It’s amazing how little angst I feel for Miley Cyrus’ antics from the past year. Now that she’s on tour instead of wagging her tongue all over every magazine cover and talk show in the universe, I don’t mind Miley as much. She’s doing her thang in her niche, and she pops up every so often to say weird sh-t. She’s more of a novelty now than a nuisance. Here’s something interesting: Forbes published an article about an unexpected rise in demand with Miley’s ticket sales. She’s reached the halfway point of her tour. Now that she’s not in our faces all the time, people are suddenly interested in Miley again.
As I threatened yesterday, Miley covers the May issue of ELLE. The shoot is awful with some weird 1970s vibe and lots of Tom Ford clothing, which is confusing as a whole. Miley talks about several things in this interview, but what stands out are her words on feminism. Miley previously said she was “one of the biggest feminists in the world,” and everyone laughed. Flashing one’s hoo-ha does not a feminist make. Here’s Miley’s refined take:
She appreciates Disney now: “You know, I’m really thankful that I started on Disney. I got the most intense training. There’s times where I wish I could have just started as a new artist, but the world has kind of allowed me to do that. I feel really lucky–a lot of kid stars get all crazy or stuck in what they were, so they can’t actually become what they’re meant to be. When I went through a really intense breakup–you know, I was engaged–and when I was with him or when I was on Disney, the thing that gave me the most anxiety was not knowing what to do with myself when Disney wasn’t there to carry me anymore or if I didn’t have him. And now I’m free of both of those things, and I’m fine. Like, I lay in bed at night by myself and I’m totally okay, and that’s so much stronger than the person three years ago, who would have thought they would have died if they didn’t have a boyfriend.”
Her fan connection: “I have guys and girls that come out, and they’re like, ‘The only reason I’m able to admit that I’m gay is because you’ve made me feel like that’s okay.’ That is so intense, because that is a part of this generation–it wasn’t always accepted–and I feel like I am a big part of that change. Or they know that I’ve struggled with depression, and that helped them get over theirs. That gives me a big purpose–a reason to wake up in the morning that’s bigger than to put on my f—ing feathers and my little outfits.”
Miley’s idea of feminism: “I’m just about equality, period. It’s not like, I’m a woman, women should be in charge! I just want there to be equality for everybody. I still don’t think we’re there 100 percent. I mean, guy rappers grab their crotch all f—ing day and have hos around them, but no one talks about it. But if I grab my crotch and I have hot model bitches around me, I’m degrading women? I’m a woman–I should be able to have girls around me! But I’m part of the evolution of that. I hope.”
[From Elle]
Miley still doesn’t understand the feminism thing, right? Just because men degrade women in videos doesn’t mean it’s okay for women to do it too. Oh well. I’m with Gloria Steinem — who said, “I wish we didn’t have to be naked to be noticed.” We also shouldn’t strive to humiliate other women just because dudes do it. As for grabbing crotches? I have no problem with Miley grabbing her crotch. I only hope she’s doing it because she likes it and not because the guys are doing it too.
Photos courtesy of Michael Thompson/ELLE
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. No.
I doubled over laughing too!
Hmmmm nothing she says or does is original. It’s because of women before her that she can act like the dumb fool she is!
As for no one talking about guys crotches and hoes? They talked about it too…but after a while people move on to a new issue.
And I hope some day she realises or educates herself as to what feminism actually is.
She’s a humanist.
She’s so boring. Its the same career track that a lot of talentless people have taken. Strip to get noticed, then say its empowering. Snooze. Wake me when it happens to the next grrl power idiot. Or maybe not.
co-sign
YOU, YOU win the internet. Spot on.
Agreed with above, spot on.
I blame Madonna. 😉 It seems like there was a cultural shift where exploiting ones sexuality for shock value was mistaken for “empowerment” and she took full advantage of it to build a career for herself. Every other minor talent to come down the pike seems to follow the same ignorant path that she helped to pave.
Yes– She is apart of the culture of exploitation that is couched in feminism. There was a very interesting french documentary about this I saw on PBS.
oh my god.
Hey Miley, I hope I’m secretly related to royalty
my chances are better than your’s
Well…. As a cautionary tale…..yes.
You are part of the problem, not part of the evolution.
This!
Genius!
So very true.
Dear Miley – you’re not.
At least she’s clothed in the picture on the magazine cover.
Then again, beyonce said something very similar about using sexuality as empowerment. And nobody cared about it that much.
You need to go to the thread, they cared.
Yeah but Miley “owning her sexuality” is surrounded in cultural appropriation and racism.. plus wtf is up with her idiotic comment about rappers?!?!?! They just have to breathe and you have the Fox News people all over them spewing out racist crap and criticizing them non-stop. She lives in her own make believe ignorant world.
That is perhaps the most AWKWARD cover photo ever.
Yes, and that first photo with her bottom lip sticking out looking very concerned is worse.
like she doesn’t know what to do with all that fabric or her tongue.
I know. Is he trying be cute? Lol looks like a little boy in drag to me
This idiot.
I recommend going on twitter and searching her name if you want a good laugh today; furious tweenagers are on the rampage after she cancelled her concert last night.
Ok, her definition of feminism makes my head explode. There have been countless women who dedicated their lives for the cause. Smart, fearless women, then this ding bat decided to open her uneducated mouth and show how truly ignorant she is.
It’s truly offensive and it hurts my soul.
Now, Miley you know good and well that your antics this last year have not been about feminism. We’re not stupid enough for that.
Exactly! Her antics are all about selling sex and getting paid. Gawd, I hate it when these basic pop stars do controversial shit then try to spin it like they’re so revolutionary.
And you know the masses will believe that Miley did have a helpful hand in feminism.
I don’t wanna see anybody, male of female, grabbing their damn crotch.
Count me in on that, she makes my head hurt. Her whole comment about feminism, really? And she claims she’s not degrading women yet in the sentence before she calls them ho’s. She makes me want to bang my head on my desk.
Hear hear!
Exactly. Men do a lot of things. Good and bad. Should women start belching and cat calling out the car window in the name of feminism just because some men do it? I don’t even think SHE believes what she’s saying. I think she did all the nude wrecking ball, tongue out, humping her foam finger to get attention and make money, and now she’s trying to justify by saying it’s feminist. Just put your tongue back in it and shut it, Miley.
I think this falls under ‘just because you can doesn’t mean you should.’ 😉 Very generally speaking, I feel there is usually more that men should learn from women than the other way around.
Yeah, crotch grabbing doesn’t scream feminism, it screams feminine and/or jock itch. I’ve never seen one stage performer, male or female, who made that look sexy.
She looks good here though, and she was making some sense up until the final paragraph.
Feminism- the act of grabbing your genitals just as well as a man.
*taps forhead on table*
I hope to God people, especially women don’t believe any of this bullsh*t!
She’s got it all wrong. And that cover shot- they must hate her- that’s why they picked the photo of her with that super derpy expression on her face.
Good for her. I love the part about being OK even though she is alone. She is more grown up then George Clooney. Imagine that – that poor old man can’t be alone.
I hate that the focus of this piece wasn’t on that paragraph, it’s perfect. That’s a great message she put out there to everyone, even me. It’s ok to be alone. It might even be perfect.
That part of her statement is a good message. Unfortunately, it’s hard to give her kudos for that point because I’m too busy rolling my eyes at the rest of the dumb shit she says.
I’ll agree with that too. I grew up watching my mother wanting the attention my ex-stepdad and I witnessed her putting up with cheating, lying and stealing. I knew then that I wouldn’t rely on anyone to make me happy. There are some things that come along with it that just aren’t even worth it, and you end up miserable in the long run.
Of all the ex Disney stars in our faces right now, who would have thought Miley would be the most stable one.
She hasn’t been to rehab, has she?
Shut the hell up Miley and open a book. Intro to WMST might be a good place to start. I am so offended by women like her, ignorant and complicit perpetuators of patriarchal opression and stupidity. Quit hijacking the feminist cause. Beyond insulting.
Oh good grief…
She says a couple of intelligent mature things then goes completely off the rails again. Yes, she truly does not understand feminism. She annoys me but I’m not angry about her antics or anything. I think she did the smart thing by not continuing to wag her tongue all over the place in the media. She can do so in concert where her true fans can watch. I don’t care to do so.
I’d still rather hear Miley’s desire to be a feminist than Bimbo Human Barbie saying that she hates feminism, and children, and race mixing.
Miley’s misguided, but at least she’s not spouting her hate for feminism.
Well, duh, I’d rather hear Satan’s views than human Barbie, but maybe Miley should get a clue about what feminism is before she spouts off about it. She can start by not referring to other women as hos.
Why is it that feminism has become the catch phrase in so many of these Celebrity interviews. Especially for younger ones. Most to them don’t have a freaking clue what that word means. They all seem to equate it as posing nude, humping a teddy bear on stage, singing racy lyrics. Cutting your hair or saying FU to the world. I find all of them offensive to some degree. I see so many young women thinking that this is what feminism is. They follow these women like they are the perfect example of what being a young woman is today. I just SMH.. maybe I’m getting too old. Maybe I’m out of touch. Maybe I’m behind the times.
SH*t on that.. I glad I don’t see anything about these women that says feminism. Shame that young women today don’t know there history. If they did Miley and her like would not be who they aspire to emulate.
That cover is horrible.
OH YEAH, GIRL. Claiming to be a feminist or some sort of trailblazer while still referring to women as “hos” and “b-tches.” Clearly, someone has a master’s in Women’s Studies. I’m so f-cking tired of these magazines asking women like Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, and Katy Perry about feminism, when they know sh-t about it. It just makes them look incredibly uneducated.
Clueless. Go to school and learn about feminism, the role of women in different societies – just to start with. Meanwhile, stop talking about feminism.
‘I got these hot model ho bitches around me treating them like objects but i hope people appreciate the feminist message’.
She’s worst than Lena Dunham or Ricky Gervais with the amount of humble bragging in her interviews, she made it alright to be gay? Really?
I don’t understand why people are so offended? I think people are insulted by the fact that she’s promoting sex more than anything else.
So what if someone grabs their crotch?! Is that really something people get offended by?? Seriously?? Of all the things so-called proper “inspiring” celebrities do, Miley’s the most harmless one. She’s just trolling to get attention.
Honestly, people like Rihanna, Beyonce, Shakira, Katy Perry are a bigger thorn in my eye. Miley’s just a parody of them. Her overdone, excessive, ridiculous moves and antics always look to me like someone making fun of the dance routines Beyonce & Rihanna do. Which is pretty ok with me. At least someone’s not taking it all seriously.
And lets face it, if someone wants to be half-naked, they are allowed to do so. I get what Steinem meant, but there’s also the fact that some folks like to show-off because they enjoy it, not because they’re made to do so by the opposite sex. And that’s okay too. Equality means we all get to do whatever we want to do. And that can mean something else than the polite, dressed in a suit lawyer, manager, doctor, etc. If you only support demure, covered-up women, you’re part of the problem too.
There’s always someone who completely misses the point and responds to this conversation by saying that people with opposing views want women to dress like nuns, want to oppress women’s sexuality and are all prudes. Apparently, it’s your turn today.
I can’t speak for everyone, of course, but I think most of the commenters are just pointing out that it doesn’t make much sense to claim that your goal is equality for women while referring to them as “hos” and “hot model bitches.” That doing something, like grabbing your crotch, just because rappers do it, is not striking a blow for feminism. That maybe were shouldn’t all strive for the lowest common denominator, but raise people’s awareness so that NOONE calls women bitches and hos. That she just spouts off without any depth or real thought behind what she’s saying. That’s all.
She doesn’t begin to understand what feminism is and uses the word to defend her utter lack of understanding. Nowhere does it say that in order to emancipate yourself you should parade around on stage half naked, faux masturbating and licking everything in sight. That is nothing more than the lowest form of attention-getting. This is what irritates most of us who went through the 50s, 60s and 70s and experienced how hard women had to struggle to be taken for more than what Miley is promoting. She’s actually dragging women back into the past where their only value is sexuality.
You also need to go earlier and thank the women who fought for the right to vote!
Really? Equality is we all get to grab our crotch? No, not really. Was anyone stopping Madonna before Miley came along?
When Miley helps women get paid more than 71 cents on the $1.00 that a man makes then I’ll think she helped the cause. Until then, she can sit down. Dumb b*tch.
Agree!!.everyone is so serious
Are people that offended though? It seems like people are just bored with her because she’s so damn predictable and acts like she created her incredibly unoriginal new image, I think more people are offended at her lack of talent.
I find her stupid comments offensive. The crotch grabbing has been old and stale for quite some time, as has the tongue, neither of which she invented. She has contributed nothing to the cause of feminism, a concept she clearly does not understand, and I since I have no interest in seeing her lick things or spank little people, I find her annoying, especially when she makes uneducated comments.
I agree you don’t achieve emancipation by taking your clothes off. But to me, Miley’s parodying women who do just that. And these women are, oh lets see, every other celebrity out there. It seems absurd Miley gets most of the hate because she’s so aggressively incarnating what every other singer/most actresses does more subtly. When Shakira and Beyonce dance sexually we call it “sensual and sexy”. But when Miley does it over the top and in your face rudely, then we’re offended? I don’t get it.
True, calling women bitches and hoes is insulting, she should call men that in her line of equal thinking 🙂
Also equality is grabbing your crotch? LOL, well, not the act of doing it, but the FREEDOM and RIGHT to do just that because you can. Whether it’s a smart thing to do is another matter, but you’re free to do so without people wanting to burn you at the stake because you’re not behaving according to their expectations of how a woman should behave.
Honestly, I still think people like Kate Middleton are more of a problem. Her message is “actively pursue a rich man and wait for years in order to marry him then live off his money, all the while dressing and behaving nicely like the proper kept useless woman you are”.
Sorry, that offends me way more than anything Miley Cyrus – and independent if crazy woman – could say or do. At least Miley’s living her life according to her own rules. Life is more than just about the outward appearance you project.
I’m not even gonna mention Rihanna and her ridiculous, abusive, chauvinistic relationship with Chris Brown that thankfully ended after years of being on and off with him, AFTER he beat her to a pulp.
But yes, Miley’s antics are the biggest problem, sure.
This is wrong in so many ways. And that cover is not appealing.
what is wrong with her face?
She thinks she’s Edie Sedgwick ?
I can’t even with the feminism .
She thinks she is part of the change of this generation???
How HIGH is she??
She’s thankful to Disney now?
Someone needs to throw a blanket over me.
I seriously doubt she knows who edie Sedgwick is, nor cares. The real sin is that nitwits like this are given attention and then asked serious questions.
And just when harper’s is putting models on their covers – darie, lara stone, etc. – elle features this Disney retread.
Good lord, her music (well, the corporate backers, that is) is awful.
I know she’s a total idiot but I’m sure her hair guy and stylists have pointed it out…down to even the rudi gernreich type pantsuit…everything is so derivative and unoriginal.
Agree about her corporate music though.
Yes Miley, women have fought for equality not for equal pay, respect, etc., but so that you could grab your crotch in freedom. Whenever she tries to sound deep, she just shines a light on her lack of education and informed thought. Also, that cover picture is horrible.
I do like that it’s become fashionable for young women to at least say the word. Maybe it will take away some of the stigma.
But I really wish someone would take Miley to a women’s studies class. I think she might mean well, but this would be a lot more tolerable if she knew what she was talking about (while she’s there, maybe she’ll get a dose of intersectionality and take a look at some of her act’s race problems).
You know, that’s a really good point about all this brainless starlets throwing the word ‘feminism’ around. I hadn’t really thought about it before, but I do think it serves to bring it into the pulic conversation, which can only be a good thing. At least people are talking about it. At least it’s seen as a good thing to identify as. Miley may not (definintely doesn’t) know what it means, but if it opens up a discussion between even one group of normal people who actually ARE interested in finding out what feminism is, I’m fine with it.
Very good point lunchcoma – she doesn’t begin to understand how hard women fought to get the rights she has misappropriated to mean that a feminist is all about exposing your privates, being raunchy and acting without any social restraint or dignity. She is a destructive combination of stupid and self-obsessed to the point where she’ll do anything to attract more attention to herself. She’s hijacked every exhibitionist tactic from Madonna to Gaga and given in to the male music moguls in her craven famewhoring.
No, you are the ones who are not getting it. THIS IS WHAT SHE WANTS TO DO. Not because some guy told her or she wants to be some of the guys. She fights for her right to do what she wants. And that is equality, that is her personal feminism. YOU are the ones who are too uptight. Let her be, don’t feed the trolls and all are happy. I never felt like she was degrading women in her shows. They were all a bunch of bitches having fun and shaking their asses off. If you have a problem with that, it’s not her “wrong way” of feminism, it’s YOUR problem if you can’t handle seeing some skin. Miley is neither an artist who does family shows nor is she degrading women with what she does. If you can’t stand seeing a woman expressing herself the way SHE wants then my dear ladies YOU are the ones who have NO Idea what feminism means.
+1 very nicely said
Edith, I’m all ears. Explain to me why it’s feminist to call women bitches and hos?
And don’t just call me names and say I’m the one with the problem, I’m uptight, I’m a prude, I can’t handle seeing a little skin. Give me a rational, thought out explanation for WHY it’s feminist for “a bunch of bitches to shake their asses off.” How does that promote equality? Respect? Self worth?
You have the floor.
“Bunch of b-itches shaking their @sses” Who are you? 50 cent?
Girl, it’s a sad day when Miley Cyrus comes across as more articulate than you.
Nothing about Miley enjoying her personal freedom is about feminism, you can misappropriate the term all you want but you fail persuade me that she is a feminist or a feminist icon. And resorting to name calling hardly furthers your great defense of your feminist champion. Your entire post reeks of misogyny and it is quite clear you are the one “not getting it.”
Thank you, Edith.
She is right about the double standard that exists (her last statement).
I can actually see a hint of a point in her comments about the guys doing stuff that she then gets called out for- it’s a double standard, surely. But where she fails the idea of feminism is by then having such a low standard for herself. Instead of asking why can’t she sink to their level, she should be asking why they can’t rise higher and not do such things.
Take sexual harrassment in the workplace- the goal is not for men and women to do it equally , but for no one to do it so everyone is equally respected.
How sad is it that Madonna grabbed her crotch in the vid for Express Yourself, what, 25 years ago? And that it is still considered a “statement.”
She may not fully understand feminism but at least she says she is one. At least she gets that it’s about equality and she’s not ashamed to use the word feminist. I’m looking at you Taylor, Katy and Lily!
You’re part of the devolution into anti-feminism with your vulgar shock and awe schtick. You haven’t the remotest clue what true feminism is. If you did you wouldn’t be hanging out with the likes of Terry Richardson. Try reading up on some true feminists and what they had to go through to get the vote, to get birth control, to be allowed to become doctors and lawyers and politicians. It’s not about exposing your private bits or rubbing your butt up against midgets or Robin Thicke. It’s about NOT having to do that to gain credibility.
Exactly. This de-evolution of feminism has been carefully orchestrated. Do we have an Equal Rights Amendment to our US Constitution? No. Yes, we have been “graciously” GRANTED the permission to have the privilege of voting, however, that does NOT equate to equality~as evidenced by the rejection of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the debate and near refusal to RE-INSTATE the violence against women act, the attacks of reproductive choice at virtually every level of government, the continuing societal “slut shaming”, the continual re-inforcement of the only value women have is their physical appearance, and the apalling lack of representation in our Government of female politicians. We have gone BACKWARDS on feminism, not forwards. The ILLUSION of more freedom and equality in no way reflects the reality that exists today. Wake up.
+1,000,000!
No, we have Miley freaking Cyrus as our poster girl for feminism, makes me want to puke. Why are people so stupid?
Umm…no!! If anything you take us backwards, giving men and crazy women excuses to push their conservative agendas on the rest of us intelligent women. Go away already or grow the f— up!
To me, feminism is the right to do what you want as a woman, and not let society tell you no. Want to stay home? Great ! Be an astronaut? Awesome ! But to what you want to and not what you feel you should “as a woman”. This includes trying to be a sex kitten simply because your music label pushes young women in that direction. Considering that most pop stars today are little more than lip syncing puppets, I really don’t think their opinion counts.
Feminism is about the rights of women and the struggle for equality for women, although I understand your point, I believe it is a mistake to confuse feminism with personal expression. Also being a feminist does not mean you automatically have to support all the choices other women make, particularly if those women are merely perpetuating the dominant patriarchy and paying lip service to feminist ideals.
“I believe it is a mistake to confuse feminism with personal expression.”
Yes, that’s what we call basic civil rights and personal freedom.
The whole plight of feminism was about women obtaining choices in their lives- not to have their rights dictated by males. Today, women enjoy the rights that movement achieved- voting, for instance. The right to equal pay for equal performance, etc. The word feminism today does not mean the same thing as it did to the suffragettes. It actually seems to mean less, because younger generations have no real clue about the plight of women who went before us. So, my point is that now that women have the chance to be/do what they desire, the Mileys of the world make choices totally at odds with the empowerment of women. Sadly.
Looks more like devolution to me. Back in my day (i.e. the 60’s and 70’s) feminism was all about (among other things) the sexual de-objectivication of women, so that we would be taken seriously and respected for our intelligence, thoughts, contributions to society, etc…. The likes of Miley Cyrus is reversing that, turning women back into little more that walking, talking tits and ass. No offense to young posters here, but when I hear teens and young 20-somethings talking today – nevermind the ANNOYING whiney inflection they all uniformly learned to use in their voices – they sound like vacuous, blithering idiots. Yeah, yeah, I understand about sexual empowerment, etc yadda yadda. Whatever. Men don’t perceive it as empowerment. They perceive it as a lucky break.
So agree with you. And generally speaking, men don’t express their sexuality by strutting around on stage in a thong and eight inch heels. They rely on their talent, not their bodies, their minds, not their breasts and behinds to get ahead. So what’s with this “we’re just doing the same thing as men!” attitude? No. Men haven’t been forced to commercialize their bodies for centuries. I know there are exceptions, but I think it’s a false equivalent.
Hahaha. As if Smiley Virus cares about anything other than money and attention.
??Miley Cyrus: ‘I hope I’m part of the evolution of feminism’??
So being a feminist now means grinding on little people, stuffed animals and furniture ?
Well, I must have missed the memo. IS there a class I can take for this? Do I have to bring my own foot stool & teddy bear or do they supply a couch or kitchen chair to practice on?
Let’s not bash Miley. In her defense, what does anyone really know about feminism? The core of feminism is equality for women in all aspects of life, isn’t it? Feminism is an evolving movement with opinions on topics that vary day to day. Feminism can be whatever you want it to be. Feminism can be you expressing your right to grab your crotch like your male peers. Feminism can be earning the same paycheck as your male peers who do the same kind of work as you at the office. I think she understands a very simple idea of feminism, but the fact that she is, at least, interested in it is a plus.
Huh? That’s like applauding someone for being interested in mathematics after declaring that nobody really knows what numbers are and they can be whatever you want them to be. If one can call oneself a “feminist” without the burden of having to define it, then one can be anything they want – be it a feminist or a capitalist or a ham sandwich. At somepoint, the constant fluidity and goal-post moving renders it meaningless.
Nicely said.
Creating a videos featuring childrens toys and genital rubbing isn’t being feminist. It is being lewd and it targets and attracts kids.
She doesn’t look like a liberated woman. She comes across as a pedophile.
Agreed … Ps fuck math
I’m not saying she isn’t a feminist, but her ideas are pretty naive and she really needs to educate herself about feminism. There are battles being waged for women’s rights all around the world by women who dedicate their lives to those issues. Also, feminism does not just= the western world, and in much of the world, women still lack even basic rights.
She set women’s rights back when she relied on sexuality and shocking behavior instead of pure talent to sell herself.
Last hour I breezed through some of her recent concert photos. It goes beyond crotch grabbing and looks very close to on-stage public self-pleasuring in front of thousands of people (many of which are underage surely). Frankly the police should have pulled her off the stage.
So simulated public masterba……? Its ok now? In front of minors? Another memo I missed.
I’m no prude, yet I was sick to my stomach. And then shes touching everything with that hand. So unsanitary. **hurl
I just wish she would go away. She’s so extremely annoying.. ugh… And it’s a pity, because the girl can actually sing if she does real songs and not some uninteresting pop garbage, but it doesn’t quite help with her completely uninteresting personality.
She is simply an embarrassment to women. I do not wish for an attention-seeking , unaware, self-demeaning bubble head to represent me as a woman. I have no need for this self-absorbed twit to speak for me in any way. Her behavior does not represent or speak for capable, strong women. She is simply an embarrassment.
Agreed!! 🙂
Miley, honestly, this is what you do to me as a feminist. You make me so very glad the fourth wave is here. Oh, yeah, and you make me want to say that real feminists don’t make fun of other feminists’ emotional disorders on twitter when intellectually confronted. That’s all.
It just can’t get any funnier or absurd can it?
Miley, wake up to yourself. Go and read a few books. In fact, go and look up the word feminism in the dictionary and I think you’ll find -and this goes for the Beyonces, Rihannas, GaGas and Madonnas – it doesn’t mean having to cavort around half naked like a ten dollar hooker/stripper to get your point across [whatever point that may be, but it’s usually not a point, but a trite song lyric that reinforces the objectification of women].
+1
Reading all the comments, I gotta say, it seems to me feminism isn’t what’s the problem here – an uptight prudish attitude to anything sexual is. Which doesn’t really surprise me, I mean we all know it’s ok to show people being massacred in a film, but God forbid you see a nipple or someone having sex.
Male or female, people seem to think another human being acting in a provocative sexual manner is degrading. Which, I find really interesting.
I bet there’d be less of an uproar if Miley’s stage antics were all about guns and shooting.
You’re missing the issue – pushing overt female sexuality in the faces of the whole world as “empowering” and a good example of being a feminist won’t do anything to promote equality and egalitarianism of both sexes. It’s about how she’s using the most vulgar common denominator of sexual shock and awe to promote herself. Period. What is this going to do to help women worldwide to attain an education? To get jobs? To have easy access to birth control? To be able to drive a car?? Nothing. You’re saying that Miley’s performances and videos can help women in Afghanistan. Saudi Arabia, Somalia, etc. realize their potential and come together to gain access to things their male counterparts have prevented them from having? I don’t think so. It’s facile to equate parading around half naked proclaiming you’re empowering women to the real hard work of raising worldwide awareness, money, education for both men and women, and overcoming horrible religious control and stereotyping so that women can gain some independence and self-esteem. Miley ain’t gonna influence anything other than the sexual wet dreams of a bunch of dirty male music producers, photographers and concert promoters to make money.
Miley, remember your performance at the MTV Awards? Remember how you were twerking about in nude-colored underwear? Remember how you were rubbing your butt against a guy’s crotch? Did you happen to notice that the guy was fully clothed in a suit, no skin showing except his face and hands? There was absolutely no equality in that at all, Miley. No, equality and feminism do not mean surrounding yourself with scantily clad women. Equality and feminism mean equal pay and equal respect and equal rights.
This is a joke, right? If not, I’d like to have what she’s smoking!!!
Miley cyrus is not smart. She is not pretty nor talented and she is absolutely NOT helping the feminist movement. I’ve gotten to the point where looking at her turtle face makes me ill, or maybe it’s just having to look at her tounge that’s always covered in gunk..
I never really thought of Miley as degrading women. I don’t even necessarily think of men degrading women when they have “bitches” dancing around them. It all depends on the situation. There are some rap videos I would say are degrading women but in general I don’t see a problem with “sexy female dancers”. And after all, haven’t the women chose for themselves, to be in these videos? I guess so, and if that being the case, they can’t exactly be pointed out as objects there for male desire only (or as in Miley’s case, Miley desire only).
It is, however, very rare that women use male dancers in a similar way. There lies the injustice. But I don’t think the solution is to stop presenting women as “sex objects”- the solution is to have more men in it. I know a lot of people will disagree with me based on their idea of posing sexy as something degrading. I don’t agree with that idea, though, and therefore I think it’d be totally cool if more men did what women do now. Sex sells. Get over it.
And I totally think Miley can be a feminist despite “flashing one’s hoo-ha”. There are a lot of ideas on how a feminist should and should not behave, but maybe the greatest feminist woman chooses for herself. She makes her own decisions and doesn’t care if people think they’re feminist or not. Just like Miley seems to do!