so, girls.
7
Really? We still have a front page story about a talented actress and it is about how she looks? This is what propagates stereotypes about women and their bodies. Why not a story about her longevity and success as an actress. Why not a story about her talent, or that two Latina women made history as stars of the Super Bowl halftime show. Or a story about Her political statement about Puerto Rico. No you talk about how she looks and dresses. NYT, you really can do better than this.
11
I skipped the stupor bowl, the half time show, the silly this and that. It would take someone like The Boss to have me watch the half time show. The NFL, the entertainment and celebrity industries have turned American brains to mush.
6
I suppose the entertainment value of scantily clad women is no less ridiculous then of men bashing into each other causing all kinds of bodily harm.
18
Right. As IF J Lo is a typical 50 year old.
More nonsense from the 'culture' that makes millions of women feel ugly with completely unrealistic comparisons.
4
lets not forget that she has a team of people who help her look like this - from cooks to trainers to hair and make up (hours this took).
let's be realistic people - this is not the norm but a hollywood fabrication
5
I had to turn my eyes away. So sick and tired of half naked women gyrating, passing as entertainment.
I feel sorry for the world my daughter will grow up in.
16
WHo cares? The planet is burning, democracy is dying, immigrants are persecuted, a political party has broken its oaths of office, and coronavirus is spreading. HOw J.Lo chooses to present herself couldn't be less important.
17
The “half-time show” was a tawdry, glitzy mess that was unwatchable by anyone with a modicum of taste. Is this what the dumbed-down American culture has come to?
16
@Sam Kanter
In answer to your question: Yes, this is just a small part of what the dumbed-down US "culture" has come to.
2
Does anyone remember Cher at that age??
Her outfit is nothing new.
4
What about her skin? So glowing and beautiful
2
What people don't get is that no one wants to see me dance. No one wants to see me in a catsuit. OK, maybe my husband does. Jennifer Lopez and Shakira are professional singers and dancers. Some of those men were not completely covered either. Society is not asking for every woman to do this - it is entertainment. The are professional entertainers. It was a great halftime show. I have had enough of the Puritanical finger pointers since Sunday. Go Jlo, Go Shakira.
6
People would want JLo to "dress her age" if she had wrinkles on her face.
1
Jennifer Lopez’ business is being JLo, being a celebrity. Americans love it, vote for it. It’s a full time job that takes a huge staff and total self-discipline, probably including stuff that’s not legal for competitive athletes. And it’s costly. She can afford it and to her credit she is good at it. But envy? God, no.
How many hour of work, by her many others, have gone into making her look like that?
It's true, Jennifer Lopez is now the same age as the fading has-been actress Norma Desmond in the film Sunset Boulevard, and of Gloria Swanson who played her. A lot has changed for women since 1950.
But to suggest, as a general rule, that now as - a general rule - people of 50 can dress like people of 20, without looking ridiculous, only encourages people to make themselves ridiculous.
We seem to have abandoned the whole notion that age can bring dignity, authority, wisdom, or anything else positive. It is now only something to be denied at all costs, and those who succeed at denying it are our heroes.
5
I'm 54 and my age never kept me from wearing whatever I wanted! If you exercise and eat healthy age is just a number!
3
Thank you Jennifer Lopez. You are an inspiration for choice and belief in the power of connection. Thank you also for all the FUN!
7
JLo may be 50, but she is filthy rich so can afford the healthiest of foods and a personal trainer, probably one who comes to her, and she is blessed with good health that allows to eat healthily and exercise constantly. She's beautiful, but to someone like me who is struggling with autoimmune arthritis and Crohn's disease, we can't let people start saying this is what 50 looks like. She does not live the way most of us have to.
15
I am almost 75 and find anyone from 21 fo 55 looks young. There are women I know in their 90s who have not buried their loveliness. For reasons on the surface and much deeper I find my wife absolutely beautiful at 67. How sad our era puts such a premium on Ms. Lopez' looks. Forty two years with the same woman has taught me two lessons: 1) Marriage is a covenant where you learn how to truly love. 2) That love engendered can have so much depth that you are physiologically connected. All this cultural focus on the external from my own point of view damages the soul. May you be blessed with little damage.
15
I guess what I don't find about all of this as 'empowerment' is what appears to be the necessity , at least for women, to lose clothing to succeed in the entertainment business. I can't tell you how many times my husband and I have commented to each other on the female artists that seem to either be so insecure in their vocal abilities, or bend to what is a perceived requirement, to wear as little as possible, to compete in the industry. So as in early days of MTV, and still, I find my daughters being told they are defined by their bodies, and then being scored by their 'hotness', instead of by what is inside that transient form. I just wish it weren't other women shoring up this message.
18
What she (and Shakira) REALLY proved was that super bowl entertainers can now lip sync at will with no risk the media will call them on it.
Full phoniness has finally been embraced.
18
Obviously, there are many who feel empowered by J. Lo but I can’t count myself as one of them. When I (aged 55) am cut in front of at the Chipotle line by an oblivious GenZ who doesn’t seem to even see an older woman, let alone be polite to her, when I see contemporaries fight to obtain reemployment five times longer than their younger counterparts, when I struggle to see myself represented by current politics, it’s not J. Lo looking like something out of pornhub whom I turn to for inspiration. Increasingly, it’s Nancy Pelosi and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
32
"Dressing her age." So many innovations in beauty/body care in the last 40 years so that most women (certainly in NYC) at 50 years old actually look 40 or under. No longer a surprise. If used at all, this remark could reasonably be applied to women at 70 -- e.g., Susan Sarandon et al who look wonderful yet know to cover up parts of their body.
Not the Jane Fonda body remake model - totally unreliable.
1
No, such women over 50 do not look 40 or under. When you put a 50 year old next to a real 40 or under, the difference is obvious. Observing these over 50s, they have a faux quality to the face and a stringiness to musculature that is telling. Where laser work and injections ease surface blemishes, the result always has a strained, artificial quality, attempting to mimic the salient physical markers of youth, but they don't really look like youth itself. These "innovations" don't reclaim the suppleness of younger skin rich with estrogen-supported collagen structure, but a produce waxy hardness in the face.
Physically, the popular look usually hews toward an emaciated stringy musculature that reads more like a body recovering from illness than a healthy youthful body. Many add plastic breast implants, transfer some fat or other injections to offset the effects of eating disorders that are part and parcel for these older women and try to approximate the flush bounty of youth. Not convincing.
No, this never really looks young, but a flight from the external signifiers of aging that has developed into a new third "look" separate from young or old... maybe call it "preserved." These women look literally preserved, not young. The difference between a canned peach and a summer-fresh sun-ripened peach.
7
Only in American upper class .
Women at her age in other cultures are busy hauling water. Their bodies are in shape.
1
Buying into these "innovations" is a form of self-hatred that misogyny and self-serving interests foist on girls and women, while making bank for all the industries that feed off of it. Women must tacitly acknowledge that they consider aging and their own bodies a grotesqerie that they must devote excessive money and time to avoid lest they be seen as grotesque themselves. The whole enterprise is akin to a form of public mental illness.
3
I note that readers slide politics in their comments. To observe J-Lo over the years she should be featured regularly in the business section of this paper as the top Latina business woman in the nation - that is Ms. Lopez first and foremost.
There is no doubt that J-Low is amazingly beautiful and talented and that is what she started wit. What we say on Sunday is the culmination of both those traits in which she works extensively hard to achieve and maintain - that is her secret weapon - works far harder than most business people and surrounds herself with equally and sometimes far more accomplished business people who look to her successes. Her looks defy her age and obviously works it on stage. Recall that she started out as an actress and she currently headlines arena acts that feature her singing and dancing just as we saw Sunday - a huge leap from simply being an actress. She is Jenny from the block (Bronx) who like a select few from similar situations had the desire, determination and the will to succeed far beyond what most would have ever thought possible, a inspiration to all who have a dream.
12
Talent - she has the fire in her. Wasn’t she a dancer on a show?
Well, actually, it still does have meaning.
For women and men.
Now, clothes do not necessarily make the man or woman, intellect does that.
But, it's very, very difficult to take people seriously who don't dress their age.
In the main, it's a sign that they refuse to grow up.
And people need to grow up.
5
She is a performer and entertainer she doesn’t need to dress for regular life- this is art. This is supposed to be a spectacle.
6
There were teen-aged boys asking the adults to flip the channel during this Utter Coolness. I don't know if they were that shocked or didn't want the adults watching THEM watch the tawdry trash display.
But Regular America needed this timely reminder of how thoroughly corrupted the entertainment media has become - since we all know which political side these people hate.
11
The half-time show was obscene in my view, and I'm no prude. It made Vegas showgirls look like nuns.
This was somehow different than Madonna's and other female headliners where there was clearly a soul of imagination at work. SuperBowl LIV was bombast, overkill, with offensive.
I see from this article that Versace, the fashion designer for this repugnant show, and JLo have a contract going forward.
When, please, when will women displaying their bodies like, you know what, stop being promoted as a measure of freedom or empowerment. It's not!
A terrible choice of entertainment for a huge family audience.
21
My adult daughters and I were appalled by the half time show. We are not religious or conservative but we weren’t sure if a strip club put on the show. So sexist. Unbelievable after the #metoo movement. The NFL must not realize that super bowl is not only shown in bars but in family homes.
40
JLo is an entertainer. Entertainers don’t get paid for the ½ time show. The display of special effects and the rest of the show, fall financially onto the entertainers. Both JLo and Shakira put on a great show. They have 6 minutes each to perform! How much clothing could be changed in that amount of time? Cher wore barely anything back in the day, she still does, and she’s quite a bit over 50, as did Tina Turner. JLo looks awesome for 50, and there’s no reason why she shouldn’t flaunt it! These performers work out every day, they dance and choreograph everything. They have family lives also. To look this great at 50, takes a lot of behind the scenes work. I give them both a lot of credit! I hope they’re both around performing for many more years!
19
At best it looked like a performance from Brazil's Carnival at worst it was a vulgar display of T and A.
25
I’ve seen similar entertainment at Cheaters (an infamous and now-defunct “gentlemen’s club” in Toronto).
12
From this fit 67 year old woman, I was never a fan of Ms. Lopez.
WOW, have I changed my mind! She is the best dancer that I have ever seen! No one can hold a candle to her. She is a force unto herself
Absolutely no comparison, I grew up watching The June Taylor Dancers, who were often guests of The Jackie Gleason Show. I learned then that grace can be captured and that one’s body can be fit.
Later, I watched J.Lo as a Fly Girl Dancer on the TV show “In Living Color.” So, in a way, I’ve watched her grow into the power house that she is today. I am very proud of her and the pinnacle that she has reached!
With my own body image distortion, I am intimated by women like J. Lo. But, she rocked it~so much so that my insecurity became irrelevant!
Greatness is greatness, and she blew me away!
To Ms. Lopez: BRAVO and thank you! You are an inspiration to anyone who wants to be strong and fit.
“-Si el aqua fuera belleza tu serias el mar entero.”
(If beauty we’re water, you would be the entire ocean)
God bless.
20
Note, this only applies to JLo and her comrades. Everyone else, dress age appropriately.
1
But is this really what 50 looks like, or rather what state-of-the-art cosmetic surgery and brilliant make-up technique looks like?
15
The particular stereotype addressed here was ageism, I believe. Women of a certain age are familiar with becoming “invisible” in a youth-oriented pop culture. J Lo commanded the gaze.
12
My skydiving/wind tunnel teacher is a talented athlete in superb physical condition. She is also an exceedingly attractive, witty, and fascinating 29 year-old woman who weighed in via her social media page yesterday, expressing amazement/chagrin regarding J. Lo's "moves" and flexibility at AGE 50 (the caps were my teacher's emphasis).
As a somewhat crotchety, but very flexible, 77 year-old male let me opine this way: I do not dislike Jennifer Lopez but I really love my skydiving teacher, a perfect Exhibit A for the following verdict: You don't need to be the star of Maid in Manhtattan or wear skimpy outfits and pole-dance on TV to meet any sane definition of what constitutes an absolutely beautiful and accomplished female in modern society.
6
Good for you to sky dive at 77.
It's great that a 50 or over celebrity can still be considered relevant. Unfortunately in the non-celebrity world thousands if not millions of men and women 50 and over are being "displaced" in favor of younger less experienced workers. It is next to impossible to find similar positions for these workers even in this supposedly strong economy.
13
Plastic surgery.
Personal trainers.
Private chefs.
Enormous wealth.
Yes, Jennifer Lopez is beautiful. But her experience and that of non-celebrity, non-wealthy women 50 and older are not the same. Her performance in the Super Bowl halftime show doesn’t at all stand for what this author claims it does. It’s a little perplexing, actually, that the author doesn’t get that.
37
It’s good genetics first of all.
We need to also recognize how young boys are taught by the images Of both performers. This is the overly sexual version of the ideal woman. It is ALL about the body and only the body. This same problem is seen in performers in other realms. Female television news personalities display legs, cleavage and bare arms through body hugging dresses and garments more suitable for cocktail parties than morning news. Being fair of face and long of leg is the foremost qualification for tv news. Some of these women are so smart. It just amazes me they go along with it.
31
Women have been using themselves to make a living or get things done since the beginning.
@Lule Because they have discovered that is what the men in power want--oversexualized, don't be too smart,never disagree.
I know plenty of 50 year olds that could have kept up with J Lo. Her dancing consisted of mostly vertical movement, her choreography was well thought out, not demanding as much from her as from Shakira for sure and camera angles helped a bunch. Overall the show was eh? I watched as to not miss any commercials.
8
As a dancer, I thought the same thing. Wasn’t at all impressed by JLo’s dancing. Never have been though. Shakira, on the other hand, was wonderful. Also, I am really surprised at everyone’s reaction to JLO when six-pack Halle Berry (older), Salma Hayek (older), Angela Basset (much older), Jennifer Aniston (same age), Lucy Liu (older) and many more look just as fit and just as good. And without the 10-hr hair and make up. She is nothing new or special in this age of celebrity. Have you seen Janet Jackson dance at 51? She’s not as fit but puts this whole dance thing in perspective.
11
Lots of appropriate comments on appropriateness.
J. Lo and Shakira are professional entertainers though, and it insults them as individuals to imply that they are not in control of their own images. As part of the entertainment business, the NFL benefits by being a bit naughty. I'm sure the beer advertisers were happy with this big loud event, and the "not boring" halftime show provided enough well-scripted controversy to make viewers not want to miss next year's spectacle...
5
Shakira and JLo demonstrated incredible ability to sing, dance and play in one of the best Super Bowl half time shows in recent times. Their talent, work ethic and repertoire are impressive... and oh so much fun.
And a publication of this level focuses on their age and outfits above all else?
If this is how we talk about 2 of the top performers in a generation, it should be easy to understand then why women struggle to get best director nominations at the Oscar’s, or get elected for president or very simply develop their careers at the same pace as their male peers.
17
I am very happy to see JLo use a dance pole in her performance. Pole dancing exists in its own right as a physical, artist, and recreational activities for many women (and men!) in and out of the US. It is hard to do but so rewarding and fun, as so may other forms of dance or conditioning or working activities. Please think twice before you stigmatize it.
10
I was a stripper for five months. I just decided I was using my body with my mind to make the money I needed to go live in the wilderness out west.
There were aspects that were degrading but also aspects that were empowering . Most of all I love to dance- and I loved the pole! I’ve never danced off stage with one but you can hook your heel on it and spin around and around!
And for all of you judging - know that no man is allowed to touch you in that environment and there is a bouncer - unlike in other professions fields and academia where I didn’t have that kind of agreement.
At a certain point women decide to use it- since we are always harassed for our bodies anyway- some of us decided to cash in for awhile.
1
I am very happy to see JLo use a dance pole in her performance. Pole dancing exists in its own right as a physical, artist, and recreational activities for many women (and men!) in and out of the US. It is hard to do but so rewarding and fun, as so may other forms of dance or conditioning or working activities. Please think twice before you stigmatize it.
1
I am very happy to see JLo use a dance pole in her performance. Pole dancing exists in its own right as a physical, artist, and recreational activities for many women (and men!) in and out of the US. It is hard to do but so rewarding and fun, as so may other forms of dance or conditioning or working activities. Please think twice before you stigmatize it.
1
I’m tired of reading and hearing all the shock and awe every time a woman of a certain age seems sexy. Just FYI, those looks don’t come cheap. Also, FYI, an aging body and face is just as beautiful as a young one.
43
Nobody beats Prince for a Super bowl performance.
42
There's a big difference in a celebrity with an entourage of stylists, trainers and surgeons at the ready and the rest of America.
35
Huh, I thought Tina Turner did that about 20 years ago.
57
I’m puzzled by this article. Why does this prove that « dressing your age has no meaning anymore »? Does the author think that most American women of 50 look like Jennifer Lopez? Or that we ever did, for that matter. By age 50 most of us have plenty of flaws that are better hidden, and don’t want to dress like sexed-up teen-agers. More power to her, she looks great. But she’s not setting any kind of standard for mature fashion.
49
It’s not fashion- it’s a performance. It’s costume.
J. Lo is obviously a great dancer/choreographer and actor.
She is not a singer. When she is "singing" her songs she functions as an aerobics instructor: usually shouting a few phrases rhythmically while the background singers sing the melody. Mostly, she is being doubled by background singers after the first few lines of the song anyway. Still entertaining if you like that sort of thing. They obviously put a lot of work into it....... I am just glad Billie Eilish is now in the world(like SteveRR reminded me). The music is not derivative. It is danceable....... AND Her outfits are not "Harvey Weinstein approved" Hurray!!!
18
She is absolutely stunning.
12
I would have preferred live music over this lip synching show.
20
Fifty years old and yet the only way this supremely talented artist can get noticed is through objectification of her body. Versace bodysuit or otherwise, this is hardly progress.
61
What an irony, jlo sending strong political message at the time when the whole country is divided, especially division perpetuated by anchors of fox network.
Also, fox network is cashing by broadcasting the game as well as the half-time show !
7
When one considers the number of people that help to make J Lo look as good as she does, it's no wonder that the results are as good as they are. I'm not taking anything away from her - she looks great - but if I had 30 or 40 people working with me every day just to help me keep myself looking great, while I wouldn't necessarily look AS good as she does, it nevertheless would be a whole lot easier to come close to her orbit. I'm just a few years older than she is and have been told I look great for my age, but while I surely feel older than I used to, whatever I need to do for myself I do BY MYSELF. 50 isn't easy, let's get real here. She has an army of help so don't pretend that that applies to everyone, just to try to make us feel good about getting older.
48
Her body- her image - is her profession, that is her investment - the rest of us have other professions and cannot judge ourselves against celebrities!
2
Super FUN show, flawless choreography and performance, loved both women!!
16
It is very empowering to see the results of using vast amounts of money in trainers, diets and plastic surgery to look like JLo at the tender age of 50.
68
She can't win- she would have been attacked the same way if she'd dressed like a librarian. It's better to be accused of being sexy than boring. I hope she continues to do whatever she wants and ignores all the judgmental carping.
There is nothing wrong with sex, and there is nothing wrong with being sexy. Deep down we're all still 17th century puritans.
70
OK, so good to know that in order to empower women one has to look spectacular - be it 20 years old or 50 years old. Thank you so much for another load of unreasonable expectations. Most 50 year old women do not look and do not dress like that - does it mean that they are not "empowered" or "empowerable"? How does it at all matter how we look?
67
So people are offended by Jlo’s costumes and choreography, but no one minds that Tyreek Hill is a woman and child abuser making millions and being celebrated? Wow. No double standard there.
15
@Liz Blomeyer
Who is Tyreek Hill? (i.e., there may be different audiences)
4
Sorry folks the whole show was derivative and stale.
Is bad broadway dance staging and ripped off Madonna / Janet Jackson moves, all sung through an auto tuner, the only thing left in today’s pop music ?
At least the football game was the real deal.
44
It was vulgar at any age.
80
A triumph of poor taste.
73
I'm confused, the MeToo movement tells us not to objectify women. Today I can't turn around without hearing how good JLo looks. If I agree, am I going to be accused of judging her based upon physical appearance?
62
@Tom
No. If you do something she doesn't consent to, or
promote her to senior rocket scientist based on her looks instead of her technical achievements, then you'll be criticized.
12
'Dress your age' no longer has any meaning? How about 'dressing and acting like a lady'? Mind you, I'm no puritanical prude (and I could prove that with some stories, but that's besides the point...).
There's a time and a place for everything. And it's sad that for so many women, portraying themselves as a sex object seems to be their 'preferred' way of portraying themselves, all under the modern-day/PC guise of 'empowerment'. Women as a whole are still a very confused lot.
66
Indeed. Look how many women voted for Trump.
1
Annually the Super Bowl halftime is the most boring half hour (or however long it is or has been) on TV. Thank goodness for the Puppy Bowl.
15
No one would speak of men this way. Outfits, age, appearance. These women owned the stage, made bold statements and looked like they had fun doing it! Kudos! In stark contrast, DT congratulated the great state of Kansas for making the country proud. What’s more outrageous?
30
So Steven Tyler in a Speedo wouldn’t be criticized? I think not
1
I thought the show was great. My 66-year-old self did not even know who Shakira was, but I found her talented, beautiful and fun. I am a big fan of J-Lo. I am extremely envious of her great bod and performance skills, but have always found her to be imminently likeable.
They would not like my politics, nor would I theirs. But who cares? They put on a great show.
Lighten up everybody!!!!
46
So 50 year old women are only valued if they have the time and the money to spend 12 hours a day engaging in a self care regimen? Sorry, but I prefer to hang with 50 year old teachers. They may look tired and old, but they spend their day caring for their kids.
54
Please stop using celebrities with all their millions and surgeons and staff and then saying they are the examples of "aging" Sure JLo looks great " for 50" what ever that means. I know many many non celebrity women at 50 to 80s who look great too. And would you ever write an article about a 50 year old man and how he dresses? Madonna wears the same kinds of things JLo wore and she is even "gasp" 61. And finally....My goodness , you mean to say a woman can look fit and be confident over 35? What a concept.
37
The negative posts tell me there are many old fogies posting who are out of touch with the present-day music and dancing culture. Relax!
19
I’m 73 and thought it was great! Foggies can be any age
11
Present day music. Their music performed was dated and the majority of these “songs” never hit the US charts.
2
This performance has sparked some amazing conversation among adults and our kids who watched the entire game and half time performance with us. So far, the gems are: a) there is more than one way to be sexy, powerful and female- you can be in tremendous shape, nurture your god given talents and you can follow your dream to be a coach in the NFL (Katie Sowers) or you can do any other thing that you set your mind to. How others interpret it is their own issue; b) the men who performed at half time wore very different outfits, what do we think of that; and c) we spent the rest of the night watching men in tight pants bash each other for the profit of other (mostly) men. What do we each thing of that? Thank you, Shakira and JLo!
16
Congrats to Ms. Lopez!
We are proud of this smart and beautiful Bronxite conquering the world!!!
(And shame on the Academy for not seeing this!!!)
13
Jennifer Lopez looks great at any age, but is a bundle of contradictions as a performer. Her public performances for decades have only reminded most of us that she's a moderately talented dancer who had no business being a singer. And she's a very talented actress (if you've seen Out Of Sight) with the clouded judgement that thinks it's a good idea to lend those talents to Maid In Manhattan. How this woman has managed to successfully navigate stardom for almost 30 years is where she consistently shows talent that surpasses her peers.
22
@Detective Frank Drebin, heh. Agreed. Haven’t seen this kind of relentless drive since Joan Crawford.
4
Puritanism is alive and well in the United States. What I'm reading is women are still being judged by how she dresses, or doesn't. What some of us saw was a woman who was body positive. And now some people feel they have the right to defining what is body positive.
Sorry, the scarlet letter still exists. And women, because they don't follow the norm set by other women are still being judged accordingly.
She could have refused to do the show - she doesn't need the money - it was her choice. Now that IS feminism. It was her choice.
11
The NFL doesn't pay performers for the halftime show other than a nominal fee. (NFL pays for lighting, costumes, etc, but not the performers.) Shakira and J-Lo performed for the honor of being there.
5
I understand that J.Lo is a dancer and isn’t really a singer. I just wish they could include great singers who can sing live for a change.
21
The Super Bowl halftime show was Much Ado About Nothing.
13
Did no one see JLo 2019 movie Hustlers? Google it so you understand the pole dancing.
10
Let us also point out that the two male rappers/performers were dressed horribly. The silver suit and matching do rag (ugh) and the "I just got off the couch" sweatshirt and jeans - u gotta be kidding me! JLo and Shakira do what women in entertainment do - dress to impress. At home, both are probably in sweats. So let's stop making such a fuss about their age and attire - and hold the guys to a higher standard.
23
The halftime show was mainly a celebration of Latina culture, which is more sexually overt and playful than American's puritanical culture. Two women in their middle of life unapologetically showcasing this Latina culture elevated it, and teased a crossover to middle-age Americans who might be more narrow in their thinking than they realize. The majority of comments posted so far indicate how sexually uptight Americans (still) are, and they possibly smack of other implicit biases.
46
"At the Super Bowl, she proved “dress your age” has no meaning any more." Yes I noticed that - it bordered on the ridiculous and well within the boundaries of artless vulgarity. What passes for talent these days.
22
JLo and Shakira are completely in charge of themselves, their careers and their sexuality. It's the NFL, it's Super Bowl halftime, it's what the male audience wants to see. I hope they were both laughing backstage-they gave 'em what they wanted. And they were beautiful.
18
@Lisa Merullo-Boaz
And this is whats wrong... What the Male Audience Wants to see. Really, what is it going to take to make the "male Audience" grow up? These women have more to offer than their adolescent performance. I found the performance so juvenile, so unnecessary for performers of this level.
13
Ahhhh.... the attractiveness penalty for age. The lie of “aging gracefully” of the artist and the celebrities are guilty of promoting the idea that it’s relatively easy to not age when they have disposable income for botox, fillers, lasers, personal trainers, and expensive skin care regimens.... and to that add, instagram filters and photoshop....
That we can call FAKE news....
13
J Lo on screen has a face that is unmatchable in its symmetry and balance. No money can buy that. Her ancestry and genes with work did.
1
I feel bad for these female performers:
Cher, Madonna, Beyoncé, Shakira, J. Lo., Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and on and on. Their entire live acts have to be performed in underwear. Maybe no one would pay to see them if they dressed otherwise.
37
I'm sure the same commentators who label J.Lo, Shakira, and the halftime show "risqué" and "inappropriate for families" will display similar abhorrence to Trump's vulgarities on Election Day...?
31
Call me prude but I could not help thinking how disgusting and self indulgent it was, a complete abandonment of all modesty and the dignity of mature womanhood, a deal with the devil solemnized through hours at the gym, presided over by some registered dietician, an assertion of complete supremacy of extreme wealth.
50
Her body and image is her profession.
Jennifer Lopez and Shakira were athletic, exuberant, so choreographically brilliant... Life is sensual, energetic, joyful, political, glittery, why not express this through performance? I loved it.
47
Looks are genetic, a body like her's is one made of hard work and effort. Flaunt it? Yes she should and power to her!
19
Why is this considered ‘flaunting her age’? She’s a fantastic performer who looks great and is in excellent shape. Such bias towards women, this would never be written about a 50 year old man.
21
The age issue , to me, is not an issue. I would have found this show just as vulgar and embarrassing if the performers were 25 rather than 50 and 43. This is exactly Trump's view of women. Can't we do better than this?
58
So many haters making comments about two strong, talented and beautiful women. The successes they've achieved took hard work and discipline. Jennifer Lopez started out as a dancer which is a disciplined profession. They did what they were supposed to do - entertain and put on a fantastic show. And they did! And to the people who whine that these women have money to make themselves look good, there are many who can have all the money in the world and still not look great, just as there are others with not much money, but who work out at the gym and exercise regularly, eat right, live a disciplined life . . . . and that "Born in the USA" with the two flags? It was a powerful statement from someone proud of her heritage. I didn't find anything shallow or vapid in their performances, they performed with real heart and passion. Go J Lo and Shakira!
30
I was insulted and embarrassed by J Lo's production. What happened to go old fashioned entertainment that did not invoke sexual desire?
25
Tell me when that was bc sexual desire is evoked subtlety everywhere.
2
The Half time show delivered. It was exciting, loud, entertaining with a sprinkle of political messages. Jennifer and Shakira look great at 50 and 43 years of age. We should all be so lucky to be as flexible as they are.
18
It's worth noting that Brad Pitt and I are in our 50's and he is older than I am. No matter how often he takes off his shirt in public, I will not ever, ever think that gives me a reason for taking off my shirt in public.
Sorry, but the vast majority of us regular looking humans should dress our age.
15
@Steve S No, we should dress as we like. If you don’t care how you look, dress solely for comfort. If you dress to express yourself, do that. If you dress with an eye to making yourself attractive, dress to flatter your body type and coloring. If it is a combination of the above, fine.
2
She and Shakira did very well. I applaud you both.
12
So the super bowl is no longer family friendly...... That is what I saw in the half time show. The dancing, the singing, could all have been just as well with more clothes on, and their talent would have still shined.
33
@bart
How is the Super Bowl "family friendly" when the whole purpose is to watch hulking men beat the you-know-what out of each other? Are concussions "family friendly"?
36
@bart
I take it you haven't noticed the cheerleaders.
16
I am not a big fan of entertainment purely for entertainment's sake even though there's a relatively small amount of artistry involved in these shows but I thought they did an amazing job. For what it was meant to be, it went well. I don't understand the complaints. The pole dancing part was also pseudo-artistic (not that different from Cirque de Soleil which is a bit more artistic) and the social messaging was also decent but over the top. An amazing, beautiful production with so much going on, so congrats to the whole team who put it together!
--
My wife is 43 and she looks stunning, like 25 or so, and she had a hard life and doesn't take care of herself cosmetically that much (though she does work out every day and tries to stay health). I myself am about hit 48 and look better than I did at 30. So age is a state of mind for the most part BUT both of us do have a few more chronic conditions we're dealing with (nothing serious but not there at 30) and the signs of aging are showing.
My point isn't just to brag but also to state that what is shown on the outside isn't necessarily what is on the inside, both physically and spiritually.
3
J.Lo is by no means a typical fifty-year-old. To hold her up as an example just makes the average fifty-year-old woman feel inadequate. Lopez undoubtedly has a cook, trainer, makeup artist, dermatologist/plastic surgeon/facialist, etc. etc. to make her look so good. I think it's sad that we always have to focus on the outward appearance. No wonder so many women have terrible self-esteem when they can't measure up.
83
I think a big part is genetics, that’s just life, acceptance of you are.
4
It’s your ethnicity when it comes to skin and wrinkles . I’m white at fifty and have more wrinkles than my 84 year old black neighbor.
It’s amazing .
Like many of us mature types we did not watch the half time. When does wearing little have anything to do with talent. The game was boring and clearly like the half time over hyped.
10
Watched this in a room with three generations, mixed male and female.
I felt uncomfortable. I cringed for the teenagers sitting elbow to elbow with their grandparents, especially when the grandparents started commenting. Conversation was pretty stilted; mostly we speculated about how the act was selected and who it was supposed to appeal to.
49
I just went from watching a documentary about the objectification of women in media to watching the Super Bowl halftime show. It was very disturbing.
70
Forget “Dress your age “. It would be far better if people would speak and think their age. The halftime show was ugly - just a show of revenge by the wealthy, male, sponsors and producers against the #MeToo movement and a show of support for our ever genius Leader Trump. BAH.
28
I don’t think you saw the same halftime show that I saw.
6
And? Madonna was 54 when she performed in the halftime show. And then, of course, there is that force of ageless nature named Tina Turner. Are memories really this short?
31
@GJ
and of all of them, Tina was by far the best singer. What a voice!
31
Let's see...stripper pole, revealing clothing, suggestive movements, exploiting one's sexuality for money. And someone thinks that's a display of empowerment of women? ...turn off your social media and TV. Please.
119
Yes she looked good, but what about the pressure to keep it up? You know the day she doesn't look so good, people will also be talking: 'she looks so old!' You can only keep this up so long. Maybe I'm just bitter because I think it's stupid that women feel they need to use stripper poles to be entertaining.
40
Why can't she just sing and dance in regular clothes? Why half naked? Who is objectifying who? ..#MeToo chime in any time..
44
This is not the power of 50. It’s the power of wealth, trainers, exercise and makeup - at 50. Lets stop glorifying this look and setting it as a standard for all 50 year olds. And while we’re at it, women, please cover up. Just because you have it it doesn’t mean it has to be shown to everyone on the street. Save it for your boyfriend or husband.
54
Role models? Please. I pick Billie Eilish.
38
Watching someone yell into a microphone while wearing a bathing suit is not my idea of entertaining.
42
This is ridiculous. Jennifer Lopez is not a normal 50. She has had so much work done on her body - I can’t imagine there is one inch that hasn’t been nipped, tucked, cut, lifted, plumped and so on. As a woman watching her (and Shakira) try to out sleeze each other, I could only think of how they both set back the cause of real women with their objectification of their bodies. Did either of them sing?
50
Not all +50 YO women have 24/7 access to personal trainers, nutritionists and a chefs.. Of course she looks great because she is worth over $500 million dollars!
28
@Aaron: well...I’m guessing Jagger and Richards have more money than she does. You call them good looking? They don’t have to be to, keep working.
3
I find it kind of hilarious that certain people are outraged by sexuality during the halftime show because “children shouldn’t see it” and “it’s supposed to be family friendly.” I love football, but it is a blood sport. It is gladiators in an arena pounding each other to a pulp. I’ve always been amazed at how puritanical Americans can be about sex while being perfectly okay with violence. It’s the same mentality which gets a movie with one instance of profanity an “R” while really violent movies with no profanity get rated PG or PG13. If you’re concerned that children had to see sexy dancing, maybe you should be concerned that your children are watching grown men give each other brain damage.
58
@Ben Yes, thank you. I've been reading all these comments getting depressed by the sheer hostility expressed toward sexy women dancing in sexy ways. I could have lived without a couple of the more extreme moves, but overall thought it was fun and lively. Even the pole was a nod to her recent movie and an acrobatic prop. It was both.
Before the show, I talked to my boys about whether it was even ethical to watch football, given: the brain damage, the blending of a private business with the military and fake patriotism, and the blacklisting of Colin Kaepernick.
What a lot of hatefulness going on here.
10
After the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction, “South Park” did a great parody of the same idea. The character Butters is on stage with a throwing star impaling his eye, with dog hair glued to his body. Cartman is also onstage, naked because he believes himself to be invisible. The audience becomes outraged. But it is Cartman’s nudity which outrages them, not the brutalized Butters, much to the kids’ confusion.
1
not impressed but Shakira stealing the show didn''t help her
10
I didn’t watch the Super Bowl or this show. It’s never been clear to me why American sports need cheerleaders and dancers in the middle of what is ostensibly an athletic contest.
13
Lot of jealous commenters here. It seems to me that both Shakira and JLo have earned the right to be perceived however they wish: what no one has acknowledged in these comments is that getting to the level of stardom as performers that they have is hard work. It doesn’t come overnight and it doesn’t come without effort. The fact that they don’t have to change their image past 40 or 50 IS an achievement, because most of the media and public seem to have an arbitrary idea of a woman’s shelf life, and yes that is often the same thing as when a woman isn’t considered a sex object of any sort. That, to me, is what’s sexist. All of a sudden, I’m a different age and that’s it? There should be room for a plurality of options of how to be a woman in your 40s, 50s, and beyond.
People need to get over their backwards ideas about aging, women and sexuality. It seems to me that this is what keeps porn (WIDELY WATCHED, by exponentially more people in the US than who watch the Super Bowl) in the shadows, and sexuality something shameful and never discussed.
26
I'm afraid Shakira's moves put Lopez to shame.
16
Perhaps the axiom has just shifted to "Dress your physique."
Few would have reacted so positively if she were not just as stunning as she was twenty years ago.
8
If you got it , flaunt it !
6
Cheesy American pseudo entertainment mixed with 4 hours of advertising masquerading as sports.
33
That this performance is considered empowerment is simply unhinged. It was a a display of unremitting cynicism that played into the worst sort of highly sexualized misogyny. And the simple purpose, the bottom line, was...to make money. Please spare me rants about empowerment. Get real.
60
Agreed! When the men are wearing g strings and shaking their rears for women in silver sweat suits I may change my mind.
10
She's an entertainer ; what do entertainers do ? Any and every trend to keep in the public eye ...you go girl ! Long lasting ambition will get you everywhere and keep the attention on you , show the youngsters how to do it . Not my kind of music but , she's a better singer than Madonna .
5
I hate to tell you but if your kids have access to the internet I assure you they have seen much worse.
21
On reading our comments about JLo’s performance demeaning women as sex objects my first hit was, yes, they are right. But then it occurs to me, why is it not possible for a woman to be proud of her sexuality and show it proudly? Men have been doing it forever. Were there not commercials about equality and women’s empowerment during the show? Are we denying women their rightful place by saying that?
13
You have it wrong, Shakira stole the show with her patented moves. Just singing and dancing, age has nothing to do with it.
8
So, objectification of women (or men) is ok as long as we couch it in terms complimentary of their age and culture?
I happen to like JLo and think she is talented. I’m just sorry we seem to expect or demand that she and other performers present themselves in ways that emphasize sexualization rather than artistry. And then are surprised that as a culture we have a problem objectifying women...
15
This was no political statement. It was pure sensuality masked in physical performance. All my life women have rightly sought equality. Where is the logic in a woman flaunting her body with the expectation that she won't be objectified? This was a giant step back from 70 years of progress.
32
Please. Women with unlimited budgets to ease the signs of aging do not fairly represent their age. They represent the skills of plastic surgeons, hair colorists, extension makers, makeup artists, etc. Ageism will not end until society happily accepts women (and men) with all gray hair, jowls and wrinkles intact.
47
I the the statement, "Dressing your age".
How age dressing to make you feel good? I remember having breakfast with a friend who had jus seen one of the morning show that said skinny jean were not appropriate for women over a certain age!
I was was wearing them and was over 50 and we met up with another friend who at the that time was about 89 and wearing them with great style!!
8
Loved the show by these ENTERTAINERS. That is their chosen profession. Turn off your tv at half time and save us all the negativity and unhappiness.
13
"At the Super Bowl, she proved “dress your age” has no meaning any more."
What nonsense. Few women, or men, can pull that off. First of all, while she looked great and obviously has to be in great shape to dance like that for that long at age 50, no doubt the clothes, lights, makeup, etc. help. (Not saying she wouldn't look good, anyway.)
Second, part of an actor's job is to look great. She has all the time and money in the world to spend on looking as good as she possibly can. How many others do?
As for us regular folk -- anyone can dress any way they want, of course, but if people think you don't look good in the clothes you're wearing, whether due to your age or your not-so-perfect body, they're going to judge you. And, if we're being honest, women are going to be first in line to judge.
13
All I could think of was Chris Rock saying his main job as a father was to keep his daughter off the pole.
55
What does extreme sexualization have to do with being a 50 year old housewife.? What a confusing article and overused justification for showing more sex to keep viewership. Pathetic.
16
I guess bad taste knows no age limit. Can we just call her performance for what it was? Crass, tasteless, pornographic, labored, exhausting, forgettable, humorless and joyless.
Look, I like J. Lo just fine. "Let's Get Loud" is a fav. workout song and I admire that she's such a huge star by sheer force of will... But it's clearly NOT through sheer force of musical talent or good taste in music.
36
I give the JlLo and Shakira credit for not missing a step before millions. Younger entertainers have messed up. The half time show is entertainment. If you don’t want to see it, shut the tv off. No one in the Republican Party complains about Melania and her pictures. In fact many of them she is the best First Lady ever.
10
The stripper pole and the lip-synching were a bit much, though.
26
If JLo and Shakira were as talented as they are but frumpy, lumpy, saggy, and baggy, would they have been chosen for the half-time show? I think not. It's the sex that sells, and I just don't understand what is "empowering" about that.
35
So a 50 year old has been doing a pole dance in front her daughter is "power"? Sure.
53
I don't think wrapping oneself around a stripper pole at any age is any kind of empowerment.
67
With all due respect to Ms. Lopez and Ms. Friedman, JLo wasn’t flaunting her age.
She flaunted her money. It’s easy to “defy age” when you’re wealthy.
33
It’s a body sit. Covered everything appropriately. She looks great and did a fine performance.
5
I haven't read all of the comments here, but rarely do I see anyone commenting on JLo's lackluster voice. I've never thought there was anything special about it, and she is frequently out of tune. Without all the backup singers, it would be a train wreck. How can someone like this be hailed a great singer? I'd agree that she is a good entertainer and business women, but a great or even good singer she is not.
28
Women: " Don't objectify me" Also women: "Desperately need to be seen a a sexual object at 50" Pick one ladies... pick one.
52
Would love to see folks celebrate Jane Goodall or any of those risking their lives putting out fires and saving lives and animals the way they worship celebs dancing on a pole. Unreal.
60
Don't objectify women.... proceeds to seek to be viewed through the lens of a sexual object.... pick one please.
7
It was awful from start to finish. Between the glorification of the military before the game and the exploration of women at halftime the NFL again has hit all the right buttons to sell billions of dollars of chicken wings and beer.
A pole dancer dressed up as a Victoria Secret angel sans the wings at 18 or 50 isn't something to be proud of.
Jenifer Lopez is a talented singer and dancer. She can do better.
29
All the talk about objectifying women and JLow objectifys herself. A big mixed message here
18
When the audience includes little kids the entertainment should be PG. Pole dancing, lady-part-grabbing, and G-strings are not PG. I loved it, but it was not appropriate for all ages. (FWIW - The men in the room thought this was one small step backward for the #metoo movement). Oh, and stop writing articles about older women looking amazing. This has to stop!
27
@Sarah Cemet It really is incredible how so many women -- from all walks of life -- constantly talk and write and read about women's looks. At the same time, they constantly complain that women shouldn't be judge based on their looks. It's beyond absurd.
6
@Rich we have to read it so we can complain about it properly.
1
Tawdry and vulgar--like the "Superbowl" itself.
20
How is it empowering to pole dance half-naked on stage? Isn't that the opposite of empowering? Women still being exploited for the bodies and not their musical abilities seems pretty backwards to me.
41
@Bob
"Women still being exploited"
I think J Lo and co are all in on this kind of behavior. How about you put the blame where it belongs.
2
I thought it was rather sad and gross, a pathetic commentary on American culture. I like Lopez and Shakira—can't they do better?
38
Whatever. It was just a show but it was just more Hollywood-style "entertainment", gyrating sexuality, pole-dancing, etc. So tired of it. Give us something unique that appeals to our higher sensibilities.
30
I’m no prude, but the half-time show can’t be described as anything but trashy and lewd.
49
She is obsessed with her age. She does not look happy. Constantly trying to overcome her insecurities. We are all mortal creatures. The sooner you realize this the better off you will be. I do admire her efforts and hard work. She is a typical over achieving first generation American. She should have more class than introducing a stripper pole as a standard item to the children of America. Does she need that?
26
“Dress your age” clearly still has meaning, as long as human beings still deteriorate as time passes. The Times should stop this ultra-woke thing. No one wants 70-year-old grandmas dressing like sorority girls on a midsummer’s Saturday night.
Lopez looks better at 50 than most people. Let’s get her a cookie. America is obsessed with never getting old. And it‘s not helpful that the ultra-woke act like people should be treated as kindergarteners. All this is doing is helping to perpetuate a superficial, idiotic popular culture. Yes, some people are more gifted than others; yes, more beautiful; yes, in superior physical condition; yes, more creative, intelligent, and so on.
Every human life is unique, and is infinitely valuable. In that way, but in almost no other, are we one another’s equals. Life is unfair. Let’s learn to deal with this fact, and stop claiming this is just something privileged people say. Billions of people have had to deal with getting old before us, and billions will have to deal with it in the foreseeable future. It’s okay, you know? It really is.
The Times has begun treating every norm as an arbitrary, oppressive hangover from a patriarchal society in its twilight. Everything is sexism, ageism, and so on. The “ism” suffix is becoming almost unbearable.
13
Stop it with the empowerment garbage. There was nothing empowering about her performance as a 50-year-old woman because she doesn't look 50. She looks like she's maybe 30? She is the epitome of the attitude that "it's OK to be 50 as long as you don't look like you're 50". Put an overweight, wrinkled, grey-haired superstar on the stage during the Super Bowl halftime show and watch her bring down the house and THEN talk about empowerment!
47
I saw it more as a desperate act by a former sex symbol to remain relevant. There was nothing "Glorying" about the exaggerated hip thrusts and half-hearted singing
38
No it wasn’t! She was just making money! There was nothing in it for ordinary women!! If anything it was yet more sexualization and glorification of money and women as sexual objects! All I saw was women twisting about and showing as much cleavage as was permissible! It was just the usual: sex sells, and leave oks are everything! So the message to girls was go to that Beaty store and buy buy buy, because that’s the boy way you’ll find worth in your life!! And it was about money and fame: make money, make money, make money. And looks are all that count: Try to look 20 at 50!
15
Age was not the issue- the performance was actually disgusting and demeaning to women- practically pornographic. I couldn’t even watch it.
These two women are so talented- why the need for stripper-like dancing? Where’s the dignity??
50
To me, it’s has nothing to do with dressing her age. She looks great and I give her credit for working hard to stay fit. Her act though was the same old boring stuff she’s always done. Shake your booty. That’s it. Maybe that’s enough for some, but give me some real song and dance.
21
Female stars have the luxury of hiring fitness experts to train them, nutritionists, facialists, and massage therapists. All of this gives these women an advantage with their looks. It's unrealistic impression of how women should look at that age.
Women working full time & taking care of their children don't have the time or money to invest so much in their physical appearance. Real women aren't sexualized Barbie dolls.
24
For all of you people who felt embarrassed or shocked by the halftime show at the Super Bowl there is one simple answer. Turn it off while it’s half-time and then go back when the football comes on again. No one forced you to watch it.
Wretched excess has always been a pert of the super bowl. Why should this year be any different?
5
I'd rather see a marching band at halftime--Michigan, USC, Notre Dame or whatever. You know, like a football game.
32
The dance style of so many Super Bowl performers, over the last decades at least, which is supposed to be interpreted as highly sexual, is at best mechanical, and at worst, ridiculous. This year was no exception.
29
Tina Turner never dressed her age, and it was controversy too. No biggie. If you got it, flaunt it. She's an entertainer fer cryin out loud!
11
Madonna did it better 30 years ago.
3
J-Lo looks great, all power to her. But does she really need to hyper-sexualize herself and provide such a questionable role model to young women? You can be fit, a terrific dancer and dress well without sinking this low. As an older woman, It takes courage to find your voice and project your true self. Ask Gloria Steinem.
39
To paraphrase Gandhi’s famous quote about Western civilization:
- What do you think about American pop culture?
- It would be a great idea.
That’s what that show reminded me of.
10
The Super Bowl and the halftime show were topics of discussion at my deep water aerobics class this morning. After one particularly grueling set of arm exercises, I quipped that “Now we’ll all have ‘guns’ like JLo.” Got a laugh. Girls of any age can dream!
5
A remarkable performance put together for such a short period!!
2
So what if JLo is 50? It doesn't mean a thing. Great show with Shakira!!
1
Best Super-bowl halftime show in years--possibly ever.
Two ladies sharing an ounce of fabric and about a million "crystals" between them--and all the dance moves and song-making from the previous several such shows done much, much better.
Incredibly fast paced, as they paid homage to their backgrounds (NYC out of Puerto Rico and Columbia out of Lebanon) in a flawless performance.
Thank you.
11
Gee, the comments here. It was halftime entertainment in a huge stadium performed by multi-talented women. The lively performance kept the vibe and hyped the vibe in a game filled with vibe. The exaggerated moves, the pole dance, up on the shoulders are all part of a show in a huge arena, not some cozy nightclub. It wasn't a political soapbox on some campus. Calm down people and try cheering up.
15
Seems like art, entertainment, culture, and morality has always, with consequences for good and harm, included a tension between idealism and realism.
As a 66 yo progressive white woman I appreciate both. And ability and competence instead of act/dress your age. However appropriate and inappropriate figure heavily in my perspective. As well as being able to freely choose vs being exploited.
I haven't watched a full Super Bowl in many years. But I pay attention to current events, read and listen to commentary, view video of events that stimulate cultural controversy.
Having watched clips of the halftime show it crossed a line for me. It wasn't their attire. But the spread leg crotch shots, stripper pole. movements simulating sex acts are not appropriate for an event the promoters want seen as family friendly which is broadcast on the public airways via a major network. CBS is not a concert venue or MTV where paying customers are freely choosing knowing full well what to expect.
It's not my taste in entertainment but I respect the hard work of Jennifer Lopez and Shakira and don't begrudge them their success.
In general entertainers and sports figures figure too prominently in our culture. There are people & events whose prominence gives me hope for a more diverse sense of female role models. Speaker Pelosi & Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg as well as my 88 year old mother top my list.
32
It would have been great if the show was more family friendly. I was watching with my young daughters and their friends and turned it off before the pole came out. Both of these women are powerhouses and don’t need to rely on base sexuality to capture an audience.
More importantly, I don’t want the next generation of young women thinking they need to rely on base sexuality to capture anyone’s attention.
37
The lesson from this vulgar performance is that women do not need men to objectify them they can do it all by themselves.
70
I looked and still felt good when I was 50 too. But after turning 60 last year, well, that's a different story....
9
JLo is a famous beauty and wealthy beyond imagining. She is hardly representative of 50yr old women as a whole, and nothing she does could conceivably have symbolic value for them.
Next week: Federer shows men can still serve at 38!
19
Can we ever get past the astonishment of seeing a 50 year old perform in a leotard?
13
J Lo is aging well because she was never underweight. The ones who starve themselves look shriveled by 50.
12
Madonna was 53 when she did the halftime show in 2012. setting the bar for the spectacle we now come to expect from the other performers .
7
Whatever her age all I know is if I try to watch the video of her Superbowl halftime show on my LAUSD school classroom computer its content blocked. District censors just don't appreciate high art form apparently.
10
A very crude performance mirroring the decadence in our current American culture. I long for the days of Doris Day and Kate Smith.
31
@Aaron Adams I couldn't agree more. I was thinking of Sarah Vaughn and Jo Stafford. Talent and class. And I'm only 57. I know my husband agrees.
5
Talent gets women nowhere without being physically attractive as well. Nothing empowering about that.
42
These women put on a display that presented women as objects of sexual desire. Not impressed.
72
No Vanessa Friedman, the outfits were not 'a little silly." They were spot on fierce, powerful and sexy worn by a performer who embodies all of that and more at the biggest entertainment event in the world. Rock on, JLO!!
9
She is not flaunting her age, she is being herself. If that means defying demeaning stereotypes and misogyny, so be it. We attach so much to age, it is ridiculous.
6
Quite a few hypocrites here. Half these women in the comments were drooling when Adam Levine took his shirt off last year. The background dancers last night incorporated a boba fide chip n dale routine. And you forget the empowerment that comes with Latin dance—it is sensuality with a purpose. Maybe direct your ire toward actual nodes of gender discrimination in the #metoo era—JLo and Shakira embody the opposite.
8
I noticed on Twitter that a lot of the negative comments seemed to come from Christian supporters of Trump. How could I have guessed?
They're fine with his sexual assaults, his racism and all the other totally unacceptable things about him but so concerned about the "family" and the "children" because of the half time show. These are the same people who cheer him for splitting families apart at the border and caging the children...as aptly illustrated on stage. The hypocrisy is stunning.
Thank you J. Lo and Shakira for making your point so beautifully and celebrating the beauty of the Latino culture.
27
@Steve Dumford
IDK about Twitter comments but judging by the comments here it's not just trumpster christians who were less than thrilled with JLo.
5
Holding Jlo up as an example of what a 0 year old woman can or should be is ridiculous and damaging. I shudder to think how much botox, plastic surgery and other "work" she has had for her face and body. How many hours does she spend exercising? What normal woman has the time, money and desire to be like her? To me, she resembles a wax work. It's creepy seeing a face as smooth and shiny as hers.
39
Really awful. More talent and clothing, please.
46
Reading many of the comments makes me wonder whether the Puritans arrived a few days ago, rather than some four centuries ago.
13
@Ajax It's not about puritanism, it's about presenting, once again, women submissive attitudes vis a vis men phantasies: we are just sex objects dressed as sex objects just for, yes, male audiences. Madonna with her performance of 30 years ago had a point. Furthermore, this football show has not even a minimum care for artistic standards though, the hair dressers of both performers did a great job, again, to fit, the male phantasies about how women should be, yes, just Barbies. We, women, were totally out of this performance for the male football audience.
1
My mum is 84...this piece is 34 years late.
1
Never herd of J Lo before reading this. Not sure what is the big deal. My girlfriend is 60 and is just as hot.
9
In my opinion the skimpier the outfit the skimpier the talent. I remember a time when women who had great voices and acting chops kept their clothes on, stood on a stage and delivered magical performances without having to expose themselves.
JLo is admired by many young women — she needs to set an example that sends the message that women are complex ( they have have minds and hearts). Instead she continually undresses in public and presents herself in a vulgar and objectifying manner.
37
If all women had the time and finances to work out with a trainer, hire a chef, or get plastic surgery, “dress your age” might be meaningless. For the rest of , for whom preserving a youthful appearance is not part of our job descriptions, dress your age can still be good advice, particularly at work.
19
Thank you!
1
I admire J.Lo's work ethic, but let's be real: she's rich and able to hire personal trainers and workout several hours a day, above and beyond practicing her dancing, singing and acting.
How many of us have that?
23
Jennifer Lopez was looking great at 50 but Shakira was a better act. Nothing to do with the fact that she’s 43 but that doesn’t hurt. She’s just a better dancer. They both have beautiful voices.
12
JLo wasn't embracing her age she was defying it; that's what money can buy. and if she wants to do that fine, it's fun to watch her in action. But holding her up as an inspiration for women and girls? She'd have to climb down from the stripper pole first.
43
I worry about girls growing up in today’s world.
What are we to make of these performances on the biggest world stage? That women at the peak of their entertainment power must wear almost nothing and dance with a stripper’s pole? That you can’t sing and dance without constant pelvic thrusts? What do girls conclude from this? J lo had her daughter on stage with all this?
Yes, both women are in admirable shape. But they are still objectifying themselves, even in Versace. I did like the flag cape, though.
29
Doesn't Jennifer Lopez have parents?
15
I was out and about in San Diego, California a week ago, and I suppose there is no place better than sunny Southern California to re-examine, as this writer proposes, what "dress your age" means in this age of hyper self-esteem, self-fulfillment, self-everything.
There you will witness 60-year-old next to 16-year-old, each exulting in---to quote this article's writer in reference to J. Lo's halftime show---the wonderfulness of their own "physicality". The one-hundred-pound body next to the one-hundred-40-pound body, both squeezed into what's probably the same sized bikini. Grandmother next to granddaughter pressure-molded into skinny black jeans. The definitely-old next to the impossibly-young, both with 'babe hair'.
Perhaps it's wonderful that society has at last shed all of its 'judgement'. But have we? I could not help but wince out of basic pity at the middle-aged woman so desperately competing with the proxy of her younger self; at the 60-ish balding man with the beer belly---sorry, prominent abdomen---on his skate board, hip-hop shorts hanging halfway down his backside, all-over tattoos and piercings glinting in the SoCal sun, as he zipped recklessly through pedestrians on the boardwalk on the beach.
Doesn't anyone dress---or better yet, act---their age anymore? It's not just an aesthetic issue either, but also a matter of maturity and, in many cases, modesty.
Grandmothers were grandmothers, and grandfathers didn't comport themselves like teenagers.
6
So glad I live in San Diego.
2
So heartwarming to see J. Lo and Shakira championing the plight of caged children by twerking and pole dancing. Is this what passes for activism and political daring? How depressingly absurd.
90
time to stand up to trump with the truth. going after a man kneeling during the anthem. Just look at trump
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article239918518.html
3
To see a bunch of young people running into the stadium presenting the football to the head referee prior to the coin toss was a great touch. It signaled the start of an evening of entertainment for the whole family.
In contrast, I'm curious what the NFL has to say about J. Lo thrusting her private parts at the camera over and over again. Or feigning an erotic moment with a stripper pole.
I was so happy to read the comments here voicing the same outrage my wife and I felt watching the half-time show, because I sure haven't heard much from Fox or the NFL.
28
She's a rich celebrity who can afford plastic surgery, personal trainers, $500 creams, etc. I will be more impressed when we can get women in their 50's on TV who do not inject poison* in their faces to stay relevant.
*botox & fillers
18
Yes they looked great but let's move beyond that a little shall we please?
What stuck with me were 2 moments:
First when J Lo comes on stage while her daughter was singing and they had a moment as they jumped and sang together. The second was when J Lo and Shakira hugged each other after they finished. The joy, pride and confidence, as well as the sense of fun, these ladies exuded throughout their performances was palpable but at those 2 moments, it was perfection. Also loved the political statements. At at time when women and minorities are really feeling the impact of a hateful, misogynistic mindset, this is a frothy breath of fresh air. Well done ladies!
As for their outfits, they are pop stars and this was a show. They were performing. On stage. In Miami. At the Super Bowl. No one dresses like this in real like. Okay, maybe in Miami sometimes they do to go to a club. Maybe.
20
Do NFL officials get to see the performance that is being planned and get to approve it? I am fine with JLo and Shakira being in good shape and they can put on a sexy show but spreading your legs and sliding forward in front of a camera 17 times and that footage getting broadcast to network TV in prime time....that i have a problem with. may be I am getting too old.
21
Dress as you want to dress.
But the message when the female stars are dressed to imply that they are nearly naked and dance suggestively (- strike that, suggestively doesn't even describe it) and are valued for that performance, where the male performers are dressed casually, completely covered, and it's the words of the song that have their value - it does send a very negative message - we women are the pretty, the superficial, for sex.
Great body, amazing athleticism for 50 - or 30! I would love to look like that. But it's ridiculous that that is needed to be a star as a woman.
21
Shakira's performance emanated joy and was fun to watch. J-Lo's act was good but looked a little too much like a 50 year old woman trying too hard to turn back the clock. Outside of a few Hollywood celebrities who make their money from appearing youthful, accepting your age is a lot healthier than attempting (and failing) to fight it. That doesn't mean let yourself go - diet, exercise and mental attitude are necessary. I give J-Lo kudos for her efforts there.
5
J-Lo indeed has talent. But the pole dancing rubbed me the wrong way, especially in an outfit that was one rip or extra stretch away from the infamous '04 drama (see: Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction....) .
Perhaps I'm a prude, but you don't have to show that level of skin to dance.
I'd rather have seen a team of gymnasts out doing jumps and somersaults to music than either J-Lo or the other entertainer. Just too much objectification and sensuality for a the multitude of families watching.
16
So pole dancing (in general getting very old and over done) is now considered halftime family entertainment .
35
I was at my son's house for the super bowl..... a few of his friends were there as well. he and his wife and all of their friends have daughters, all aged 7. right before the 1/2 time show started he said that he would probably have to replay it for the girls that were at that point running around and having fun..... after seeing it? no way did any of the parents want their girls watching a nationally broadcasted lap dance. the objectification continues and this time without help from the patriarchy.
32
Shakira and j-Lo. Thanks for teach young girls that being successful means flaunting sexuality. I hope those who watched were saying, "No, I think I'd rather be in a STEM school."
55
J.Lo and the power of wealth. She has a lot of options that most of us can only dream of, has had her share of plastic surgery, new breasts, personal trainers galore, and who knows what else at her disposal. But all of that won't make her strong enough to writhe around a pole and hold herself in the air - that's achieved through discipline, training and doing the work. She's an athlete all the way, you can't buy fitness. Defying labels and definitions and norms is an entertainer's bread and butter. She delivered.
6
I agree with Pam P’s comment. Having the resources to have a personal trainer, chef and plastic surgery certainly helps. I am not diminishing how hard J Lo works out in the gym, but let’s not act like she hasn’t had plastic surgery.
9
J. Lo has been true to herself with no apologies. Love her.
9
What a show is right. Is there anything new or inspiring about pelvic thrusts, bump and grind, strip-show mentality, pound/pound/bam and so on and so forth, forever. Just right for the biggest American audience of the year. A then-and-now chart shown on the show says tickets were $2,500. And people think the election of Trump was inexplicable? I don't think so...
21
So, if a man goes to a strip club to watch pole dances, he’s empowering women?
If Trump ogled the scantily clad J. Lo and Shakira’s suggestive dance moves, he’s actually a feminist?
It’s barely February and this year already has me confused.
36
J Lo is stunningly beautiful because she is. She just happens to be 50. If that is an issue with you, get over it!
2
I’ll be 50 in 3 years and now I have a goal.
5
With a full-time personal trainer, unlimited make-up and hair help, and (almost certainly) a considerable amount of other cosmetic assistance, a 50-year-old woman can be viewed as a sex symbol.
I don't see how this equates to women's empowerment.
We truly have NOT come a long way, baby.
40
Yikes everyone! Why are some of us women taking it so personally and defensively that JLo looked this good? Of course her performance is not the only model of female empowerment. It’s just cool that everyone’s rooting for her, and she’s out there doing her thing, looking and sounding better than ever. You can appreciate her without getting defensive, because there’s more than one way to be a confident, successful, and bold woman. No need to drag her down! It’s a good thing that JLo looks great, sounds great and seems to feel great, and it’s awesome to see her stronger and more beautiful than ever.
14
She's a good-looking, basically talent-less woman, except for self-promotion, who spends her life and fortune trying to look half her age. Hardly a role model for anyone.
14
I'll be impressed when a woman over 40 is embraced as beautiful, sexy and desirable without stage makeup and without having to appear younger than her actual age. Real 50-year-old women have earned their wrinkles, gray hair and "shape shifting."
22
During the show, I couldn't help but wonder what my nieces, at the impressionable ages of 11 and 13 were thinking. I was thankful that my own daughter, now 25 is an adult, with her well-formed opinions about women in society. She had the benefit of allowing her personal style to evolve in her own way over time. I hate to see it thrust upon kids in the Super Bowl, one of the biggest shows of the year, that there is one way to be beautiful and sexy. Kindness can be beautiful! Smart can be sexy! Confidence in one's own skin is the goal. Kids who are fit from dance or sports have an edge that I believe provides confidence in many areas of life, but they need the luxury of time to figure out how they want to express their confidence. With all that said, I'm not a prude, and I thought Shakira's high energy dance performance was just awesome! However, J Lo was over the top for a show where the family gathers around the TV. Let the kids watching be kids. Give them the luxury to figure it out for themselves in their own time.
36
@TD
For heaven's sake, J Lo and Shakira are also smart, kind, talented and terrifically strong and capable. I'm a woman in my 70s and cheering them on, remembering long ago when I could do a little bit of shaking too.
Remove your kids from the room if you're so offended for them.
16
It’s a Super Bowl half-time show. No one should have to remove their kids. It was unnecessarily over specialized.
9
@Faith
Yes, it was overspecialized... with good football.
1
What most impressed me was the showmanship and the huge technical effort behind it, and the incredible, perfect synchonization of the backup dancers, who exceeded what I thought was possible. I don't see that perfect synchonization in ballet or on Broadway (in my limited experience). (I'm not saying it should be in ballet. About Broadway, perhaps it should be.)
4
I get it, she’s beautiful, works out, has a good diet etc but I don’t understand the need of the TV producers to have these over sexualized performances at a public event - Female empowerment portrayed through grinding on a stripper poles and touching yourself in front of the world. Then the next day we talk about objectifying and demeaning women?
I think we need to reign it in and if Miss Lopez has a performative need to express herself this way, I’m sure she can sell tickets to her private performances.
77
Thank you!
I don't know which is more offensive: the objectification of women masked as empowerment, or the fact that every tweet posted here gushes over the fact that JLo looks like this at 50. So what if you don't look like that at 50--have you failed? Yet another impossible standard for women to attain.
111
I knew there would be naysayers. I thought these 2 women, no matter their ages, were inspiring!
16
If you spend everyday of your life as a woman at the gym, the plastic surgeon, a stylist, a personal makeup artist, a personal hairdresser, and have a personal chef, and a couple of nannies, you too can look like this. Oh, don't forget to have a ton of money to pay for all this as well at the age of 50. I don't buy that Latina stuff as Lopez was born in The Bronx.
26
I grew up in NYC. You are in white bread Iowa. I’m kind of thinking that her being a Latina could very well be out of your range of experience and understanding. I mean no disrespect. I’m just stating what could be a fact. Latinos are exactly that, and proud of it.
8
You do know you can be Latina anywhere, right?!
4
@Pam P
Are you saying she’s not Latina cuz she’s from the Bronx? Am I understanding your comment?
If (repeat IF) that’s what yr saying then I am stunned by its absurdity.
If not, pls clarify.
4
When a 50 year old dresses like an exhibitionist teenager, it seems pathetic. And that's particularly true for J.Lo. Her music brands here as a second rate diva. First rate divas like Aretha, Cher, and Barbara Streisand never had to compensate for their limited singing range with provocative outfits. And even Madonna toned it way down in her fifties, JLo. is not Super Bowl quality entertainment unless she flaunts her great middle age body. Not impressed.
38
You’ve obviously never been to a recent Cher concert.
4
@Tamara Cher's outrageous outfits have always been about self-mockery. Being a sex symbol is not her thing.
2
I'm amazed there isn't more comment on the fact that Ms. Lopez exercises six hours a day and has a full time trainer and chef. Perhaps if everyone had such luxury they'd look and feel a lot better/younger too!
25
@g. harlan
But there are millions of people who could reign in their junk food consumption and take a mile walk every day, and they'll never haul their hulks off the couch to look younger.
Good for J Lo for living an active life, being her best at whatever age.
8
So J. Lo still has it at 50. Now then, why are so many people of the same age being cut from their jobs? Can't they still perform?
15
@A
Must be the minds go first and thought processes. Especially if they consume alcohol a lot during the week.
I was embarrassed watching it. I felt that it was watching an extended commercial for the Playboy channel.
This is not something that I would want a younger person to watch. It portrays a bad image of women. The Super Bowl should be family entertainment.
54
Agree: Shakira and JLo were entertaining, political, and great to watch and sing along with. I wish I had the self-confidence, stamina and skill to perform that way. JLo had always been a performer with a lot of razzle dazzle; why change if she doesn’t want to? Her fans will let her know when it’s time to adjust the show. Shakira is an amazing musician and singer. But this was the Super Bowl so “Hips Don’t Lie” beat out “Quiero”. Brava for middle aged women shaking their groove things without apology.
11
So JLo, a beautiful celebrity, spent her resources on physical appearances still looks amazing at 50. And with famous designer outfits and professional makeup, she can dress provocatively and show off her body at 50 and feel empowered. I’m not sure what the takeaway is for the rest of us here.
34
MONEY BUYS trainers, personal assistants, cooks, coaches, etc, all one needs to look like J LO and all other women you see.
I looked that way in my mid 30's and had a job but no pa's cooks - did it myself. It takes a lot of work, time and energy.
15
Good game, good half time show. Pretty rare Super Bowl.
11
I guess everybody's forgotten about Cher showing up every week on her TV show in costumes that pushed that same envelope. And then there's always the Turn Back Time video. J Lo looked great, no question, but the "at her age" part is hardly groundbreaking.
9
Most of us 50 year old women cant afford to wear skimpy clothes to look gorgeous....we would rather wear comfortable clothes that dont need attention. There are many over 50 year women that I could really use as an inspiration for young girls...that you dont have to have your body as a benchmark to make it to the top.
23
Remember when The Boss, Bruce Springfield, wowed us with his rocking Super Bowl performance?
Sigh.
20
Is Bruce Springfield a Simpson’s spin-off of Bruce Springsteen?
3
Yes, JLo's body is great for 50. But so are willpower and a sense of obligation, combined with loads of cash to maintain that impeccable physique. Stars like JLo (or Brad Pitt for that matter), work out for several hours a day, while eating peerlessly calorie-counted foods to avoid weight gain. Private trainers, plastic surgeons, dermatologists, exercise physiologists - none of it truly covered by insurance - are there to motivate celebrities and keep them in shape and in check. And of course, JLo isn't doing this for herself only - the hundreds of people who work on the shows, on the movie sets, her agent, her manager - financially, they truly depend on her ability to generate a top performance and look the part. If she fails, she takes down many with her. That's the semi-Faustian bargain of maintaining a public persona, and it goes way beyond just being from "the block."
43
Perfectly stated.
I got shouted down in my office full of millenial women when I said I was horrified by the relentless focus on these talented women's bodies. This wasn't a typical concert - this was your image to millions of people around the globe. A smart, successful, talented woman boiled down to a booty shake.
97
What I saw were 2 beautiful women as defined by our western standards who basically promoted sex with a backbeat. Not sure this is such a positive feminist message.
85
I thought J Lo looked smashing and performed well - until she got on her knees and stuck her crotch, covered in little more than dental floss, into the camera lens. You and women are so much better than that, J Lo. And I’m about as far from a prude as you can get.
108
I remember how hip The Andrews Sisters were during during Super Bowl 5.
Our culture has stagnated and it is time to let the past be the past and move on.
5
I do not connect with Ms. Lopez at all.
Being defined by ogle-ability serves no purpose.
It seems to me that the “feminists” of today use their bodies as weapons of power. As a feminist from the 70s that notion is anathema to me.
52
Ironically these women made their way to becoming idols based on being singers. And there was darn little of that at this show. And what there was so over-amplified and bass beat driven that hearing any sort of the melody was almost impossible. Wouldn't it be nice to have some actual singers some year without all the production hoopla? Sigh.
20
@famharris Amen to that.
She looked amazing, but in fairness, that is her (full-time) job, no?
19
They both look great for their respective ages. I would never guess Shakira was 43. She looked untouched by time.
8
Why do people, men and women and in-between, have to dress their age? If you have it, flaunt it.
9
I’m 59 and work out a little harder and longer today. Thanks ladies !
10
The older I get the more I realize - dress your age should be replaced by dress your personality. That's what counts - at any age.
21
You can dress up her performance in all the politically correct terminology you want, but this did nothing to advance the cause of women. I doubt everyone would have been as excited about "empowerment" if she had been fully clothed. Do we really think that, having viewed her performance, men will now say, "Wow. Now I know what female empowerment is. I'm going to respect women and stop objectifying them from now on." At the end of the day, sex still sells. Don't we have more to offer?
75
They were both spectacular, to be sure.
But I suspect J-Lo's "ageless sex God" act is causing new insecurities amongst 30-, 40-, 50-year-old women and beyond who can't hope to compete with her combination of genetic jackpot and full-time dedication to enhancing her looks alongside teams of trainers, nutritionists and surgeons.
It used to be that girls in their teens and early 20s were the primary victims of our mass media's obsession with perfection.
Are we just shifting the goalposts, as they say at the Super Bowl?
13
Genetic jackpot? Have you seen her before plastic surgery look? Google it.
So glad my young daughter didn't see that show - celebrities selling their bodies. What a terrible example for real women.
59
JLo takes very good care of herself she works out everyday, she eats very healthy food and doesn’t drink alcohol plus she’s gifted with lovely Latin skin. It’s her job to entertain she gets paid a lot of money for her job, anyone who doesn’t understand that is jealous of her job and/or money. If you all would like to be as fit, healthy and rich as her stop bashing her and other peoples success and get to work on your own life. If you hate your job get a new one. If you hate your body work on improving yours. Your insecurities are written all over these comments.
10
@tiredofwaiting
"If you all would like to be as fit, healthy and rich as her stop bashing her and other peoples success and get to work on your own life. "
J Lo spends millions on her appearance. Go easy on the rest of us. We can't afford a retinue and high-priced plastic surgeons.
6
Some people are dealt a better genetic hand than others. At age 70, Helen Mirren announced she would no longer bare her breasts on camera. And people were like, “Hold on! Let’s talk about this!”
3
People keep talking about genetics. Google JLo’s pictures from In Living Color. That’s the real stuff.
With all due respect to J Lo, and at the risk of alienating my Latino friends and acquaintances, I don't think J Lo represents the most realistic example for Latinas.
16
JLo has long represented a repudiation of social and racial norms. She's a Latina from the Bronx who has long been one of the most popular entertainers in our world. It's only natural that she will be taking down assumptions about age, as well.
Of course, popular culture can be *so* backwards. Much of the human species has long been aware that many women get sexier as they age.
4
How about if we talk about singing and dancing abilities instead of their outfits which have absolutely nothing to with the talent that they spend decades honing?
6
I wish this article could be expanded to include the fashion and talent of Demi Lovato who sung the national anthem. Not only did she make a statement in her white pants suit, she brought spirit and soul to a song that can be so easily lackluster.
17
Sorry, I fell asleep about a minute or so into the halftime show. Who got the choreography credit, Harvey Weinstein or Jeffery Epstein, posthumously?
51
I am younger than J lo but older than Shakira... and I am in good shape but there is no way I could wear those outfits and if I could my daughters would be mortified. But hey good for them...
7
JLo is selling her new movie, not confidence not authority and not fitness.
16
Hey lighten up everybody. I’m a 67 year old woman and I thought the half time show was one of the best I’ve ever seen. They were great! The 49ers...well, that’s another story.
11
Being old doesn’t mean you have good taste.
2
Jlo and Shakira show what you can do with good genes, good healthcare, and $$ for trainers,cooks,plastic surgons,etc. Funny thing, the first time I heard of Shakira, an L.A. Times music critic praised a young, dark haired, young woman who played an acoustic guitar, wearing a sweater.That was Shakira. To go to the English market, she went blonde, and then began the "tribute to grandma" belly dancing. Again, $$ and genes will get you the visual appearances for the Super Bowl. Oh, yeah and you have to pay to perform.
2
This is not glorying in your age. It's dressing like someone selling her body. There is nothing at all feminist about that.
47
Shakira has boatloads of charm.
8
Real power will come for women when we routinely keep on our clothes and the men undress and gyrate for our amusement.
3
I judged the vocals. They were subpar in my book. The dancing was admirable. I always love seeing Shakira performing her belly dance routine, which I wish I could do. All in all I say they did not do any worse than Chris Martin and if I could get through his teenie weenie vocal performance with no dancing, I could certainly get through Shakira's and JLo's because at least they could perform! Also loved that she brought her daughter and the other little girls on stage... cute. And Demi Lovato's voice was beautiful. They should ask her to perform next time.
2
Somebody tell me why a man's sport has to be promoted by the display of female sexuality. It reminds me of nothing so much as the days when selling a hot sports car demanded a bikini-clad model spread out on the hood.
Nothing against J-Lo, but I'd like to think she's got more to show after 50 years than what can be put on display from a stripper pole.
62
Exactly.
The halftime should was ridiculously bad. When it's all dance and beat, then there really isn't any music. So great they can dance and lip sync but that's not very good music by any definition. And it's way too long. I mean, get on with the game. It's a ridiculous waste of time. Not many good shows historically (ok, the Stones dude, Prince) but most of these have been a waste of time. Last night's was particularly annoying. JPF (just play football, enough hoopla).
9
I felt embarrassed by Lopez' performance. It was stereotypically sexual and with a pole. Honestly.
She is gorgeous with a fabulous body. Impressive.
But what kind of image did she represent for women? A 50 year old sexually writhing on a pole to be desired by all? Hardly. She seemed desperate to prove how young she still is.
I loved Shakira's performance! She vibrated on high at all times. Wow!
But Jennifer Lopez seemed to be there to remind us all that she is a top Vegas type performer.
Go to Broadway, Lopez. Prove you got the goods.
16
Why the focus on J Lo and Shakira? It's the good ol US of A, the Super Bowl and 2020. The whole freaking thing is a spectacle of violence, consumerism and sex. So why focus on the ladies' costumes? Swimsuits reveal much more than those costumes and no one complains about that! Both performers have proven themselves smart capable and sexy. Honestly, if they'd performed in business attire, I still think they would have been hot. Kinda because they are. And there is no shame in that.
2
I never watch football. I don't have cable or satellite t.v. However, I found the game online, watched it (great game) and even though I'm not a fan of Jennifer Lopez, I thought she was great. I've always like Shakira, and she was wonderful as well. Lighten up, folks. If you didn't like it, you could always turn it off.
4
I appreciate J. Lo's performance as a statement of the power of women, and that age is not a factor. However, I think the issue with Friedman's article, and this "look how amazing she is at 50/age doesn't matter" thesis is that it's still glorifying youth.
We are impressed with Jennifer Lopez because she does not act or look her age (with aging here being perceived as a negative). Once again, we are looking at a woman through the lens of her age and her looks, which is tiring.
A much more productive article that actually lifts up women and sparks a healthier dialogue is not by using her age as a factor, but rather discussing how she uses her platform for political statements or the impressiveness of the spectacle.
24
I searched for best Superbowl halftime shows and Prince was on almost all lists. I watched the performance, and it was amazing - musically, intense and connected with the audience. These two fabulous singers and actors could have also performed in that spirit, relying less on wardrobe, because they are awesome, and it could have been a truly great halftime show.
19
I’m glad there’s more acceptance of women at a larger range of ages in the fashion industry. This has a lot to do with the huge boomer generation refusing to slink away and dress invisibility.
However, the most important efforts to get away from ageism need to be directed towards acceptance of women who LOOK any age, not just the fashion models and actors with unusually good looks and extra help along the way to appear younger.
People often tell me I don’t look my age, which is sort of an odd compliment. Does this mean that if I looked “my age” I would be less worthy of a compliment about my appearance?
20
As a male fan of both Shakira and J Lo plus dance itself, I have to say the show was spectacular. The two women and the supporting cast did an absolutely beautiful job.
It was entertainment, period. A fine show.
Didn't make up for the niners loss though.
6
I thought it was a very entertaining show, but I also think that Shakira outshone Jennifer (who was excellent). Her music is more interesting to me in that she incorporates influences from so many different cultures in an original way.
8
Esp the beautiful ululating....
Beyond her age, which is someone else's issue, not hers obviously, J. Lo's performance was a political statement about our government.
Kids in cages? Singing with her un-caged daughter about freedom and leaning into Born in the USA? Dreamers anyone?
That's the real statement Jennifer Lopez made as a proud Latina, Puerto Rican no less, in the face of a Trumpian administration.
1025
@Andrea Johnston
Agreed. I thought the ladies did a terrific job and looked great--and come one, Super Bowl Sunday is by nature overblown and tacky--It's a spectacle 50 years in the polishing. It occurred to me that the pole dancing was also an in-your-face to the Oscar crowd who didn't nominate her this year. For posters who thought it was bordering on obscene, well, welcome to America. Anyone with younger adults or teens knows this is the zeitgeist.
55
@Andrea Johnston Who even saw that part of her message, lost as it was by the ogling of her lady parts, her Brazilian and the pole dance. Pornifiction under the guise of female empowerment.
54
@fireweed
I'd be curious to know your opinion of the cheerleaders?
30
So let me get this straight.
Women and girls are made powerful by watching scantily clad women dance erotically. JLo actually didn’t even dance much but did hip thrusts as others danced around her.
This sold women as powerful only by using sex, and cast men as drooling fools. It demeans everyone. It was, more than anything else, silly.
139
Vulgar and tasteless at any age.
87
As a fit 46 year old mom of 2, I'm honestly amazed by such negative comments about this article. Why is it a bad thing to still want or aspire to look fit and healthy as we age? Why does it ALWAYS have to be some political, societal, or #metoo moment. Newsflash! being an attractive woman is NOT a bad thing, women are complex multidimensional human beings and yes beauty, sexuality all of those things are part of what women are about, they're not a contradiction to being smart and valuable. Lighten up folks its called entertainment for a reason. Sit back enjoy the show, don't look if it offends, but please stop hatin'
20
@AtlAngel
There's nothing wrong with wanting to look fit and healthy at any age. Acting like a cat in heat in front
of a world audience is something else altogether tho.
17
@irene My cat wishes she could move like that, like I said previously. Lighten up and if it offends turn it off. but let's stop judging a woman who's still at the top of her game and was invited to ENTERTAIN the people.
I don't care what she thinks it was. I think it was gross and I am an accomplished, sexy woman.
72
The women’s equality and empowerment movement just got bombed back into the Stone Age.
72
Gosh. How much richer our cultural heritage would be if Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, etc., had known they were supposed to be hopping around in their underwear.
;)
63
Call me old-fashioned, however I see nothing sexy ,classy or age resistant in these 2 women making sure they turn around and flaunt their almost bare derrieres .
Nor do I see anything appoaching "talent" in the parade of bare back-up dancers.undulating.
52
A stripper pole?
A g-string?
Shakira was wonderful, but Lopez’s decision to sexualize the family show with her bare behind and barely g-string covered front was an embarrassment. At a Super Bowl party with my young daughters and plenty of men, it was so awkward! Usually such nudity combined with sexual moves are sequestered, not thrown into a family act.
We were expecting female empowerment. Instead we got female as sex object. I’m tired of having to teach my girls their talents and their worth are more than their sexuality.
You’ve set is us back, Jennifer.
149
I do not view JL as a feminist; she promotes actively the objectification and sexualization of women. I can't stand what she represents.
81
@Elisabeth
I just felt a breath of fresh air Elisabeth when I read your comment. It helps to erase my memory of seeing Jennifer Lopez demean herself, undressed and pole dancing on national TV.
3
Strictly for the rubes.
22
I can’t support a violent sport like football. Too many players are getting brain damaging CTE’s and what is happening to the women’s outfits or lack of. I thought this was supposed to be a family show i don’t know why with all the violence and now almost naked women and singer the rating should be xxx. How about cleaning up your act cover up at least. The sport and the almost naked women are now profoundly immoral like our president.
13
@D.j.j.k.
Ditto! Couldn't have said it any better.
Here’s hoping when I’m 50 I won’t be in front of a stripper pole trying to get attention cause I was overlooked by mostly male Hollywood judging committees. Sorry but this another fake feminist statement. Let’s not convolute old fashioned objectification with feminist empowerment. See Nasty Gal. Zzzzzz
32
@AnnaB
You are so right on... OBJECTIFYING 74 year olds like me is no bargain either. Perhaps the depth in a Rembrandt of a transparent, older face is beyond the pale for too many Americans. Fluff seems the daily cultural diet and it peaks on Super(?) Sunday. Gallows humor is no joke and getting older nudges one towards that gallows. All that softens those changes is appreciated. In fact, ageism is unhealthy for us all. We are all lucky to be alive. Some fetuses die with leukemia. I am sure this won't be an NYT Pick for the young staffers. They may not even publish it.
1
Bravo!
What did all the negative commenters expect from such performances in Donald Trump’s America of 2020?! The Gutter is in power across the culture!!!
16
What's the difference between a sexy pinup girl calendar hanging in an auto repair shop the Superbowl halftime show?
13
It was a great, inspirational show on all fronts! Signed up for a pole dancing class this am...uses all your small and large muscles.
5
Is anyone going to comment on the "children in cages" theme?
4
The pole was a bit much.
30
Why does more, more, more and better, better, better equate to empowerment - male or female? It’s an addictive cycle toward unattainable perfection.
When my dad died a few years ago, no one spoke about his degrees, patents or closet full of boxing trophies. They spoke about the impact he personally had on others. The smiles and warm gestures to kids with disabilities. How he taught others about forgiveness and love. His love and restoration of the natural world. What he did in the world’s view of success meant little to me, his connection meant everything. That’s character, that’s an empowered person impacting others.
Anyone can be that kind of person. Money or no money. Janitor or Super Bowl performer.
12
I feel that the costumes and dance moves were not appropriate for children or teenagers.
This show creates a standard that our young people emulate and replicate. They now feel this is the norm.
24
"How do you look good at an older age?" It's the question a thousand different magazines use to sell themselves and their products to women. As a man, and not someone in on the take, I can answer that question and save folks a lot of money....If you want to be a good looking woman at an older age....have been a good looking woman at a younger age. Brooke Shields, Cyndi Crawford, Christy Brinkley, are just a few names that come to mind, but the axiom holds true even among the non-famous. Of course every axiom or rule has exceptions.
3
J Lo has done a great job taking care of herself; that's understandable with her fame and income that allows good health care, eating right and I'm sure plenty of exercise and R&R when needed. But what is disturbing about the article is how much emphasis is STILL placed on how "good" women look. I find this disheartening.
19
It would be lovely to think that J-Lo’s body is that perfect, naturally. I did like the reference to children in cages, however, even if it was lost on most everyone ogling the bodies. Bravo for J-Lo.
4
Regardless of whether Jennifer Lopez's show was appropriate or not, entertaining or not, exploitative or not, how about it was just plain tacky?
98
I would consider it empowering if these ladies had an in depth discussion of the Federalist Papers, or String Theory, or a critical argument of why Gershwin might be America's true classical composer.
Their empowering performance is available in many locals for a 10 dollar cover, and a 3 drink minimum. It's amazing how the feminist movement has the luxury of moving between situational ethics, in plank time.
29
I skipped the big game where the participants try to avoid getting concussions because I had better things to do. Seems as if I also missed an 11 year old daughter scream-singing on stage while her 50 yo mother was pole dancing with barely-there clothed backup dancers.
If this is our present, the country is going to get what it deserves in the future.
35
Just the thought that Trump probably really liked this half time show creeps me out.
52
Thanks goodness the half-time show didn’t objectify women in front of 150 million people.
After all, nothing screams woke female empowerment like pole dancing.
At least this was combined with a children’s choir and an American flag.
God Bless America!
117
I though her performance was ludicrous and not in the slightest bit entertaining.
But apart from that, I liked it a lot.
18
The show with it's bad music and scantily clad women-JLO and Shakira specifically, was one step up from a strip club, albeit, open to 100 million viewers. All that thrusting and grinding, JLO was still rehearsing for her role in Hustlers.
The word that kept coming up was TACKY.
If this show was about women's 'empowerment' I wondered what they were empowered to do besides show their flesh. Sad.
47
For Heaven’s sake, it’s not like she has an ordinary job and an ordinary salary. Can we stop this PC nonsense? She will appear her age outside her bloody bubble.
5
Lopez and Shakira might take a lesson or two from Billie Eilish's ethos.
No stripper poles on her stage and she tends to let her music do the talking.
522
They are totally different types of performers. Apples and oranges.
84
@SteveRR Billie is talented but how old (young) is she? Eighteen, right? Let’s wait and see how her career shapes up by the time she’s 50 before we make any comparisons. Both Shakira and J-Lo have earned the right to express themselves through their choice of entertainment and attire.
99
@SteveRR Have you seen cirque du soleil? The use poles. That wasn't a stripper's pole. In order for it to be a stripper's pole she would have had to strip. The beautiful work was acrobatic.
64
As always, the public will choose what is palatable. seeing a grandma try to hold onto youthful generations to me is sad.
11
I think it is would be a mistake to not mention that while Jennifer is talented and quite lovely, she has a team of people who help her keep in shape: sculpted, coiffed, made-up, and dressed. It is her brand and her full-time job to look this way.
16
LOL It was truly awful
50
Sorry, 50 yr old JLo May be desirable ideal mode, but older relatively successful me even with paunch still setting my tinder age search at 35 tops. Still getting significant numbers/quality replies, wonderful dates too.
6
Hope for their sakes, based on your comment, your ‘dates’ have a nice dinner and move on to a nice person...plenty are ‘sufficiently successful’ and aren’t jerks
No one cares about your dating preferences - or mine. But since you bring it up, I’m a 50 woman and my online dating profile is overrun by gorgeous men in their 20s, even without setting my preferences to exclude others.
@Sarah Crane Chaisen
Bitterness laced comment exhibit A justifying my personal,still successful dating preference: youthful comely, vibrant, intelligent young women.
2
They dressed like it was a strip show, but the level of stamina they and their backup dancers showed performing really impressed me.
9
The one half time show I remember was by Prince, playing his guitar in the rain. He seemed older than his looks, and you could feel the man's soul and pain behind the glitter...
17
This was the Super Bowl people - not a night at the Philharmonic. Lighten up!
10
Wow! They are in such great shape and are certainly powerful dancers!
3
In this world where it is nearly impossible for a lot of "women of a certain" age to get a decent job, or keep it for any amount of time, it is good to see any positive hype for the value of older women, much less celebrities.
2
J Lo exercise everyday and doesn't smoke, doesn't drink and eat a lot of organic veggie and very little meat.
1
Some promotion for her 11 year old daughter as well. However, nobody complaints about the blatant nepotism in movies and music.
5
Wow, I just decided to look at the "All" comments rather than NY Times or Reader Picks. I was struck by the nasty tone and repeated mentions of the fact that J. Lo. looks that way because she's rich. She also worked very hard to have that physicality. I haven't seen the Hustlers movie. I do plan to. I noticed the reference to the performance when she did a move of holding onto a bar and supporting her weight sideways.
This is strength. Even if it is sexy.
I also loved the Latin flavor of the music. To me it felt like one in the eye for a certain 70 something Xenophobe in Washington, D.C. This music and these dance moves ARE America now!
11
Reading this article reminds me of articles written about 90 year olds who still run marathons. Ok. Great. Not very relevant to the lives of the vast VAST majority of 50 year olds. The mere fact that J Lo's appearance rates an article at all is a good indication of how truly rare it is. And since her fame is closely linked with her appearance, I suspect she works endlessly on maintaining it.
10
I like strip shows and hot women dancing as much as the next guy does, but the whole time I watched the show, I wondered about the reactions of all the children, especially girls of friends and family watching it. It was vulgar and most inappropriate for kids and should have been an adults-only show.
89
Come on people, they did what they were hired to do. They were hired because they do what they do very well. People don't want to see the girl scouts singing the National Anthem anymore then they are going to watch an unprofessional football game. If you don't want to watch it just spend your day doing something you want to do, like hiking which is what I did.
6
Super bowl halftime show. Take a couple celebrities with really good voices, put them in over-the-top costumes, add backup dancers, props, lights, some fireworks, and you have every halftime show for the past 20 years. Yawn....it was enough of a break for me to hop on my laptop, and check my email.
10
Yeah, well, I guess if all I had to do all day was sleep in as long as I wanted and work out as much as possible and afford very expensive hair manipulations and other cosmetic adjustments. I'd look just like her.
After all, we're the same age.
5
More power to her. I thought she could have covered herself more. She looked naked, which still makes me uncomfortable especially at family events.
10
JLo and Shakira both look great. Now those of us failed to look like them 25 years ago can fail to look like them again. That said, if JLo wants an Oscar, maybe she should learn how to act.
8
I read with interest many of the comments about last night's half time performance. First of all, it was SUPER BOWL HALF TIME....entertainment! I am a great fan of J. Lo's and admire her for her many achievements just as I admire many of the other women mentioned by some of the readers, i.e. Pelosi, Warren, Harris etc. who are all outstanding in their fields, and not to my thinking to be compared. Many of the readers mention the income Lopez has to keep her looking so great, but then so do other women in different fields.
From an 80 year old woman's vantage, let's not take ourselves so seriously......it was only a show. And let's forget
the "dress your age" nonsense. No one tells men to do that.
And for heavens sake, from an 80 year old woman, let's stop taking ourselves so seriously.....
12
Time for the frenetic R- rated half time shows to come with a parental warning. And for some of us who don’t live and die with pop culture, it has become quite boring. A window of opportunity to wash the dinner dishes.
29
As a man who's approaching 50 and takes care of himself (and has a body that shows it), I don't understand why anyone finds it shocking that a 50-year-old can be fit.
It doesn't take a ridiculous amount of gym time; my wife and I work out about 2.5 hours per week and eat reasonably Monday - Thursday (and whatever we want on weekends).
Like the obesity epidemic, it's a sad statement about the eagerness with which our society embraces a sedentary, gluttonous lifestyle.
9
Wow, reading the comments here shows me how out of synch I am with most readers. Shakira and JLo are two very successful and empowered women who I have no doubt had creative control over the choreography and costuming.
I thought it was creative, energetic, and empowering in its own way for the principals. (Though I abhor the lip-synching.) I don't think anyone tuned in thinking this was going to be an articulation of the Soul of Woman. If it was a little "in yo' face", that is because in the entertainment industry most women are written off after 50. Ain't happening here.
And c'mon, the backdrop is Miami, not Mayberry RFD.
6
I wish the the away from the J Lo performance would be eating correctly and exercising can do wonders for any body, female or male.
4
JLo is always a bit cheesy with the choreography and silly costumes but that’s what she does. She could never give a performance without it. I just hope someday she knows when to retire rather than have the stage hands say, “Wheel her in!”
6
In the past women were forced to dress in ways that objectified them, now with "female empowerment" women are free to express the glory of their own physicality... totally different
5
Last night's was the best Super Bowl Performance since Katy Perry wowed us with her performance.
JLo from the Bronx, at 50, she looks great; my oldest son, also fifty, went to high school with Sean Coombs and knew JLo well in high school, too.
Jenny from the Bronx has left everyone agoggle.
5
Sure, JL’s professional accomplishments are noteworthy, however, I found it embarrassing to see that skin, sexualization and all of that as centerpiece. Are we not trying to shift this granite-sized misconception that women are more than an object? All JL did was use her talent to further endorse that women are valued mainly for being a sexual object. Totally misguided.
21
I'm over 70 and I thought Shakira and Jennifer were just stunning. Their dancing was spectacular, the music energizing and the best Superbowl half time show ever.
The only thing that felt a bit "off" were the appearance of children on stage.
4
Regardless of Jennifer Lopez’s age, I don’t see her performance has any kind of victory at all. After Lopez and Shakira put their arms around each other at the conclusion of their performance, I thought, “they think that they’ve succeeded in showcasing girl power, but to me it looks like they succeeded in showcasing women as sex objects.”
46
@Tim Robert,
I thought they were great; they performed in Miami, a latino community and they showed the pride of some variation of forms of the Latino dance culture and music.
4
Yeah, 50 is great as long as it looks just like 25.
71
@Cornflower Rhys
Best comment here. So true.
7
@Cornflower Rhys Should be highlighted!! Exactly right.
5
I have three daughters in their twenties; none of them ever wear outfits like these. One of them refused to go to proms after grinding came along. Here at the Super Bowl and at the Grammys were lots of performances that had nothing to do with age or talent, just titillation. We laugh; but we hope that one day these women will be powerful enough to perform without tawdry props and gyrations.
28
@Sherry,
Grinding didn't just come along; been popular since early twentieth century in dance; these women are performers; I don't think they dress like that when they go to Mass.
1
@JRS
Huh? Early 20th Century grinding?
There was no grinding when I was going to high school dances, and that was a long time ago!
1
Hey JRS you liked it we get it... not everyone did, it was a strip show and ultimately erroded the respect women deserve, as usual.
1
How does this have to do more with age than money?
Lopez has armies of trainers, nutritionists, assistants, tailors, etc. Therefore the normal demands life places on a 50-year-old mother/woman are completely obliterated.
This has nothing to do with age, and everything to do with class. If you're rich enough, you too can afford to look sexy at 50.
17
A perfect blend of joy with enough message to get through even the most biased minds. I fell in love with both Shakira and J.Lo. It seemed that they openly invited everyone to celebrate being alive, even evangelicals, though they probably took a pass. The Hispanic culture does nothing but add to our treasured mix.
2
Someone once said that it's not that men age better than women, it's that men are allowed to age. Maybe women are finally allowed to age as well. J-Lo looks fantastic.
3
I thought it was a mess.
27
Really all I saw was a Los Vegas review, not that we should expect high art at the superbowl.
11
The continual planning, primping, and pushing by many handlers of all sorts (trainers, cooks, flaks, and god knows who else), plastic surgeons of all stripes, lots of money, and a generous modicum of talent will get you this.
Fifty is the new forty, and has been for decades!
There is nothing new, miraculous, or worth discussing anent her and her act. Her PR machine is, however, magnificent.
7
I'm sorry, but did anyone actually watch the halftime show?
3
Jennifer Lopez is praised for showing off as much as possible and Billie Eilish at the Grammy’s is taunted and shamed for just the opposite...will anything ever change?
12
That was like watching a burlesque show. I think burlesque shows are fine so long as the performers are not being exploited, but I don't think they are necessarily appropriate for all audiences. Boys that are 10, 12, or 15 years old watching that were not thinking about any of the topics being raised by the erudite readers of the NY Times. Instead, this was just one more instance of the stereotype of women as sex objects being reinforced in their minds. Yeah, sure JLo looks great at 50, but there are bigger issues then that at play here.
45
While I think both JLo and Shakira were terrific performers, I can't stand those stripper costumes that every female pop singer (with the exception of Billie Elish) seems to wear nowadays. I think its degrading and I'm no prude.
I grew up with Madonna but along with her there were lots of female singers and entertainers who didn't have to be practically naked on stage for everyone to appreciate their talent and be entertained. Even Madonna mostly has her clothes on nowadays.
26
My god. Do we still have to be objectified at 50? I was kinda hoping there’d be an end to that.
60
@Christine,
Only if you look like JLo in a skin tight outfit and want to perform for an audience.
Homage to strip culture does not empower women.
90
This was not a knock it out of the stadium moment. This was not about empowerment to women, to cater to sexist attire. Women don't need to act and look this way. It was not acceptable on a family broadcast. She looks like this at 50 because she gets surgery. Sorry JLo, you get a -10 for women empowerment!
21
She reminded me of those old guys who still ,”hangout” in the clubs!
12
Wow the number of people judging her body and decision is staggering here. So much hat, so little sisterhood, even from those who claim to be feminists. We can all hate this woman because she is rich and chose to "objectify" her body willingly. She is not asking your girls to emulate her gyrations, so much as suggesting that it is my body and my choice to do what I will with it. What is so scandalous about a woman's sexuality? What is scandalous about a woman choosing to display her body? Why is the fact that this body is beautiful so disconcerting? We are indeed a sick culture if we are still not ok with a woman sexualizing her self of her own accord.She is not a doctor, not a politician, certainly not a white director or actor, but I don't think it makes her contributions any less valid.
4
@Apps I'm thinking you're probably male.
As a female, I don't hate her, but I do pity her because all her "artistic success" has only made her a high-class stripper. I am not scandalized by her performance, just disappointed that this is seen as some kind of pinnacle for women.
I am very fond of men, but as a thought exercise, picture a world without them. What would women be like? How would they express themselves as artists? How would they be sexual without strip clubs and porno sites to tell them what that means?
I'm guessing it wouldn't look much like this performance.
5
@Apps
If you think that display was about a mature woman's 'sexuality', please reconsider.
There hasn't been a good performance since Springsteen in 2009
6
NYT needs to publish more articles like this. I mean, deep ones like this. There's an unmet need in our society for this sort of thing.
4
The performance was a sad, sexist spectacle.
What marketing geniuses don't realize that women and girls not only buy Pepsi, but even watch the Super Bowl? Women and girls got the clear message at half time that they are never to be regarded as full-fledged humans, just red meat for the male appetite.
The performance wasn't sexist, you say? Then where were the equivalent hunky young men strutting around the stage wearing nothing but gold jock straps?
I don't want to see that either. But lots of women are sick of being demeaned because "boys will be boys," with libidos that must be satiated at all cost.
28
FYI - there was a good-sized group of scantily and tight clad male dancers accompanying JLo - I was pleased to see!
1
Ok, so women should flaunt their sexuality? They should try and arouse their audience, even young children? Sorry, I need to go and read my woke manual again because I swear it says that women are never flaunting their sexuality, not now, not ever. Maybe it's ok if your 50? I am so confused.
6
It seemed so ordinary to me. Your basic flashy, highly produced Vegas strip and dance show. People say it makes a statement about Latina empowerment. Seriously? I see The NY Times and the New Yorker are singing the show’s praises. Why can’t there be something creative and inspiring in that spotlight? How about a male and female dancing and singing the challenge and humor and sexiness and humanity of “consent.”
Haven’t we learned anything?
5
When men start wearing leotards to perform then we will have equality.
16
Michael Jackson, Prince, Beyonce and Bruno Mars.
5
Yes, they both look amazing! That's wonderful. But can we please remember they both pay alot of money on a team of trainers, aestheticians, dermatologists, massages, stylists, and plastic surgeons to look this way? I'm sure they put in so much work to look the way they do. I work out, eat a very healthy diet, and have a rockin figure, but without cosmetic surgery and a few places suctioned away, I will never ever look as tight as these two. Fine by me, but the look they have is mostly unattainable unless you have that team. That's fine, that's what they're paid for.
Also, please write an article on how sloppy the male entertainers were. Include their age as well. Also info their "costumes." It's so stupid to throw around this whole looks/age thing on females but not on men. I mean, have you seen Bezos? For every article about a female's looks and aging, you must follow up with one about a man. And yes, I did read the Brad Pitt article. I loved it. He's gorgeous.
8
The upshot of the shaking, more votes for Trump.
3
If J LO is fifty, then I am George Clooney.
1
My gay friends think the furor over their costumes and dancing is silly. They say this is just racism coming out, since you never hear this about all the scantily clad white cheerleaders, just minority females doing this kind of thing.
I thought it was a decent halftime and in line with what these two singers and dancers are known for. Sure beats some of the past performers!
3
The dancing and videography were astounding.
1
Has anyone thought about where she is intellectually? Or does that not matter -- with women?
5
Sure...in a sample size of one she has proved "dress your age" has no meaning any more.
2
"Ms. Lopez showed the world what 50 looks like"
No, she showed the world what 50 with a lot of makeup, hair color, maybe a wig, and maybe some surgery looks like.
13
Vulgar, obscene, hypocritical, all the while cloaking itself in an American flag and dangerous to both adults AND children.
Oh.
This is about JLo and Shakira's Super Bowl Half-Time performance?
Never mind. I thought the topic was the NFL.
8
way over rated.
6
What I love about Jlo is her work ethic. While you dress this story as ‘fabulous at 50’, we all know what’s really going on here. Same old consumerism tripe. Hey everyone, get surgery, get Versace, get hair and eyelash extensions so you too can be like this!
Finally, I get a chance to get something off my (female) chest. A woman with a beautiful face and a drop-dead curvaceous body will never be able to hide it, even if every inch of her body but her eyes is loosely covered. Men know it and women envy it. So what's the point of exposing so much of it? A power trip? Weaponizing your natural assets? Meanwhile, powerful, well-built men don't even unbutton their top buttons. Their short-sleeve shirts cover their bulging biceps. Their swimsuits are baggy, down to the knees. Men don't even have to work out to get power. They can look like Donald Trump. In short, entertainers, TV anchors and business women are not expressing their power when they show cleavage and strip down to the bare essentials. They're making up for their lack of it.
7
It seemed as if J Lo was still filming Hustlers. I feel sorry for today's youth, especially young girls. We went from wardrobe malfunction to practically no cloth at all. Shameful and tragic. The pornification of America is complete.
31
Stop the presses! A 50 year old woman sexed it up during a halftime show of the NFL, a tone deaf institution if ever there was one. They gave you Adam Levine in Atlanta last year when they should have given you Jay-Z. Their teams still contain names and mascots that caricature Native American culture. And let’s not forget how they have punished Colon Kaepernick for standing on the right side of history in his act of protest.
Given her paycheque, J Lo will be remarkably hot at any age, but the NFL is playing its hand here: a performance scripted for the male gaze, moving the goalposts for what a 50 year old woman should look like. No surprise.
6
that should read *Colin* Kaepernick!
I had similar thoughts as weary1. I wonder what message is sent to young women when established stars appear to be compelled to flaunt their sexuality. I am an "OK boomer", so perhaps I don't get it, but I have enjoyed Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Paul Simon, and.... who didn't appear to me to be to be pounding me over the head with their sexuality. Same could be said about Joan, Joni, Bonnie, Carly, Linda and on and on. Yes, J-Lo is sexy at 50, but she her talent as a singer just doesn't require the sexuality; it's a distraction. I'll have to ask my grandaughters what they think. I can hear it now: "Oh Papa!"
5
J.Lo is a product, and her brand is cheap sexuality, narcissism, shallow, self-centered, juvenile lyrics, auto-tuned voice, and "music" made by machines and assembled by marketers.
She's a negative role model, especially for young women, and her act is all spectacle, flesh, and flash, with very little intelligence or talent.
13
She was talentless when she was 20 and she's still talentless at 50. She's consistent in that regard.
If it weren't for the narcissistic destruction of the great Hector Lavoe's legacy on film I'd say she was harmless.
5
Lopez works hard for all her money and the investment of time and money into her body is apparent. Having lived through the early days of the women’s movement, however, I must say the display of skin, gyrations and pole dancing is NOT what the movement’s members had in mind. I am delighted about the halftime’s message about inclusivity, but had the performers embraced just a little more class and discreetness, the message would have been more effectively delivered
5
A woman displaying herself in risque clothing .. What does #MeToo have to say about that?
7
I truly am not a prude, but the outfits and dance moves were pretty gross . . . in 1990 you'd have to go to a strip club to see something like that. I can see how this fits into the hyper-marketing of pro football as a spectacle, but it just demeans the viewer as much as the performer. Society becomes evermore crass . . .
14
If you glory in your own physicality i don’t want to know. M-
1
Meanwhile, Billie Eilish wears ultra baggy clothes, and is still in her teens.
Interesting times...
3
Utterly laughable halftime show. And God knows with Trump rampant we need laughs.
6
NYT, Feb 1st 2020: »Some of Victoria Secret's ad campaigns, for example, seem more like a stereotypical male fantasy than a realistic encapsulation of what women want.«
NYT, Feb 3rd 2020: »But the total J. Lo effect was kind of mesmerizing: an in-your-face demonstration of a woman glorying in her own physicality,...«
Dear NYT, Please, make up your mind.
10
I am a 66 year old woman. I am more impressed with the way Bill Eilish dresses for performances than JLo. While I love JLo I hope this era of fetishizing women is coming to an end. How long do we have to shake our booty to command attention.
12
Beyond her age, which is someone else's issue, not hers obviously, J. Lo's performance was a political statement about our government.
Kids in cages? Singing with her un-caged daughter about freedom and leaning into Born in the USA? Dreamers anyone?
That's the real statement Jennifer Lopez made as a proud Latina, Puerto Rican no less, in the face of a Trumpian administration.
the halftime show is so cringey I wish they would stop with them.
6
A new and predictable low in American mass culture.
10
This show showing us, women as, once again, mere sexual objects was /is grotesque : vulgar sex dancing, grotesque outfits,, and, worst of all, ending with little girls (all girls) singing with these sex/sex/sex grotesque show as an introduction of womanhood?! Disheartening.
21
Sure, as long as you didn't let your kids watch. The bondage/rope act was like a cheeseball gentleman's "club" lounge act. Gimme a break.
33
Tina Turner and Madonna already did this. Jennifer Lopez looks great but I am tired of women feeling the need to prance around in nearly nothing to sing a song. As a woman, I want to see women show their talent, not their bum, etc. Look at me, I work out every day because I have the money, the time and it is my job to look good is silly. Less skin, more talent. The ageism is just a pathetic symptom of this younth culture. Of course women can look great at 50, 60, 70 through exercise and doing what they love and can continue being productive and active.
7
You mean there's a place in this world for hot, rich pop stars? Thank God!
3
I'd say her attire is exactly why one should dress their age. On the pole at 50 in skimpy clothes?
2
It’s a shame that she felt the need to dress and twerk like a stripper. Kinda conflicted with the sense of female empowerment. No need to feed any sexual stereotypes there.
12
I'm over 50! Maybe 50 is the new 30. Oh no, wait a minute...I have a urologist ......hmm...and a cardiologist. Nevermind, scratch that. But J Lo sure looked good!
A woman can consciously choose to celebrate her physique and sexuality and still be a feminist.
517
@fatedtogethernessineternity
Great, but the Super Bowl halftime show was the wrong venue. There are plenty of poles in other venues.
42
@fatedtogethernessineternity
Is it a choice though? It's no coincidence that the male singers did not dress that way. That the women must be stick thin, while they do not.
28
@SusanStoHelit
Of course it’s a choice.
Ever notice that men don’t typically choose sex and beauty and intensive workout regime fitness displays as their way of celebrating themselves and showcasing talent?
15
We mention age. We expect when we mention age, something will happen. One way or another.
Is someone dances, sings, or do whatever state it. When we mention age, can they really do that? Why we don’t hire the elderly. Age. When you’re dead mention age. Even then someone attempts to lie about their age. And they should! And the result. I can’t believe they were that old!
Super bowl halftime show will never change. It’s the same formula every year.
Both JLo and Shakira look beautiful, and their performance was great. So write about that.
However please don't turn this into evidence of us making strides to reduce prejudicial treatment against women as they age. On the contrary, aren't we simply marveling at how young she still looks?
It's wonderful to see that with a good diet and exercise along with our continuously improving knowledge of medicine we can all be better, live longer.
But for me this doesn't relate to improving the high bar set for women's appearance as we age, while our male counterparts are not put to the same standards.
16
First off, Jennifer looks amazing.
My own theory for her Oscar snub is simple.
She's been pushing the envelope by showing much too much skin for many years now.
While this resulted in lots of attention and publicity, is surely rubbed others in the wrong way.
To be taken seriously as an artist, certain hijinks takes away from that goal.
6
Or maybe she’s just not that good
7
@Stephen "Oscar snub"? I saw that "film" on a plane recently. I should've just stared at the back of the seat in front of me.
4
Sometimes it is ok to just watch two great performers perform without judgement. Many of us had to google their DOB.
3
The most that can be said about JLo is that, despite an overwhelming lack of talent (whether musical, acting or otherwise), she continues to try to stay relevant and is mostly successful in that pursuit.
14
Which is a lot more than can be said about Henry.
2
I didn't look like that at 50 or at 20. I was just pretty, but I had intelligence and wit, which I think I still have. I'm glad I never felt I had to match some celebrity's image on order to feel like an attractive woman or interesting person.
28
Any idea how old her backup dancers were? It would be nice if they were in their 30's, 40's or 50's.
12
@JAC yes I was thinking the same thing. Would have been great/cool/wild/fabulous/right to see dancers her age.
2
If those watching the half time show found it offensive, why didn’t you simply change the channel or turn off the tv? I enjoyed the half time show, found nothing offensive. Loved when Jennifer Lopez came out in the beautiful cape, proud to be an American and proud of her Puerto Rican heritage. Shakira was fabulous, a girl from a sleepy little city of Barranquilla Colombia(we lived there for a year and loved the city and the people). Two beautiful people having a great time, celebrating and proud to be an American and Puerto Rican descent (Jennifer Lopez) and Shakira for celebrating her Latino and Arabic heritage.
6
Many of us attended Super Bowl parties. We don’t control the scene. With my daughters, in a room full of men, it was beyond awkward. Not just for the girls, for the men too! Near-Nudity, a mere g-string barely covering front or back, combined with sexy moves on a stripper pole, are usually sequestered, kept out of the living room on Thanksgiving, the family birthday party or the family sports event.
Lopez’s act was more suitable to a bachelor party.
And I’m stuck having discussions of female worth with my girls, now that JLo has illustrated sex as female value.
13
@JadeG totally understand your feelings. When at that type of party, could have left the room. I have done that with my kids, not embarrassed. Super bowl half time shows have changed to this type of entertainment. Not as if we didn’t know, not meant for kids. But remember Adam Levine actually stripped off his shirt last year, was anybody offended at that. Jennifer and Shakira had their clothes and kept them on.
@JadeG Same here
Both entertainers are very talented and their performances were great ! Why they needed to wear little or no clothing truly bothers me ~ its not what real women desire to wear ! I agree as well that the amount of work , time in the gym with a trainer , diet and surgical help make this possible.
21
This is all fine and great for JLo, whose job it is to maintain her physical body- that's part of a singer's career now. Janis Joplin would never have see the light of day today.
but please, let's not pretend all of us who are 50 can somehow look like JLo (incidentally my nickname given to me affectionately by a female ex-boss) without the fame, fortune and time. It's a dangerous idea that make men's expectations of women not only unrealistic but extra-terrestrial.
22
JLo’s performance did not create an expectation; it’s about not letting anyone define you or your talent by your age. JLo is an entertainer. Her dress is part of the Latin dance scene. We should applaud the hard work, just as we should applaud any woman who is stepping outside the old school definition of anything she does. This shouldn’t be a comparison of bodies but rather a comparison of accomplishments. Great Half time at the Super Bowl. Bravo Jenny.
6
It was definitely PG-13. Less musical material meets less clothing material.
14
I expect more of a halftime show than proof of being physically fit. How about some people getting up there an playing, you know, music.
57
@Jess good idea. Let's have someone with real musical talent play the halftime --- say -- Gary Clark Jr.
2
Did we watch the same half time show? Ms Lopez looks fabulous and she does have talent. As does Shakira. But the choreography left lots to be desired: thrusting pelvises do not make for great entertainment or female empowerment. Or, in my opinion, for cultural homage -- as I read elsewhere yesterday. Bob Fosse's choreography was sexy and sophisticated. The Super Bowl is spectacle. Let's enjoy it (or not) without trying to make it into something more profound.
31
I see a lot of 'boomers' posting here. J Lo and Shakira rocked it! They are pop stars, gorgeous, talented, and strong women! I am inspired.
6
@Jodi Oldfather
Too bad.
1
A lot of Boomers? So...every person 55 and over has the same opinion? Will JLo not like her own performance in five years when she passes that arbitrary threshold? Stop being so ageist.
1
kostja: "none of the men wore such revealing outfits and the main male performers got away with baggy pants and shirts"
No problem. The next wave of singers, ∫like Billie Eilish, 19, wear baggy pants and shirts.
PS I am a college prof, and I got used long ago to take the students just as they come.
13
I really enjoyed Shakira more. She seemed more comfortable in her on skin, more natural and was having fun!
21
She looks like a very fit middle age woman. There was a very honest scene in Hustlers in which two thirtysomething men at her club getting lap dances asked her to leave the room so they could focus on the two younger women they were with. They offered her a twenty bill and said, 'we're not feeling it." I was startled by the honesty of the scene. The men were younger than JLO and not interested in her physically. The scene was intended to show that she (her character) had almost aged out club dancing and needed to focus more on grifting to survive. So, it was important to the plot. She was too old to trust her looks to earn her income.
9
@Anti-Marx you clearly didn't "see" the movie... the whole premise of that scene was that the girls were willing to give more than just a dance....
@Anti-Marx I think the meaning of the scene was to show that her head wasn't into perpetuating the fantasy that guys wanted any more. Therefore she wasn't coming across as 'sexy' enough to them. I think her age in the scene had less to do with it than her mental state.
1
@Anti-Marx I'm glad the scene made an impact on you. Women are highly familiar with that situation though. It usually starts just after we turn 30; by 50 we're completely invisible.
3
I'm a 49er fan and the length of the halftime show felt like an eternity. Looking back, I kinda wish it didn't end.
7
She can show off her body anywhere and it will be all over social media. So what. I am not interested in watching her run through 20 second segments of her greatest hits, choruses only, while frenetic dancing occurs.
Same for Shakira.
There have been some good Super Bowl performances; this wasn't one of them.
54
I often wonder what someone like Ella Fitzgerald would have to do to be the a half-time performer at the SB?
48
I remember when one of the big ladies magazines declared that Audrey Hepburn was 40! If you look at some of Lana Turner's later films, she looks amazing (though her skin might have looked better had she avoided the sun). I sat next to Elizabeth Taylor at the opening of a ballet version of THE MERRY WIDOW. When the lights came on during intermission, Ms. Taylor was tiny and very slim and looked like a miracle at 50. She would go through another tranformation after her final divorce. My point is that time stands still for certain of our great beauties, as it is doing now for J LO. On her 50 looks great.
4
I get it: Jennifer Lopez is an attractive performer and I can be a fan when I have time, but I missed her halftime show yesterday because I was teaching a bread making class. My work has me lifting 50 pound bags of flour and moving around equipment that is heavy and challenging. I sometimes prep 200 pounds of dough before a class, and for the class I am on my feet all day, at least 10 hours, always moving. I wear a t-shirt, apron, hair pulled back, no makeup. I could not be more proud of my work and the ability to do it, and I think it's the energy I feel about that fact, not how I look, that is the real attraction and power here. I am 65.
76
You’re MY idol!
10
Go Sarah Go.
5
@Sarah
way to go!
4
Just in case we needed to be reminded that our still IS a youth-dominated culture, we need to look closely at the gorgeous, gifted and talented J Lo. She indeed is amazing for 50 - but let's remind ourselves that her brand is (even more than her acting and singing prowess) her body. Caring for it and enhancing it through surgery and other processes/procedures so that she looks way younger than her age is a critical part of protecting that brand. The average 50-year-old woman cannot compete for "the male gaze" with someone who has devoted years of her life to looking as young as humanly possible. So please, no more suggestions that the fashion industry is committing a stunning act by embracing J Lo's continuing beauty by dressing her in figure-revealing ("youthful," I guess) clothing. Their commercial interest in 99.99 percent women over 50 (indeed, over 40 or even over 35) is non-existent.
85
Jennifer Lopez is an incredibly successful entertainer and certainly has no need to answer to anyone. Image, sex appeal and the illusion at least of youth are part (perhaps the main part) of entertainment and always have been. Is it more obvious when talented middle-aged female artists perform while wear revealing jumpsuits? Yes. But who would attend a Rolling Stones concert if Mick were 300 pounds? Although that would be interesting.
4
@NYC The weird thing is that, if you attend a Rolling Stones concert, you're likely to be a quarter mile from the stage, so it should really matter what he looks like.
Yet for some reason, we still seem to care.
I watched about 25 seconds of this half time show. Then I remembered I had Joni Mitchell's concert from the Isle of Wight on my dvr. I started watching Joni and my immediate reaction was "Ahhhhh....that's better."
60
Way too much focus on the physical body. I'm glad she has hours to pursue physical fitness and can afford a personal chef. For the rest of us, its 40+ hours in the office and then a family to attend. She makes her money by looking good - its certainly not her songs or her voice.
45
@Dave
I'm 50 and ripped. It's not as diffiuclt as you say. If you avoid alcohol, sugar, white flour and put in about 60 mins a day of fitness, you can be in terrific shape. For most people, it's about avoiding alcohol and sugar. I don't work out for hours and I certainly don't have a personal chef. I avoid alcohol and food from a grill or deep fried. I run 7 miles every other day. I lift 3 times a week. People say I look like Mark Whalberg. My sense is that the key to stop drinking at 40.
8
@Anti-Marx
Genetic plays a role too. Good for you if you can do that.
You're right. The key to staying fit is mostly what you eat
1
The energy these performers generated during that fourteen minutes could have lit up the whole city of Miami for the rest of the month. Amazing!
10
Growing up in Puerto Rico in the late 70s- 80s, Iris Chacon was considered family entertainment. Things haven't changed much for women in forty years. It felt like La Chacon was on stage again last night.
5
She looked great during her Super Bowl performance, sounded great, danced great. Nothing to complain about. She's truly gotten better with age.
2
I just loved it. JLo and Shakira were a total blast. We watched the game with a visitor- a younger woman who knows WAY more about football than my husband and me—and we all found the halftime show wonderfully over-the-top (as Super Bowl fare should be) and, as our visitor said, super-fun "performative femininity that says isn't it all so silly?"
7
Is anyone really shocked at the way Jennifer Lopez snd Shakira dressed last night? The actresses attending various awards shows in the past few years have been wearing little and letting a lot of their skin show. There is very little modesty left and there is no sense of leaving it to the imagination. Call me old fashioned but I wish we had actresses and performers of years past. They had style and good taste. Those days are gone.
40
@KMW Exactly! I can remember the days when my mother telling me my sweater was too tight to go outside. When I see the "stars" displaying their wares..(many ,obviously , courtesy of their plastic surgeon) I'm left astonished that they think that's all they've got.
6
If I was attending an awards show I would wear Sabyasachi
She looks amazing. But anyone who thinks she would look that way without a ton of $ for the work done is naive.
41
I disagree. Don’t smoke, eat & drink moderately, and exercise daily & any woman will look like that. At 66, I still get compliments on my body & skin from men & I don’t spend a penny except on food for my dog (who is literally an exercise machine).
Not forgetting she’s very rich, pays for legions of professional support, her living is enmeshed with that physicality, and doesn’t have to endure 5 days a week 50 weeks a year stuck at a desk, computer screen, and putting up with yet more #1 train disruptions.
37
J Lo also has money and personnel behind her look and body. Plus all that dancing over the decades helps. She’s in entertainment business and it’s part of her brand to look the way she does. She’s on other words not a mere mortal.
12
Since when is "Bump and Grind" artistry? So disappointing! The heights of superficiality...
98
It was an embarrassment for my daughter to have watched that (although as a parent I have no one to blame for that but myself). I'm trying to raise her to be of the mindset that she's more than just her body but events like last night certainly don't help matters. The performance did nothing but boil the two singers down to their bodies, and followed up by the barrage of celebrating it because they're 50.
113
I didn't watch the superbowl. Now I know I made the right decision.
24
What exactly does a 50 year old female look like? Lopez is a wealthy woman who spends an awful lot of time and money working on her appearance. Are we women supposed to be empowered by this?
133
"In the meantime, it’s worth pointing out that Ms. Lopez is currently fashion’s favorite celebrity, possessed of not just a Versace contract but two others (Coach and Guess). This is no small thing in an industry famously obsessed by youth."
Yes, it IS a small thing, of very little importance, really.
37
You can't pick a better representative of the 50+ group. Jennifer Lopez wears a lot of fur, and let's not forget the m&ms. I don't think she's an example to be used for anything or anyone.
9
As far as the entertainment, Shakira was a lot better than Jlo, she sure knows how to shake it.
12
Hats off 100 percent. Both were amazing. If you can't enjoy such a dynamic performance as purely entertainment, you are sadly overthinking things. Adelante Latinas!!
4
I am man, and I was embarrassed by the objectification of women that the the half time show represented. So much for feminism.
148
@ Lens Probert Thank you. Your comment is right on.
7
@Lens I agree. Was the pole dancing really necessary? Women can be liberated and in-charge and still be sensual and appealing. Think Beyoncé’s show 2 years ago. She panders to no one.
7
I find women in their 50s, 60s and on up attractive because they look their age.
As for the content of the performance, fits perfectly with everything going on around us. Vulgar, shallow, hyper, empty.
92
Sorry, but Taylor, Beyonce, JLo, Miley (and all of the other pantless performers)-- you are not empowered because you are hot and can prove it. When you have to prove your value by looking or being sexual, when you have to get by on your looks at any level, you are in the same old trap. Don't kid yourselves.
And for the record, those super-hyped, over-choreographed performances? It's not art. It's commerce.
118
@PS You've got it wrong.
They're empowered because they're going to do whatever the heck they want and couldn't care less about what you think.
1
@PS
You are correct. They are not empowered because they are hot and can prove it. They are empowered because they are outstanding business women who have managed their finances well and have built a personal brand and successful business empire through brains, hard work and discipline. The fact that they look hot while doing so is a part of their hard work and an added plus. Kudos to them!
2
Gyrating, shaking, pouting, booty-pumping, pole-dancing, hair extension-tossing: it was all quite a vulgar spectacle of misguidedness and rampant pop culture idiocy. Perfect for the Super Bowl strangle hold on American "culture".
186
I wanted to watch a game between two excellent teams. I didn't want to watch a vulgar display of nearly naked women, one of whom appeared to be touching herself. And the age is immaterial. Vulgar is vulgar.
140
I'm kinda tired of people getting breathlessly excited at how good extremely wealthy and pampered women can look - at any age, but especially older women. Melania Trump, anyone? Isn't she a great "example" of that?
Smoke and mirrors, folks. Smoke and mirrors.
59
This article is apparently supposed to be a compliment. Guess what, guys? Once many women reach 50, not to mention 45 or 40, they are thrilled-thrilled-thrilled to be considered invisible (except by waitstaff and other service people) and to stop trying to attract men by looking sexy. These outfits and this behavior do not represent some ideal of what "dressing like 50" means to women. Does the NYT not even comprehend how sexist this attitude is?
Yeccch.
55
Age? Clothes? Nothing of interest to me in this article. I liked the comments though. Much more to learn here. Thank you :)
14
Progress will finally be made when women do not feel compelled to mention their age and something amazing they are doing. Men have been doing this for centuries. And so have women.
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@Suzanne
It happens to men too. Just about ten years later. Brad Pitt is hot for being over 50. Jason Statham is hot for being bald. Mark Whalberg is hot for being not tall. Men get qualified too. Usually about baldness and height. Less about age. Someone might say. "Sean Connery makes going bald look sexy." That's not so different from what's going on here.
16
@Suzanne
Agreed.
In fact, progress will finally be made when women are not the subject of lengthy articles which highlight their age and relative fitness... like this article right here.
A hundred years from now, this article will be scrutinized by future scholars as an example of 2020s sexism. The scholars will likely explain Friedman's sexist commentary as a textbook example of a critic who internalized the logic of our sexist culture.
20
@Suzanne:
Sure . . . women will cease to worry about being desirable.
And, (male chauvinist) pigs will learn to fly.
7
I just can't fathom why "empowerment" for women always equates to "wear as little as possible and be sexy." The more things change, the more they stay the same....
2086
Empowerment is being able to do what you want, and potentially succeed at it, despite the numerous socio-political etc. obstacles in your way. If women want to dress a certain way and they do so, despite knowing they will face negative judgement (akin to what’s implied in your comment) or worse, they are empowered. Choice is empowerment. At least it has been for me.
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@weary1 It was her choice- thats where empowerment lies too. Let us not forget before we judge. Why are we scared of women's sexuality?
45
@weary1
It is because for 99.9% females, desirability pretty much equals self-worth.
That even includes the ones who wish for whirled peas.
56
I'm surprised that you didn't mention that Shakira is 43....she also looked beautiful, and they both were an inspiration.
4
I did not watch the half-time show. I know hardly anything about Jennifer Lopez. But I know one thing for sure: She is a good example of how eating right and exercising can keep you younger looking. Say what you will about her scanty wardrobe or suggestive movements -- she stands as a symbol of hope for the good that can come from eating right and exercising. If all women (and men) had the healthful habits that she has, what a wonderful world this would be!
343
And a lot less would get done. It takes a lot of resources to look like that at any age.
126
@Dan Frazier You know that healthy food costs a lot more than unhealthy food, right?
Fitness coaches, masseuses, dermatologists, stylists, nutritionists, etc are all an expensive part of "taking care of yourself."
I'll settle for affordable health care.
183
@Dan Frazier taking care of your health is great but I think it's a little naive to presume the way Ms Lopez looks is the result of nothing more than "eating right and exercising".
Genes and epigenetics, stress levels, childhood trauma and other environmental factors that are generally out of most people's control play a big part in aging. And pertinently in the case of a wealthy woman whose career depends on her appearance, money buys a plethora of medical cosmetic interventions.
118
To me it's not so much about ignoring 'dress your age' as it is 'exercise, eat more veggies and fruit, and watch your alcohol intake.' You can't dress like that and not make people look away unless you're incredibly fit. Good for her and for Shakira too.
8
These women are entertainers. If you're looking for role models for your kids then you should look in the mirror. I thought they shook it up and put it out there. They looked genuinely happy and the dancing was spot on. Football is about grown men beating each other for money and glory. Far more offensive.
705
@Maryrose Wait until this summer when we see many young ladies in Cardi B, Lizzo and J Lo inspired costumes on the street. I already noticed the sign last summer. Classy and elegant are not friends of empowered women.
8
@Maryrose
Football players, dancers, musicians, and singers, all entertainers at the same venue event and all symbiotically feeding at the same through. Best we leave judgement aside on this one.
4
@Maryrose Football is a sport that celebrates incredible athleticism and the spirit of teamwork and competition.
If you argued that it fetishizes masculinity in much the way pole dancing does for femininity, I would think you'd be on more solid ground.
5
Completely disagree with the premise of this article. In reality, her look is actually counterproductive for feminism and makes any woman who doesn’t look that good at 50, suddenly more self-conscious. Her entire life is structured around her vanity. She has unlimited funds and resources to look as good as possible. Sure, she works out a lot I’m sure, but as any movie star who has to buff up for an upcoming role will tell you, if they had to do this alone while working a normal job, they never could. This whole discussion around how amazing she looks is counterproductive.
197
I do not understand why some comments are critical of the performers. Shakira, JLo and everyone else involved had a job to do and they rocked it! It was entertaining. They did a fabulous job. Enough said.
9
@JTW Sorry, here's a simple rule. If your "musical" performance is mostly dancing and a beat, the music isn't probably very good. Last night was proof positive. That ain't music.
5
@JTW It was boring in the extreme. Pretty much your everyday Las Vegas ballroom show.
5
I am a bit over 50 and I am so glad that my job does not (and has never) involved revealing dress and pole dancing. I liked the performance - always really liked Shakira and the way her music gets a party going. However, I noted and so did the teenagers in the room, male and female, that none of the men wore such revealing outfits and the main male performers got away with baggy pants and shirts. Women, their beauty and their aging are held to very different, rather unachievable standards. And this is the message the young girls in our Superbowl party clearly got...a message that the professional older women and mothers, myself included, tried to counter. I hope it worked.
1000
@kostja I hear you, but on the other hand the fact that these women celebrate and obviously take amazing care of themselves is a good thing to pass along too, yes?
12
@kostja - My daughter was really sorry she let her 8 year old daughter stay up to watch the halftime show. It was so sexual, and incredibly inappropriate for a child, in our opinion. Really sad that this is considered "family friendly."
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@kostja
You’re right. The show also sold the notion that women are powerful by making overtly sexual manipulation. Not a good message for girls or boys.
It was like something out of the 1950s. Made women seem weaker, not powerful, like all they had of value was their bodies.
79
Let's move beyond the obvious fact that Jennifer Lopez is attractive and a wonderful performer. What is troubling for me about the performance is the use of a stripper pole. Why is such a well received and athletic dancer and entertainer using this in her repertoire? Glamorizing and normalizing the exotic dancer industry is troubling. Many women (although not all) in this industry are trafficked, prostituted and in general vulnerable. As well we must consider that we are viewing Jennifer Lopez and evaluating her worth and assets, we do so as men and women in the context of our culture. Our society is one where women do not have true economic and educational equity. Women still receive the message in our culture that our primary worth is our sexual appeal. She is of course, beautiful and fit and a great performer, but our fascination and laudatory comments is more about our implicit approval of her fulfilling our society's ultimate role for women: sexually appealing beings.
886
@RB With respect to all of your valid comments about the "exotic dancer industry" let's not forget that there are women who choose to be strippers for the money - pay for college - and the flexibility - time to pursue creative talents. The two strippers I know - one who had a 25-year career and used it to travel the world and build a financial nest egg for herself and her son, the other a 20-something who aspires to more than an underpaid spirit crushing job - are intelligent, savvy, educated, well traveled entrepreneurs. I see the younger woman as a person making the most of our "gig economy." I am so glad they both felt comfortable telling me how they earned a living. No judgment here, just encouragement and understanding for working hard like the rest of us to earn a living.
30
It was the combination of Jennifer Lopez on a stripper pole as follow-up to that opening with the endless string of so many aging males in red jackets. So much of the whole thing was a big creepy.
37
@RB She has a movie to promote (Hustlers) and this kind of publicity you just cannot buy! The pole is relevant to the movie.
43
When I watched the half-time show, it wasn’t just about Ms. Lopez looking young. It was also about her physical agility. She was dancing and performing moves with the agility of a 28-year-old. While this may be attractive physically, it also bodes for very healthy aging. She will most likely avoid many illnesses associated with aging. Kudos for her. As a 55-year-old man, her performance inspires me to work out harder at the gym. Thank you, Ms. Lopez!
13
@X Puhhhleeezzzz. If you want to see some physical agility, athleticism, class, talent, beauty and grace, and someone who has an actually craft, then Misty Copeland of the American Ballet Theater should have been invited to perform!
3
Looking like that is her job. She has all the time in the world to work on it and all the money in the world for personal trainers and equipment and diets and whatever.
26
She looked amazing. No doubt. But I think there is still some value in dressing your age. It's okay to do so if you so desire and in most instance likely preferable unless you too are a glamazon rock star...
4
I would have more respect for Ms. Lopez if I hadn’t worked in the Bronx for many years and heard complaints that although she claims to be Jenny from the Block she’s not known as someone who gives back. Cant verify it but if it’s true that says more about her than all the dancing in the world.
16
A version of Aphrodite for our modern Hellenistic period.
2
Excuse me. It's unfortunate the Times has writers who are so historically illiterate. This isn't like a new thing. Have you seen Jane Fonda? Cher did this years ago. And I'm 66 and I still do.
"Dress your age?" How is that even in the consciousness of a woman today? And these younger women think they get feminism?
21
@Pam
And let's not forget the queen of them all…..the great
Tina Turner!
2
@Pam When J-Lo gets arrested every week for climate activism (like Jane Fonda), I'll pay attention. Until then, she's a mediocre performer and her film was dreadful.
7
There's an an old saying: "...but what does she look like in the morning". Probably pretty good but not like she did at the Superbowl strip club.
9
Nobody has mentioned the political statement Ms. Lopez made opening the flag of Puerto Rico while her daughter sang "born in the USA."
There was more to the performance than the physicality.
681
@Jasr Agreed. This is far more important than all the pearl clutching. Two Latinas making a powerful statement about what is happening in our country and an everyone focuses on appearance. Obviously no one has seen either of them perform before.
46
@Jasr Yes! And the children on cages in reference to the migrant children jailed at the border.
17
I’ve read lots of folks in various media commenting on this point.
6
A woman "flaunting her age"? We really do need to change the cultural conversation. It's so centered on the socially ingrained male perspective, even a (female) writer in the Times can't see it.
We don't focus our attention on men's looks as they get older or say they're "flaunting their age."
I'm a 58-year-old entrepreneur with more energy than most 20 year olds I know, male or female. Does that mean I'm flaunting my age or acting in an unusual way for an older woman? Or could it just mean that I'm a human being who's going strong, no matter my age or gender?
This sexist conversation, meanwhile, IS getting old.
1067
@Mary this kind of article would never be written in France that's for sure!
14
@Mary What’s getting old is blaming men for everything, even grown, adult, independent women’s choices about how to dress... i.e. it’s the patriarchy behind it all, as if women gave no agency.
3
@Mary "flaunting her age"? Mary really, is that what she was flaunting? If so, me thinks there's a massive crowd of wonderful, devoted women of all ages, shapes, and sizes out there in America and beyond who had to watch folks ogle at the Super Bowl halftime show that really missed the point. These are the women whose kindness resonate with me in my everyday engagements that I find attractive. Braggarts need not apply here.
1