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Miley Cyrus "Topless" Photos: Media Manipulation and Puritanical Frenzy
Puh-leeeze! I know I will get backlash for my opinion but have you seen the Vanity Fair photo
that the media has labelled "topless"? Get real! I've seen more skin on
5 year olds at the neighborhood swimming pool! The media has sold us a
bill of goods and now all of us lemmings are up in arms.
Have we
learned nothing? Go back as far as fairy tales like Snow White and
Rapunzel (and countless others) where teenage girls are shut away or
"killed" because of their burgeoning sexuality. Read "Raising Ophelia"
or "Queen Bees" to see modern day examples of parents in fear of their
daughter's sexual maturation. It is a difficult time to be sure, but
there is nothing any parent can do to stop it short of parenting them
the best that we can.
Lin Burress who writes a great blog entitled, Tellin' It Like It Is,
believes these photographs taken by Annie Liebowitz are offensive and
illustrate the decline of parental moral values. A rash of vitriol
broke out amongst her commenters arguing over whether or not our
children are going to hell in an overstuffed Bratz-filled hand basket.
In Lin's defense, I do agree we have a huge problem with the premature sexualization of our children as she reports so well in this post; but I do not believe the VF photos are a symptom, a cause, or in any way relevant to that argument.
I
don't think it was the best image choice for today's teenage "IT" girl
but I think it was purely that - a matter of choice. Miley Cyrus is, at
this point, one of the only if not THE only teen idols not yet
besmirched by drugs, alcohol, late-night partying, sex, and teen
pregnancy. Do we really think this merits the same lambasting as Paris,
Lindsay, and Britney? At this rate, we'll never find a true teenage
idol- idol should not mean idealized. No true teenager could stand up
to that standard - we do not live in the age of Sandra Dee and Gidget.
Give
the girl a break. Do you think it's easy living your young life in the
spotlight? It's destroyed many before her. So she's got boyfriends,
many girls her age do, they just don't have cameras and reporters
following their every move. Can you imagine? Have you been to a high
school campus lately? And if you think that supports the argument
against Miley's photos just think back to your own high school days of
make-out sessions, midriffs, short shorts and god knows what else you
were doing that you didn't want your parents knowing about. A bare back
is not the reason so many of our kids are screwed up.
Miley's
got talent and moxie (yes, I said moxie) which sets her apart and is
the reason for her success. She lives in a fast world where sex, drugs
and money are the norm. She is rushed each day by corporations and
individuals wanting something from her be it an autograph or a
bite-sized piece of the Hannah Montana pie. Disney does an amazing job
in this fast-paced, global culture of appealing to our hip kids while
helping us keep our children children for as long as possible. I think
we need to give them and the Cyrus family a bit more credit.
Maintaining
innocence is not an easy job these days, apart from this bit of poor
judgment, they're doing it better than anyone. As a parent who has
reluctantly watched almost every episode of Hannah Montana, not to
mention the Suite Life of Zack and Cody and others, I am thrilled that
my children prefer Disney Channel to Nickelodean where shows like Drake
and Josh endlessly portray kids in search of make out time and in one
episode actually used the word scumbag twice. (That brought the show to
a close in my house.) Where were the critics for Full House or other
"sweet, family" shows from the '80s? This iconic show of a loving
family teaching loving, family life lessons has in it more kissing and
sexual innuendo than any episode of Hannah Montana I've seen to date.
I
don't love that my kid's idol has been seen flashing her bare back and
tummy but who is the audience for Vanity Fair (she's NOT on the cover!)
and YouTube? If you let your kids read or watch either of these they
can find something way more offensive than this. Sure, now I'll have to
have a conversation with my kids about these photos
