You’ve seen it. The bear costume, the twerking, the crazy-I’m-not-sure-what-to-call-it hair do, and most importantly, you’ve seen that ungodly long tongue sticking out. It’s Miley Cyrus. Even before the MTV’s Video Music Awards, Miley was controversial. Whether it was dancing on an ice cream cart pole, or posing what seemed to be completely nude for a magazine cover, she’s done it. Half the country is absolutely disgusted with her, and some people are absolutely in love with her, and the rest of us are just sitting here wondering why she licked a sledgehammer.
Despite your views on Miley and what you think she’s going through, Miley has brought up several issues that are getting overlooked because we are all busy focusing on her being naked and swinging around on a wrecking ball. Whether she meant to or not, she brought up important troubles with society today.
The double standard
The twerking incident of the VMAs gained more attention that the Britney-Madonna kiss and the Kanye-Taylor interruption. Miley has received a lot of crap and grief for the fact that she bent over and grinded on Robin Thicke. She’s been called a slut and a whore, and people have been all over her for the dance move that nearly every college girls has done before, or, well ,attempted to do.
Miley fired back with the fact that everyone is criticizing the girl who bent over, but no one is giving grief to the guy behind her. Which is true. Robin Thicke has gotten more praise for his performance than criticism and it’s simply because the double standard society placed on women.
We are supposed to be composed ladies. We don’t bend over and grind, we don’t twerk, we don’t expose body parts, whether we mean to or not. Yet guys can basically get away with anything, because I mean, they’re all little boys at heart. Miley is part of the generation that is rebelling against the typical view of how “ladies” should be. Miley is trying to break that standard gap between women and men, and allowing women to express their sexuality, their wild side, and their independence without getting in trouble and deemed crazy or well you know, a slut.
Racial issues
It’s 2013, racism is gone right? No, you’re naïve and ignorant if you think it is. Miley’s choice of having black back up dancers at the VMAs sparked even more controversy. People criticized Miley for having black back up dancers, claiming she objectified them and their bodies. She responded by saying that race didn’t matter; she picked them because, “They were real girls and know how to party”.
Why is the race of her back up dancers relevant? Her song has nothing to do with race or objectifying a race. She chose them based on their skills and the persona she wanted on stage, a party persona. In all honesty, I would want people up behind me at a concert who could dance. Miley points out in her interview with Rolling Stones Magazine that there is no reason the race of her dancers should mean anything. Yet, to some people it does, and for that reason, our country is still fighting a battle of racism.
Women and their image
We all know how complicated we are. We are changing everyday, and deciding who we want to be. Miley is doing the same thing, just a little more drastically and in the spotlight. I was a tomboy growing up until high school, so most of my school thought of me that way – as the weird girl who always had her hair in a ponytail. To break that image, I started wearing makeup, and dresses, and being “girly.” Eventually, people saw me as a typical girly girl and my transition was complete. Everyone has transitions in their life. Some of us have several, others just one or two. Some of ours are drastic and big, while most are small. But we all go through it.
Miley is going through hers. She’s trying to shed her girl good-next-door “Hannah Montana” image. She wants to express her sexuality, be taken seriously, and most importantly, be whom she wants. Yes, she’s doing it drastically and probably not the best way, but she’s doing what every girl does at some point. She’s finding herself. She’s doing everything she wants and trying to find her independence. And she’s getting there, but she’s also getting a lot of crap for it.
I don’t condone Miley’s actions or believe they are the right way for her to shed any sort of image or make any sort of statement. But the responses to her actions, and the discussions that aren’t taking place are more alarming than her coming on stage in a bear suit. We have to look at why her performance and her actions are as controversial as people are making them out to be. We see from her performance that the double standard between women and men is still around, along with racism, and that although her transition from one image to the other is rough and very loud, she’s doing what every girl does. We condemn Miley for actions that we ourselves do. Instead of focusing on the craziness of Miley, we need to look at the reason her actions are a problem, and why our society is that way.