Christina Aguilera on the double standards she faced on tour with Justin Timberlake

Christina Aguilera is opening up about what she has dubbed a “double-standard” during her joint tour with NSYNC member Justin Timberlake back in 2003.

On a recent episode of the podcast ‘Call Her Daddy’ with Alex Cooper, the ‘Beautiful’ singer recalled the intense misogyny she endured, along with disparaging comments made towards her throughout the tour, while Timberlake was praised and lauded for his performance.

Early 2000s sexism and double-standards for women

“There was a lot of double standards with it,” she told Cooper. “Because I went on tour with Justin, we did the Stripped [&] Justified tour and there were things where I was just like, ‘Why is it okay for him and not okay for me, you know what I mean?”

“I was constantly pushing back in my way,” Aguilera asserted, “It was so inappropriate sometimes, the things [the media] asked about that era.”

“I was like, ‘I have to do songs that mean something to me and are valid to who I am and being fearless and talking about anything,’” she recalled of her mindset at that point of her career.

“And that includes sexuality! I felt that there was a lot of shame and fear around the subject … so I just wanted to be who I was and make a safe space for everyone to feel good — and make it a conversation.”

The tour was set in 2003 during Aguilera’s “Stripped” era, where the artist portrayed a more sexually confident persona compared to her earlier music. It resulted in Aguilera being the target of discriminatory language and sexism that often involved her contemporaries.

In media-instigated feuds, Aguilera and other female artists at the time, including Britney Spears and Pink, were pitted against each other.

The singer said that the media at the time “was a different business where there was a lot of female comparisons and double standards with women.”

“It just felt like just punches in the face,” she explained.

“It was hard to just constantly feel like you’re making music and doing something you love and then someone spinning something so negative about it.

“It was really hard because sometimes who you were pitted against, you actually genuinely, you know, loved and respected,” she added.

The entirety of Aguilera’s interview can be streamed on ‘Call Her Daddy’ can be streamed on all major platforms.