Miley Cyrus, I Applaud You

Miley Cyrus has been on it with publicity lately. Whether it was with her jaw dropping performance at the VMA’s or her Rolling Stone’s cover, she is making a splash in the media, and I approve.

For a long time, I was never really a fan of Miley. She was just a grown up Hannah Montana to me, and I was content with envisioning her this way. It wasn’t until she buzzed her hair that I gave her a second thought. For some reason, everyone got in a tizzy about the girl cutting her hair, and it caused a lot of unnecessary debates between my friends and I. I wasn’t particularly a fan of it, but why should I care? It’s not my problem.

Ever since her performance at this year’s VMA’s, Miley Cyrus has been the talk of the town. I’ve heard many different words to describe her performance, ranging from “tacky” and “sickening” to “downright disgusting” and “whoreish”. Given, I was in shock after watching it as well. I saw a lot of Miley that I could have gone a lifetime without seeing, but being as I consume different messages about body ideals for women daily, her baring her body the way did really has no effect on me.

What did bother me about her performance was that there was no praise for what she did. I couldn’t imagine going to perform for millions of people in a skin clad outfit. I would never dream of singing for a crowd that large, or giving the people something to talk about. Like her or not, girl knows how to put on a show, and that’s something worth mentioning.

She’s on the cover of Rolling Stones now and when I first saw it, I’ll admit to being slightly disgusted. My first thought was, “Girl you’re a wet mess, put some clothes on and clean up your makeup.” But looking at it the cover again and reading the article, I am ashamed to have ever doubted her. She understands what she’s doing; she knows the image she has and the kind of image she wants to portray, and I think that’s fantastic.

When the topic of her twerking on Robin Thicke at the VMA’s, Miley had this to say about it: “‘No one is talking about the man behind the ass. It was a lot of ‘Miley twerks on Robin Thicke,’ but never, ‘Robin Thicke grinds up on Miley.’ They’re only talking about the one that bent over. So obviously there’s a double standard.’” This is a valid point that I think many people forget to mention when they bring up her performance. Yes, she twerked on Thicke, and yes, a lot of people were disgusted by her doing that. But has been very rare to see someone say, “Hey, I know she was twerking on him but is anyone else creeped out that he did that or…?” No one questioned his actions, they simply went to talk about her.

When her Wrecking Ball music video was released, for the next few days all I heard was how she is disgusting for being naked in the video and that she should consider putting on more clothes. But why is it such a big deal? Women are naked or half dressed in music videos all the time. When Miley swings on a wrecking ball naked, it’s disgusting. But when Katy Perry sits on a cloud made of cotton candy naked or has whip cream shooting out of her bra in the California Gurls music video, she’s just “being herself”. Just because Katy Perry entered the industry with a certain image does not make it any more acceptable. Just because Miley is attempting to rebrand herself, it does not make her a slut, and it bothers me to an unbelievable extent when people don’t see this.

I want to say so much more about her and words cannot express the adoration I have for her. She is an incredibly talented performer, she is confident in her abilities and her body, and she does not take shit from anyone. What more could you want from a female role model?

Miley’s Rolling Stone Interview