Britney Keeps Flashing, Cameras Keep Clicking

Nov. 29, 2006 — -- Britney's gone bad. The former bubble-gum pop princess has turned into a panty-less menace.

In less than a week, cameras have captured Britney Spears' nether regions on four separate occasions.

On Nov. 22, the recently separated mother of two wore a leopard-print minidress so short it revealed her underwear.

Two days later, Spears was photographed getting out of a car in a hiked-up miniskirt. This time, her underwear was nowhere to be found.

On Nov. 26, Spears gave the world another glimpse of her privates -- particularly her bare backside.

Her latest offense occurred on Nov. 28. Again, Spears was sitting in a car, dress hiked up, her groin exposed to the paparazzi's lens.

What's going on with the pop star so many people used to adore? According to celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, even Spears' diehard fans have flooded her MySpace profile page with questions and criticisms about her recent vulgarities.

Though he can't get into her head to explain her thought process, Hilton has a theory.

"I thought I knew Britney. And then over the last two years, I was wondering who this girl was. Then I thought that maybe this is the real Britney -- the one that would walk around barefoot, the one that would eat cheetos, the one that married the loser," he said.

"She's trashy," Hilton continued. "It's sad to say, but the Britney that everyone fell in love with, the one that wore the school girl outfit, she was fake. That was an image that was created by her very smart handlers," he said, referring to the long-time personal publicist Spears recently fired.

Spears is the latest star to give people a glimpse of what's usually covered up, a trend that asks the question: What value, if any, does culture place on modesty today?

The photos of Spears, which spread virally across the Internet, gained the pop star entry to a club ruled by repeat flashers Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. Cameras have caught Lohan panty-less four times over the last two months.

"You'd think she'd either wear pants or panties, or be more careful about how she exits a car," Hilton said of Lohan. "Four times. That's no accident. That's deliberate."

The rash of celebrities flashing their nether regions worries Peter Post, director of the Emily Post Institute of etiquette and manners.

"My concern is the impressionability of young people," he said. "I think that some young people are going to say, 'Wow, if Britney Spears and Paris Hilton can do that, I wonder if I can do that.'"

Post points out that even if celebrity flashers are putting themselves in compromising situations on purpose, it's troubling that they have to bare so much to get a little media attention.