So ever since 2008, whenever a conversation was centered around her, all I ever heard was "OMG Miley Cyrus is such a whore, and a slut, and like, she's growing up too fast and she's sending the wrong message to little kids!" But recently, all of this fervor came to a peak when she twerked against Robin Thicke's crotch at the 2013 VMAs. And let me tell you, if you don't know this already, people are PISSED. I think I've seen more Facebook posts about her VMA performance than anything else this week. I wasn't able to watch the VMAs when they were on, but I did see the performance the day after, and my first thought was:
"This is what people are freaking out about?"
I get it. She twerked on a married man (with a child!) who's 16 years older than her, she wore nude underwear and took a foam finger to places that should never be touched with a foam finger. I get it. What I don't get, is what was so incredibly shocking and tragic about it. Have you seen the "We Can't Stop" music video? Have you seen that video where she's smoking a bong? Have you seen any of her recent behavior? How was that VMA performance a huge leap from any of that? Furthermore, what's so incredibly raunchy about her twerking, as compared to the sexual romps of Lil Kim and Nicki Minaj? Or, I hate to say this, but at least she didn't do the performance naked, unlike Lady Gaga who's showed more skin than most performers. Also, I'll obviously reference Madonna's 1992 "Erotica" era, where she delivered sexually charged songs, videos, and a soft-porn table book for good measure. So, why aren't Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Lil Kim, and Madonna being labeled as a downward spiral?
Ohhhh, you're going to play the age card? That all four aforementioned singers were in their mid-twenties to early-thirties, and Miley is only 20 years old? Let me tell you something, I'm in college, there are lots of 20-year olds breaking the law and grinding up against random strangers at a club or bar (fake IDs for the win!) (also, sorry kids, but if you're under 21, it's against the law to drink alcohol). I mean, twerking on a 36-year old man is kind of extreme, but Miley's antics, when put in perspective, aren't that different from any other girls her age. Trust me, I would know. Just because she's doing it in the public eye, doesn't mean she's any worse than any other 20-year old girl. I mean, come on, she could be alot worse, she could be drinking on stage, smoking in all of her appearances, and not wear any clothes at all. And I do personally know several girls (and guys), who are a LOT more vulgar than she is, and I would rather be around her than them.
Then there's the fact that everyone's freaking out, saying that she's going to be the next Britney Spears or Amanda Bynes. Oh really? Miley is smashing cars with umbrellas, posting hateful and hurtful comments on Twitter, throwing bongs out of her apartment and telling a photographer to go on weight watchers? For real, Miley is lucid, she knows what she's doing and has never pretended to be something that she's not. We may not like this new version of Miley, but at least she owns it. It would be more annoying if she did all of this, and then tried to clean up her image and save face. If you don't like her, that's fine, she doesn't care if you do or don't.
So, now let's get to the actual dissection of this (no, the above wasn't it). First off, is Miley Cyrus a bad example? Question is, a bad example for whom? If you're thinking little kids, the ones who like Hannah Montana, guess what? She ain't Hannah Montana anymore, she has absolutely no responsibility to be a role model to little kids, nor does she have to be a role model at all. I know we all look up to celebrities as our guide to morals and life, but that fact right there proves how misplaced our values are. No celebrity is required to be a role model for anyone, that's not part of the job description. I don't recall Miley ever claiming she wanted to be a role model for young girls everywhere, and if you do, think about this: her Hannah Montana audience is growing up with her, meaning, if they were 12 when they first watched it, they're 19 now, old enough to realize right from wrong, smart from stupid, and subtle from explicit. Not every single thing Miley does has to be copied, if her Hannah Montana audience doesn't want to do it, then they don't have to. I'm not saying that smoking and twerking older men is good, because it's not, I'm not condoning her behavior, but cut her some slack.
Think about it: did you have to be sold as a product for half of your life? Did you lose most of your childhood to TV cameras, recording studios, magazine covers, film cameras, paparazzi, internet scrutiny and product placement? Were you constantly pressured by everyone to look 100% flawless, basically the perfect human being? I don't even know if Miley was ever given a chance to find herself, and that's very hard to do in Hollywood when you're constantly force-fed an image of who you should be. So, in simple terms, she's rebelling against everyone who ever treated her like a plaything, not a human being. Or in even more simpler terms: she's 20 years old, that's what they do (the teenage rebellion can last a couple years past 19, btw). And honestly, she's not doing anything different than any other pop star in the mainstream (must I refer you to Katy Perry's outfits or Madonna's video for "Justify My Love"?). She's using sex to sell music, about 95% of artists are doing that right now, just because Miley was Hannah Montana and one point, doesn't mean she can't do something different now.
Futhermore, I can't help but think that there are a couple double standards at work here. The first one, is that whenever anybody else twerks or does something sexually explicit, it's okay, hell, even celebrated. But as soon as Hannah Montana...er, I mean Miley Cyrus does it, then it's completely wrong and she's the biggest whore on the face of the planet. If Ke$ha did the exact same thing at the VMAs, the only response would've been "haha, there goes Ke$ha being raunchy again!" And now here's the big one: what if Miley was a guy? Would we be getting so heated up if she was man posting wet shower pics, going on stage half-naked, grabbing his crotch and rubbing up against other women? No, we wouldn't, it's the same old thing: when a guy acts slutty, he's a champion, but whenever a girl does it, then she's a bad person who should be condemned for her ways. If Miley was a man, all we would care about is how well she's doing her job (even though she's not doing it well, it's just that the public thinks that anything with sex in it automatically makes it good). Actually, a good example of this is Robin Thicke himself: how many of you are offended by "Blurred Lines", both the song and the video? The song is about objectifying women, calling her an "animal", and the music video is just naked women moving back and forth. And even Robin at the VMAs, he's married with a kid, but he was completely comfortable with a 20-year old grinding on his crotch, he even seemed to enjoy it! Why aren't more people getting pissed with him, calling him a train wreck and a downward spiral? Think about it.
In the end, however, people need to realize that Miley is not the one with the problem here, it's YOU. Her antics are trying to prove she's not Hannah Montana anymore, that's obvious, but it's not for her sake, it's for you to realize that the last episode of Hannah Montana aired 2.5 years ago, it's old news, so get over it. Also, the VMAs are on MTV, the same channel with Teen Mom and Jersey Shore, little kids shouldn't be watching it anyway, and their parents should have control of what they watch. Also, you too have a choice of what you can see and hear. Once again, if you don't like Miley Cyrus, stop giving her attention, it's only going to make her act out more. The more you talk about her, the crazier she's going to become.
I know this isn't the opinion you were looking for, but this is how I personally feel. I just can't get myself to hate this girl, if anything, I feel sorry for her. She's not acting in the best way, I'll agree, but we don't know what's going on in her life or through her mind, and it's none of our damn business anyway. I do think she should realize that her actions will receive backlash, and that she shouldn't lash out at the haters just because that's how they feel, but I still feel like ya'll need to calm down and instead of getting worked up over a 20-year old girl, focus on your own life and make yourself a better person, instead of tweeting and facebook-ing a stranger to. Just because you know of Miley Cyrus, does not mean you actually know her as a person. Until you do, why don't you cool it with the names and the comments, alright? This is Miley Cyrus 2.0, get used to it:
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