But the pervs may be reaching their saturation point. Relentlessly promoted by MTV, HBO and corporate pop radio, "Britney" sold more than 745,000 copies in its first week, according to SoundScan, the company that tracks album sales. But that was considerably less than the 1.3 million units that Spears' sophomore effort "Oops! ... I Did It Again" moved in its first seven days last year.

One reason is that, no matter how tantalizing or taboo, any act gets tired the third time around. Another is that Spears is getting too old for the role of the coquettish nymph; she turns 20 on Dec. 2. But mostly, I think, the horny, jaded masses have pretty much seen all that she has to offer. If she really wants to keep our attention, she's gonna have to produce that Pam 'n' Tommy-style hardcore sex tape with her boyfriend, Justin "N 'Sync" Timberlake. Otherwise, America will move on to its next illicit fantasy girl -- and this time, she may not even be flesh and blood.

While Spears has definitely benefited from modern science -- if not via the surgical enhancement of her breasts, then certainly by the pitch-shifted digital tweaking of that god-awful voice, which she doesn't even pretend to really use "in concert" -- the technology exists to build an even dreamier diva. On Halloween, the Supreme Court heard the government's defense of a federal law overturned by an appeals court barring pornography using computer-generated images of children. If the top court holds that this material is legal because no harm is done to real children in producing it -- and many think that it will -- then the floodgates will open, and the high-tech trickery used to bring us "Monsters, Inc." and "Shrek" could give us kiddie-porn versions of "Deep Throat" and "Debbie Does Dallas."

Measured against that kind of competition, "Britney" is old news. "For the just under 40 minutes that the album lasts, people of all ages and genders can feel like a dirty old man," Jon Pareles harrumphed in his New York Times review of the album. But Spears has been working the comic-book "Lolita" angle since long before her first album in 1999, and writer Strawberry Saroyan did a fine job of dissecting it all in Salon in May 2000. "She's a Mouseketeer trafficking kiddie porn, a school-girl queen selling sex in a leathery cat suit," said the headline that ran with her essay. "Does Britney Spears have any idea what she's doing?"

Saroyan concluded that she did not, and that would seem to be confirmed by a "roundtable teleconference" that Spears' label, the teen-pop monolith Jive Records, arranged with some two dozen journalists a week before the new album's release. Each reporter was allowed to ask one question, with no follow-ups; you posed your query and were immediately muted while everyone on the line listened to the diva's response.

I got to ask the first question for the Chicago Sun-Times. From the official Jive transcript (which was e-mailed to journalists so they wouldn't have to tape or even type up the quotes):

Q. "Britney, this is a fairly hot and horny record -- a lot of people are comparing it to Madonna's "Erotica." Now, when I've seen you in concert before, I've generally been surrounded by 12- to 16-year-olds -- young kids -- most of them girls. I wonder if you've thought about the message you send to them? I see them looking at you, twirling around the pole in that Demi Moore sort of strip-tease, and I wonder if you worry about them getting this message of sexuality at a pre-sexualized age?"

A. Britney Spears: "Well, I think it's ... You know, first I'm very flattered that such young kids look up to me, because the innocence of them is a really beautiful thing. But I think it's honestly up to their parents to explain to them that I'm a performer, and that when I'm on stage, that's my time to perform and express myself. I don't wear those clothes to the supermarket or to a ballgame. You know, little kids, just like when they go into their mom's closet and they dress up in their mom's clothes, it's fine and fun, and it's like their time to play at home. But that's not what they're supposed to wear out into reality in the real world."

A disarmingly reasonable answer, and Spears had clearly been prepped and ready with it; the all-about-dressing-up defense even seems plausible for a moment when you consider that she sported no fewer than 13 different designer outfits during her 90-minute HBO concert special, building to a wet and wild climax with the "caught outside in the rain in a chain-link bra" ending. But if I hadn't been on mute, I'd have asked how many moms have latex dominatrix outfits in their closet, much less the live python she wore to the MTV Video Music Awards.

Spears seemed less practiced later in the interview. Since she sported a white jumpsuit in the HBO ads, someone asked if she was an Elvis Presley fan. "Yes, I am a really, really big Elvis fan," she gushed. "And I think the real reason why we did the whole Elvis thing is because, you know, he's from Vegas." (Actually, he was from Tupelo, Miss.)

Next, she was queried about her cover of "I Love Rock and Roll." "I just love the song," she enthused. "I love Pat Benatar, and I just think she's amazing. It's like she's a rock 'n' roll chick and she's just having a good time and it's a very empowering song." (It was Joan Jett, not Pat Benatar, who recorded the most famous version of the tune.)

Finally, toward the end of the session, a reporter from Vegas (naturally) stumblingly asked if, since she's always making a point of saying that she's, you know, still a virgin, whether there are any, um, things that she and Justin can do to just, er, have fun?

The shock that Spears registered at this intrusive but not unwarranted question (she's the one making sex an issue, after all) could be felt right over the phone line; she didn't show nearly as much revulsion for the snake that was licking her ear on MTV. How could anyone even ask such a thing! "We can go to the next question, " she snapped.

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