Baggage Check: The Miley Mess
Dr. Andrea Bonior dives into the world of psychology.
AH ... IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME. The 15-year-old squeaky-clean Miley Cyrus ("Hannah Montana," for those of you who are blissfully oblivious), has just been seen in a creep-tacular photo shoot in Vanity Fair, sheet draped around her in a nudie pose.
I guess she — or more likely her country "legend" (for what? The mullet?) father Billy Ray Cyrus, who approved the shoot and even got in on the action in another ick-inducing pose — realized that her second-grade following won't last forever, and it's time to bust into the, well, look-at-my-bust market.
Before I start sounding like Bill O'Reilly, let me just explain the problem as I see it: She is 15. And of the photographer's request for the poses, she summed up breezily, but with a more insidious truth: "You can't say no." Certainly, I am not in denial about what many 15-year-olds are doing in the backs of cars. But at least that is at their own private pace, under their own control, and not for the pleasure of 50-year-old marketing execs (or, presumably, the teens' fathers).
This isn't the first time I've kvetched about the sexualization of young girls. The damage is serious. It's not a problem with sex or bare backs — it's a problem of taking away girls' power by making them objects, granting them worth only by how much they can turn guys on.
I never thought I'd say this, but it makes Britney Spears' li'l sis — also a child star who caused a scandal, this time by becoming pregnant — look downright healthy in comparison. After all, in that case, at least it wasn't money that got her clothes to come off.
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Addison Road
As always, well put Doc. I don't know how many people would agree with me, but in my mind whether a girl is 15, 18, or whatever age, exploitation is exploitation. In general we as a society can say and write until we are blue in the face and get hand-cramps on things we don't like, but are people actually going to change their actions? In this situation, who is going to cancel their subscription to that magazine? Who is going to stop down-loading her music? As my high school economics teacher put it, the dollar bill is still the greatest voting tool we have. How are you going to vote?
By Tony , Posted May 2, 2008 9:22 AM