For those that watched the halftime show on the super bowl with Jennifer Lopez, did you think it was over the top sexual or am I just an old fogey?

Crotch time show is what I call that.
It was better than last year’s though. So there’s that.

I have mixed feelings.

On one hand, I love that two over 40 latina women performed and owned it. It was in Miami, after all. J Lo’s daughter singing was pretty neat, too. They are both beautiful.

On the other hand, I hate objectifying women as sexual objects to millions of people, moms, wives, sons and daughters.

@chyna – did you mean to describe yourself as a ‘crotchedly’ old lady?

It was a tribute to BDSM going mainstream America. Everyone in black leather, and then an orgy recreation of writhing bodies on the floor at the end. It was like the Folsom Street Fair meets the NFL.

I thought it was very sexually driven….

It was over the top and at times seemed like a “Stripper Act” ( poles etc, )

I suppose this would appease All the men watching as it was directed at them.

I suppose to keep them glued to the screen?

Too bad that they didn’t consider that families/women were also watching.

I think it constituted one big soft porn show.

@Inspired_2write I just thought the camera work, straight on crotch shots full on in the camera, was a little much. Happened at least 15 times, my guy friend counted. I just keep seeing J Lo’s junk in my face coming at me haha!

I agree with a lot of the points made by my fellow Jellies, including the OP.

I, too, was thinking maybe I’m just turning into an old biddy haha.

I thought the ladies were beautiful but I was also thinking it was a bit risque for my 12 year old daughter to see, and was wondering if there would be talk today (Monday, the day after the Super Bowl) about how it was a little raunchy.

One of the DJ’s on the radio this morning (Scott Shannon) was saying the “landing strips” were a little narrow LOL.

What little of it I saw appeared to target the lowest base in our society. Pop music and football are two things that may as well be repellent for me though.

@ARE_you_kidding_me -Well said.

IF I was 50 & had a body that looked that good & moved like that, I’d be flaunting the hell out of it!!! Her body has given her an excellent income & she’s got to use it before she lose it.

NO offense meant here because it’s said with LOVE…YES you’re becoming an old fogey!!!

I think those celebrities show what taking care of yourself and some “touchup work” can do. Their incomes depend on it so I’m sure they work very hard to look the way they do. It’s not realistic for 90% of us 40 and older though.

I’m a guy. But, by about 8 minutes into it I had had enough of the manspreading deep knee bends.
Ok, I get it. You want to strut your stuff and highlight your looks, sexuality,and flexibility. Great! But I wonder how many teenage girls and young women are feeling inadequate today because they don’t feel they measure up.
I turned it off and didn’t watch the rest.

Sadly they (players included)got paid a bundle to do that, while the care workers at the hospice facility working so hard to comfort people at end-of-life are paid minimum wage.
America values have gone down the drain.

Now get off my lawn!

There’s always something for people to whine about. Think about Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” in 2004

link

@Inspired_2write “I think it constituted one big soft porn show.”

I don’t think you’ve seen much soft porn in your life if I had to guess. If you’d had you’d realize that it was missing a couple of important and pretty obvious elements to be considered soft core porn: namely naked people simulating intercourse.

That said, I thought the show was pretty skank-tastic.

I didn’t see it. Mediocre music and women showing skin isn’t really my thing. Not because I care about the “bad influence” or the “moral health” of it or whatever, I’d just be more interested if it were indie music and sexy guys flaunting their stuff. Super Bowls are an excuse to hang out with friends, eat guacamole, and see some funny commercials.

I didn’t care for it, what little I saw of it. I know my 6 year old granddaughter, who was watching the game to support Grammpa’s team, probably saw much of it. My son called it “Booty shaking lamas!” I think that was an oblique reference to camel toes. He’s funny. And I get him.
I wonder how many little girls are acting out on the play grounds today. Little boys, too.

Never saw it live but youtubed the bits where they attempted to look raunchy.
I thought they were shaking like a shitting dog :D

Oh & just for the record @chyna you’re a sexy old fogey if ever there was XD

^Aww thanks!

Well. It’s a more sexual culture, in general, today. I’m not even that old…

It is?

That’s an interesting comment @MrGrimm888. The more I think about it, the more I want to explore it.

I know it is. I have nephews, and nieces, that verify it. I also know a few teachers. I blame the Internet. I even know several Mothers, that have had their girls bullied, for not wearing thongs… I lost my virginity, at a pretty early age. But. It’s far worse now…

I lost my virginity at 15. I could have lost it lots earlier but I wasn’t ready.

Yeah. I lost it at.15. Recapitulate I should have waited….

My boyfriend in HS lost his at 13.

They really had nice bodies, and I appreciate that, but the crotch shots were gross!

Shakira and Jennifer Lopez are beautiful sexy woman. I found their outfits unique and sexy.
I gotta know….is there anyone who found the crotch shots sexy or was it just porn?

You’re just an old fogey. Haven’t you ever watched the Grammy or Oscar awards?? They show WAY more skin!!

I thought they looked sexy. It’s not the amount of skin they showed. You see more skin than that at any pool.
I was referring specifically to the crotch shots. Sexy or sleazy?

Neither. No different really than a female in a thong bikini.
Now, if you’re referring to how a guy would view it, I still say neither since most guys are more interested in boobs.

Sorry. But. Most men, like the crotch shots. In Las Vegas, prostitutes hand out cards. They are kind of like baseball cards. The picture on the front, is almost always of them naked spread eagle. On the back, was their contact information.

A look at a Hustler magazine, or something comparable, and you’ll see the same. I don’t usually speak for most men. But, the sheer volume of such material leads me to deduce that it’s attractive to us.

Why they chose to go that direction, in the SB halftime show, I can’t say. It’s not necessarily a male dominated audience, anymore. When I go to sports bars, it’s common to see a few tables, of just females. And they know the sport. I’ve talked to plenty of them. They are passionate, and informed fans…
It was odd, seeing a stripper pole in the halftime show…

I’m usually quite liberal, in my views. But. I’m conservative, in these cases. I thought it was distasteful, and I was thinking directly about the young girls watching. It saddened me, to know that so many young girls, were watching, and thinking about “this must be the way to behave.”

It’s not unlike the violence, that is so common, in male pop-culture…

We’re teaching our males, to be thugs. And our females, to be too sexual…

I was disappointed. I was really looking forward to this half time. Shakira definitely was the better act in my mind. Shakira looked relaxed and sure of herself. Jennifer went a little too much into raunchy, and she looked like she was struggling through it all a little. She stayed on the pole too long, she should have done a simple stunt and been off of it. She might be Jenny from the block, but she didn’t need to be grabbing her crotch, I hate when men do it, I hate when women do it too. She flashed her ass up at the camera, which is tacky. She’s 50 and still a great dancer, singer, and actor. She should have done an easy to get through song and dance and it would have been fantastic!

I actually am really disappointed Shakira and JLo didn’t do more together, sing each other’s songs. I was hoping to see Jennifer belly dance, and Shakira do a little hip hop, and both of them salsa and merengue and be a real party in a Gloria Estefan manner.

Just to continue my review, both women moved through too many songs too fast. I don’t mind a medley, but this barely lets you get into the song. They were too anxious to show all the variety they do I guess.

Was the music live, or lip-synched?

I know at least some was lip-sync, because I noticed lip mismatch a couple of times.

@elbanditoroso “Was the music live, or lip-synched?”

Labia-synced maybe… The timing was pretty spot-on with the thrusting to the beat.

I saw something on Facebook that explained where the dances and movements came from that were done by J-Lo and Shakira. The influences were in South American, African and Middle Eastern culture (as per their heritage).

@jca2 “The influences were in South American, African and Middle Eastern culture”

I have to guess they don’t include stripper poles in those traditional cultural dances…

@gorillapaws: My post didn’t intend to imply that the show was limited to those influences.

@jca2 Yeah, but JLo got ghetto going on too. I know jellies will attack me for that expression.

Shakira is very well known for her belly dancing, I guess some people maybe are offended by that? They may see it as very sexual also.

@gorillapaws I think the pole was referencing the movie Jennifer recently did.

@jca2 I didn’t intend to imply that you were saying that. It wasn’t meant to be an attack, just a funny observation.

@gorillapaws: I understand.

Below is something from Facebook. I found it interesting.

“The Superbowl was hosted in Miami this year – a city nicknamed the “Capital of Latin America”.

Some of the costumes in J-Lo’s performance showed a tribute to Selena, one of the most celebrated Mexican-American entertainers of all time (who J-Lo played in the 1997 biographical film.)

J-Lo, who is of Puerto Rican descent, donned a reversible cape showing the Puerto Rican and American Flags on either side. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory which is still recovering from devastating damage from a hurricane and subsequent earthquakes. J-Lo has notably donated at least $1 million towards aid for Puerto Rico. Her daughter singing “Born in the USA” was a reminder that Puerto Ricans are Americans too.

I know some people said “Let’s have more of the kids singing! It should be family friendly!” While that was happening, other children were shown in cage-like structures to represent a subtle nod to the children (mostly of Latino descent) we have kept in detention over the past several administrations.

And Shakira: Her father’s parents were Lebanese immigrants who emigrated to New York City where her father was born and then subsequently immigrated to Barranquilla, Colombia – where waves of Middle Eastern immigrants came after WW1 and WW2.

The “weird tongue thing” she did? That’s called a zaghrouta which is used to express joy in Arabic culture. Shakira is very proud of her Lebanese roots and has been belly dancing since the age of 4.

The “stomping dance” she did? Champeta! A tribute to Afro-Colombian culture.

In fact almost all the dancing in the half-time show was a nod to Latin or Afro-Latin culture including mapalé and salsa.”

@jca2 Like I said, a lot packed in. They ran through it all too fast. More of their songs could have been overlapped I think.

Shakira’s fans know she’s Lebanese, but maybe the country at large doesn’t. And, that she was the featured World Cup singer in Africa, her World Cup song from there was and is extremely popular.

I liked the PR flag as a solute to Jenn’s heritage and to acknowledge the country. They could have had the dancers hold flags from around Latin America and the crowd would have gone insane. Lol.

If they had just had 30 minutes to get through it all it would have been way better, even with some of the moves that I wasn’t happy about. Overall, it was impressive, just so rushed. JLo even makes a face at the end like she’s glad she got through it. Here’s the show in case you didn’t see it. https://youtu.be/pILCn6VO_RU

@JLeslie -I wonder if they had simply changed the camera angle, it would’ve been less offensive?

^^Yes, it would have helped, but JLo still grabbed her crotch. I’ve always found that disgusting, unnecessary, and just plain old stupid. Why do that? Why does anyone do that?

@JLeslie – I agree. It’s piggish and it is getting old.
They need to change it up by having a singer with a spectacular voice and beauty to match that can entertain without having to resort to tired tactics.
Will the pendulum swing that way or will we have to endure worse?

@lucillelucillelucille Both those women are fantastic! All they had to do was not do anything disgusting. I don’t think Shakira did anything that bothered me, I just wanted to see more of her, see more of each song. Even Jennifer I would have liked to see more of, just sans the raunchy, and also only do moves that look effortless. She is awesome when she’s relaxed and smiling while she sings and dances, she didn’t get to show that enough. As I said, I wish the show had been twice as long.

Regarding the cameras, the angle was too much at crotch level, but also my usual complaint of the camera moving too much I want to add. It’s dizzying and you miss parts of the main impact.

Bruno Mars was excellent in the half time shows. Sang his songs, danced like the old style in the manor of the 4 Tops and other male groups from the day. He was extremely entertaining.

@JLeslie -I am pretty neutral about JL (talent -wise). Shakira is more entertaining to me.
I don’t own any of their music.
You’re right about Bruno Mars. My favorite performance

I liked Shakira a long time ago when she was on SNL. She did the belly dancing, which was unique and still is.

I read an article about her at the time. Her manager (at the time – not sure if she still has the same manager), said his goal was for her to become a household name in America, the way Madonna is. I think that goal is achieved now.

@jca2 Interesting. I didn’t know she was on SNL. I have no concept of whether the majority of America is aware of her. In my house we have been listening to Shakira for years. I have a couple of her early CD’s from the late 90’s, and then singles after that as music moved to being bought electronically.

Often when she performs her African and belly songs her midriff is showing, but it’s not unusual for her to be in long pants or long skirts. She’s not scantly clothed all over. I think that helps.

Shakira has a rock edge, I’m not sure if people caught it in her halftime show. She played some guitar and even went into some Zeppelin! Even her belly dance in old shows she was sometimes in jeans with belly skirt coins and her actions are like guitar rock stars at times.

Personally I’m more of a Cardi B fan than Shakira. Granted I don’t know much about either of them, but I like Cardi’s voice.

@JLeslie: On SNL, she had on some casual pants like jeans or corduroys with the bells around her hips. She was a little heavier then. I wonder if her “handlers” told her to lose a few pounds. I will see if i can link it.

Why was there not one F to give about what the other 50% of viewers might enjoy? Or even the children?

@Dutchess_III JayZ got the NFL contract in Aug 2019 supposedly to make them more diverse. But yes, you’d think with kids of his own, he’d have a more responsible outlook on appropriate for the general public, but by all accounts, they are Hollywood liberal types, which means completely disconnected from most of America aka the elite.

And in Jay-Z becoming the new face of the NFL’s social change initiative, critics claim he is also disingenuously capitalizing on Kaepernick’s protest, calling attention to recently unearthed January comments the rapper made at a press event to argue that he is using the NFL’s desire to move past the former quarterback to make more money for himself.

https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/8/16/20808892/jay-z-nfl-kaepernick-roc-nation-partnership-inspire-change-criticism

Disconnected from everyone except their own dicks.

Someone said JLo’s outfit was like a Cher outfit, was that on this Q? I think that was on target. The big difference is Cher just stands up straight in her outfits.

@jca2 She was a little heavier in the past. I think she lost a lot of weight when she was first taken under the wing of the Estefan’s. I don’t know if that was the same time as the SNL thing.

The girls looked great. Cher looks great. There is no arguing that. But you know, there are as many women and children watching who are not the least interested in the testosterone driven, sexual display put on.
If there is any doubt that it is still a male dominated country, the half time show should have removed that doubt.

I was just talking to a coworker about how a lot of little girls who take hip hop dancing do dances that are pretty sexualized, shaking their booties and stuff. It’s cute but nobody can deny it’s any different than what J-Lo and Shakira did onstage, yet many people are clutching their pearls about the adults doing it. My coworker who I had the discussion with, who is from South America, pointed out that Americans can be very puritanical in their attitudes but yet the reality is we’re not puritanical.

^^ Interesting. But I don’t know that it’s so much about being puritan, as it is stop making everything about the men. I mean, that’s how I see it. If the girls want to throw their labias out there, good for them. But I’m not the least bit interested.
Honestly, I didn’t see that much of it. I was working a jigsaw puzzle. But yesterday there were a LOT of still photos. I was like, WTAF? Why?? But I did see one of one of the girls pretending to stroke their clitoris. Good sex ed, that.

@jca2 I think family friendly events require a bit of discretion, which this show failed at.

Well said.

I guess nobody remembers. J-lo, got into the business, by starting as a “Fly Girl,” on “In Living Color.”
I just remembered that, myself.

As far as Jay-Z,the man made himself an empire. The “King of New York.”
I have nothing but respect for him. I had all of his first albums.

Then, he married Beyonce. Talk about a power couple…

What would yall rate the halftime show? PG-13, or more lude?

@jca2 I think for me it is the difference between sexy and vulgar. I don’t like 12 year olds thrusting their hips forward, or even pushing their asses out, I certainly wouldn’t want them grabbing their crotches. I actually am more tolerant than most Americans I know about young girls dressing like adults, maybe because I have been around Latin Americans so much in my life, or maybe because my maternal side loved fashion and I worked in fashion.

Maybe because I have a ballet background, I just generally think stand up straight when you dance! :LOL. Thank goodness we see more Dancing with the Stars now than Fly Girls.

What do you think? Do you just see it all the same? Thrusting and wiggling hips in a salsa or belly dance?

Funny enough, belly dancing when in a cultural setting that women are typically asked to cover up really bothers me, I feel like the women are truly used as sex objects. When I watch belly dancing in the US (I actually do belly songs in my Zumba) I love it.

Hmmm…

I was just thankful that there were no wardrobe malfunctions!!!

Yeah. That was planned. WTF is going to happen, when they hold the SB in the new Vegas stadium?

All the women on here talking about being upset about other women dancing sexily and saying “it’s for the men” when the women all loved it last year when Adam Levine was half naked for them.

I guess, some sort of sex appeal, is part of some musician’s acts. But. Their live performances, aren’t “all ages.”
They’re usually 18–21, and up…

”I think for me it is the difference between sexy and vulgar.” Exactly.

@zenvelo guess I missed Adam Levine. I looked at your video. I didn’t find it “sexy,” much less “loved” it. Where did you even get the idea that women “loved” it? Do you still not understand that the things that turn women on, are not the same things that turn men on?

@Dutchess_III I don’t think he’s sexy either. I think he THINKS he’s sexy though. haha!

@Dutchess_III There was plenty of comment from women a year ago talking about Levine being “hot.”

And my point about the disdain towards j Lo is summarzied in this piece:

“Weiner’s piece is representative of the jaw-dropped reactions on social media to Lopez’s halftime performance, which are but a variation on the responses last year to her pole-dancing scenes in Hustlers, and both are direct products of middle-aged women’s sexual invisibility.

In that halftime show, as with her existence on any stage or screen, J. Lo demonstrates the possibility of being a 50-year-old sex symbol, an older woman on display. There is cognitive dissonance here, because women of her age are so infrequently seen in this way: sexy, vivacious, and worthy of the camera’s zoomed-in gaze.”

Exaclty @KNOWITALL. Guy who wear speedos and skin tight pants think they’re sexy. They just don’t understand that only gay men would think they’re sexy too. Just like Levine doesn’t understand that only gay men would find that stuff sexy.

^That’s highly speculative. And subjective…

I know you hate men. But, there’s a reason that there are male strippers. And it is not just because of gay men…

I hate men because I think speedos are yucky? LOL!!

Ok. You got me there….

@Dutchess_III Well he is married to a model, Victoria’s Secret model at that. ;)

I mean just looking at Adam, he’s not bad-looking to me, I just don’t find him sexy personally. Men are generally the more visually stimulated gender.

He isn’t bad looking to me either. I just don’t find nude or half nude men sexy. Football players, in uniform, are sexy. Firefighters in uniform are sexy to me.

I like cops and firemen, and today my FB friends will see a video I posted of ironworkers on beams many, many stories above the city, doing iron work. They are very sexy men, to me. In great shape, climbing around the steel beams with jeans, hard hats and harnesses on.

Well ladies, I like bad boys. Adam is too squeaky clean. Ha!

I’m with you on that @jca2! We like looking at men who we think can, and will, protect us. Men in Speedos is not that!

Having said all that we said, I absolutly LOVE this picture!

@Dutchess Yes, they’re beautiful!

I never understood, men wearing a speedo….

@MrGrimm If you put on a Magic Mike show at the bar, you’d know. I dare ya! Ha!

I’d be down… Call it, what you want. But. I’d love to make the money…

I actually had a guy, working for me, who was a male stripper. And, his name was Mike. We called him “Magic Mike.”

I had to reel him in, a bit. He was a badass, and knew a lot of MMA. He was in great shape, and I had to keep the girls off of him…LOL.

I had a great female, under my control too. But. Same problem. She couldn’t do her job, because people were all over her…

She was a kick boxer. And, she was a great officer. But. I had her removed from my post. Hell. I couldn’t do my job, with her around either. None of us could. It’s a shame, because she was very useful…
But. She, and Magic Mike, had to go…

We just couldn’t do our jobs, with them around….

And you are not a grumpy old lady @chyna! You’re a mature women for whom this crap gets old and boring.