After that, our paths diverged. Jackson went on to 1997’s The Velvet Rope (which saw her dabble in bisexuality and S&M, among other things) while I turned my growing teen angst more fully the women of ‘90s rock like Courtney Love, Gwen Stefani, and Shirley Manson. In the 2000s, I shifted into indie rock music snob territory while Jackson went further down the path of R&B-laced sexuality in her music. I was working at MTV when that Superbowl moment happened in 2004 , not high-up enough to have been involved or know anything you don’t know. But it was whiplash to see how quickly her once-celebrated sexuality got used against her after that moment. In the last decade, seeing her bounce back and build up her legacy by racking up icon and lifetime achievement awards while headlining festivals, releasing new music and working with young artists has been another lesson: they might put you in a penalty box, but they’ll never take you down.