“Miley….What’s good?” That is the one statement that everyone took away from the VMA’s that aired on August 30th, 2015. The pointless “beef” between Nicki Minaj and Miley Cyrus was all the talk. This is interesting because before a few weeks ago Nicki Minaj was in to it with Taylor Swift. Miley wasn’t even involved until she decided to voluntarily add her two cents. Nicki Minaj is known for being very out spoken and opinionated on various topics. This all started back in July when the nominees first went out and she felt as if she was snubbed for glorifying one body type over another. Taylor Swift felt as if she was being called out and Nicki Minaj quickly cleared it up, that she indeed wasn’t. But we ALL know what “sub-tweets” are. Now for whatever reason Miley Cyrus was asked, what was her opinion on the subject, is beyond my comprehension. But Miley decided to unsuccessfully shed light on how sometimes black women can be used as muses but receive no praise in the music business. She continued to speak on Nicki’s character and that she was just mad because she didn’t win the Moon-Man. Definitely not what Nicki was saying. She didn’t directly respond to Miley in the press or over social media, but be assured it was going to get addressed…..and soon. When Nicki accepted her award for Hip Hop video of the year she did just that. All of her Trinidadian and Queens, New York fire came out at that moment. She opened the show with Taylor Swift showing that they had squashed their miniscule problems, but I don’t see that happening with Miley any time soon. So this all sounds like a lot of middle school drama. What’s so surprising is that this is coming from grown women who are figure heads in pop culture. These women have huge fan bases and they could be using their platforms in a better way. So often in the media you see women arguing with other women. From Real House wives (pick your favorite), Basketball Wives, Jersey Shore, Married to Medicine, and everyone’s favorite Bad Girls Club, all these shows have at one time or another shown women fighting and cursing at each other.
It has become a primetime monopoly. It’s as if that’s all the programming the media could come up with. Why is it so fascinating to see other women basically degrade each other? Most of the time we accuse men of devaluing women but we do it to one another just as much or more. The media isn’t completely the blame for this because they only report or show what we tell them we want to see. We no longer follow the media and what is popular. They follow us and create content based off what they see in everyday life. Watching these shows would make one come to conclusion that all women do is sit around, drink, and fuss. Nothing is learned or gained from this programming. Even when these women attempt to do something nice, it’s usually tainted with some short lived drama. Women today can be stereotyped as not wanting one another to succeed. That’s not true in real life but on REALity TV it’s a different story. I wouldn’t dare let my future daughter watch any of this era’s shows. I don’t believe it would aid in her development. The younger female generation is typically over looked and isn’t being taught how to care for their fellow sister. The women of today are already set in their ways and their minds won’t easily be changed. But there is a great opportunity to help in shaping the minds of our little sisters, cousins, nieces, and any other young girl we may know. We have to instill in them the difference between fantasy and entertainment. They have to know that they are not in competition with one another and that any success one woman achieves is a success for them all. As I have stated the media will follow us and change their programming only when we force them to. If you agreed in the least bit with any of what I said, understand that you can make a difference. Now, I am NOT saying that these shows are horrible and that anyone who watches them is part of the problem, because we all have guilty pleasures and indulge in them from time to time. What I am saying is that there needs to be variety in what is put out on women. That includes but not limited to music, videos, magazines, radio, movies and the list goes on. The six major companies that control all of media will only change their content when it is affecting their pockets.
As women we have control over them because they need our money which is gained by our views. If all women decided to not watch TV for a month I believe there would be a serious crash within the media. They would have no choice but to ask why women stopped watching TV and restructure their programming. Earlier in this article I talked about how an award show, that was supposed to be about music, had headlines the next day surrounding a twitter beef that had taken front and center stage? Whether or not it was staged or real isn’t the question to be asked. The question is………..Are You Tired of Seeing It??