There’s been a lot of talk about Miley Cyrus’s performance at the VMA’s. I didn’t watch the VMA’s, but I’ve seen clips of the performance. True- it was tacky. But where is all this shock coming from?
Our culture teaches young girl that sexual objectification is a rite of passage. Take a young woman who has been exploited for almost her entire life by the entertainment machine. She’s ready to assert herself as an adult. What did we expect?
Until we’re ready to say ‘no’ to exploitation of children by stage parents, to stop accepting Hollywood’s push that the perfect woman has to be a size 2 woman with DD breasts, stop buying magazines that tell women how to have better sex (you can’t be doing it right or you wouldn’t have relationship issues), and to stop telling girls/women that they are not acceptable until they are ‘worth’ objectifying, this kind of thing will happen.
I don’t get what the big deal is, really. What’s the difference in this and Madonna writhing around in a short wedding dress to ‘Like a Virgin’ all those years ago? We’ve seen countless pop stars in lingerie, lip-synching as she touches herself in front a cheering crowd. This is not something new, or really all that shocking.
Hopefully, Miley will grow up and realize she’s worthy without getting nearly naked. Some women never get it (looking at you, Madonna- put on some pants already). Artistry shouldn’t mean displaying yourself as a sex object in front of the world. But this how Miley Cyrus chose to express herself. We can’t judge her, we created her.
Scapegoats and Sacred Cows 