RE: Miley Cyrus VMA's performance; Grow up
buzzz worthy. . .
By Mona Austin
As the mother of two young daughters who are huge Miley Cyrus fans I feel obligated to weigh in on the controversy about the pop star's recent risque performance.
At the MTV Video Music Awards Sunday night Cyrus left the TV viewing audience feeling visually violated. I won't be too descriptive because I found what she did to be highly offensive.
The latest behavior from the same singer who warmed America's heart with "The Climb" shows she is on a decline. And I mean decline because the exhibitionist, sexually suggestive number she did with "Blurred Lines" singer Robin Thicke was inappropriate on a gutter low level.
Cyrus' antics were disturbing and should in no way be confused with art or maturity.
The ex-Disney Channel star is obviously trying to show she's all grown up now, no longer a kid star. My daughters and I understand "Hannah Montanna" does not exist anymore. We don't want "Hannah Montana" back. Her time has long past and every child star should be allowed to grow up without feeling pressured to be like the chracter that made them famous for the rest their lives. As a parent, before my money goes toward the purchase of anything else associated with Miley, I want to see her grow into a woman with a sense of self respect and dignity. Selena Gomez, and other past child stars in her peer group have moved on in a normal manner and I beleive she can too.
Eveyone is asking, "What went wrong with Miley?"
While the once wholesome girl from Tennessee was still a teen she sought legal emancipation from her parents and started shacking up with her boyfriend-turned-fiancee', actor Liam Hemsworth as if she was a grown woman. Hollywood can speed up the clock of maturity, yet there is no such thing as instant adulthood. Maturation is a long process. When the courts cancel out parental control based solely on rebellion, parents are rendered powerless. Ever since Miley took her life into her own hands the "Party in the USA" singer has made negative headlines.
If she was in fact trying to show she is no longer a child, she failed. From the 2-year-old hair-do and goofy moves, this performance showed just how immature Cyrus is.
I do not blame Miley's parents for her unraveling. The challenge the Cyrus' faced is popularity vs. parenting. Teens are hard to raise while competing with the broader billboard messages in media that overshadow and contradict what they are being taught at home. Celebrity kids are even harder to raise because their acceptance and popularity is a career mandate. In her distasteful pursuit of the attention she needs to thrive in the music industry, the singer is now more "popular" for the wrong reasons. The Miley Cyrus performacne got 306,000 tweets per minute. The network and Cyrus both got what they wanted: attention. Miley needs to think long and hard before her next move because these spurts of outrageous behavior will eventually backfire and put her on the road to "Has Been Ville."
The disconnect that parents of out-of-control celebrity kids deal with is one that most of us will never understand. They have access to more things that can ruin their lives and are constantly surrounded by "yes" people, giving them a sense of entitlement beyond our comprehension. In this case, Miley's parents lost their footing as the authority figures and leaders in their home somehow, which could be due to their daughter feeling a sense of power based on the money she made.
One of the other things that went wrong recently is that people seemed to co-sign Cyrus wop/twerking dance video on Youtube. (It's funny how people reacted more strongly against the nearly nude photos of Cyrus in the Vogue spread a few years ago.) For some, those massive numbers on Youtbe add up to acceptance. The video was wildly popular and I'm sure a good percentage of those hits were from some of her younger fans. Parents must monitor their children's online activity and set boundaries of what is an isn't acceptable viewing consumption.
So many people want to debate about what is and isn't age appropriate. For me, anytime I have to cover my daughters' eyes or rush to reach for the remote, that content is unacceptable.
However, Miley Cyrus is not the only one to blame here. The network must be held accountable for not censoring the act. The Parents Televsion Council is condeming the award show for not providing content that adhered to the PG-14 rating.
What was more disturbing to me is that Cyrus is sending the wrong message about sex and sexuality. Her ideas about both are wreckless, aggressive, lude and wrongfully degrades the beauty of sex and its intended purpose. Contrary to the dance moves and fashion in popular culture, a woman does not have to act or look like a stripper or porn star to be appealing to a man, as the growing trend in this over-sexed generation suggests.
My message to Miley and other misguided young ladies is you can grow up, but grow up gracefully.
By Mona Austin
As the mother of two young daughters who are huge Miley Cyrus fans I feel obligated to weigh in on the controversy about the pop star's recent risque performance. At the MTV Video Music Awards Sunday night Cyrus left the TV viewing audience feeling visually violated. I won't be too descriptive because I found what she did to be highly offensive.
The latest behavior from the same singer who warmed America's heart with "The Climb" shows she is on a decline. And I mean decline because the exhibitionist, sexually suggestive number she did with "Blurred Lines" singer Robin Thicke was inappropriate on a gutter low level.
Cyrus' antics were disturbing and should in no way be confused with art or maturity.
The ex-Disney Channel star is obviously trying to show she's all grown up now, no longer a kid star. My daughters and I understand "Hannah Montanna" does not exist anymore. We don't want "Hannah Montana" back. Her time has long past and every child star should be allowed to grow up without feeling pressured to be like the chracter that made them famous for the rest their lives. As a parent, before my money goes toward the purchase of anything else associated with Miley, I want to see her grow into a woman with a sense of self respect and dignity. Selena Gomez, and other past child stars in her peer group have moved on in a normal manner and I beleive she can too.
Eveyone is asking, "What went wrong with Miley?"
While the once wholesome girl from Tennessee was still a teen she sought legal emancipation from her parents and started shacking up with her boyfriend-turned-fiancee', actor Liam Hemsworth as if she was a grown woman. Hollywood can speed up the clock of maturity, yet there is no such thing as instant adulthood. Maturation is a long process. When the courts cancel out parental control based solely on rebellion, parents are rendered powerless. Ever since Miley took her life into her own hands the "Party in the USA" singer has made negative headlines.
If she was in fact trying to show she is no longer a child, she failed. From the 2-year-old hair-do and goofy moves, this performance showed just how immature Cyrus is.
I do not blame Miley's parents for her unraveling. The challenge the Cyrus' faced is popularity vs. parenting. Teens are hard to raise while competing with the broader billboard messages in media that overshadow and contradict what they are being taught at home. Celebrity kids are even harder to raise because their acceptance and popularity is a career mandate. In her distasteful pursuit of the attention she needs to thrive in the music industry, the singer is now more "popular" for the wrong reasons. The Miley Cyrus performacne got 306,000 tweets per minute. The network and Cyrus both got what they wanted: attention. Miley needs to think long and hard before her next move because these spurts of outrageous behavior will eventually backfire and put her on the road to "Has Been Ville."
The disconnect that parents of out-of-control celebrity kids deal with is one that most of us will never understand. They have access to more things that can ruin their lives and are constantly surrounded by "yes" people, giving them a sense of entitlement beyond our comprehension. In this case, Miley's parents lost their footing as the authority figures and leaders in their home somehow, which could be due to their daughter feeling a sense of power based on the money she made.
One of the other things that went wrong recently is that people seemed to co-sign Cyrus wop/twerking dance video on Youtube. (It's funny how people reacted more strongly against the nearly nude photos of Cyrus in the Vogue spread a few years ago.) For some, those massive numbers on Youtbe add up to acceptance. The video was wildly popular and I'm sure a good percentage of those hits were from some of her younger fans. Parents must monitor their children's online activity and set boundaries of what is an isn't acceptable viewing consumption.
So many people want to debate about what is and isn't age appropriate. For me, anytime I have to cover my daughters' eyes or rush to reach for the remote, that content is unacceptable.
However, Miley Cyrus is not the only one to blame here. The network must be held accountable for not censoring the act. The Parents Televsion Council is condeming the award show for not providing content that adhered to the PG-14 rating.
The Director of Public Policy for the watch dog group, Dan Islett said in a statement: "MTV has once again succeeded in marketing sexually charged messages to young children using former child stars and condom commercials -- while falsely rating this program as appropriate for kids as young as 14. This is unacceptable. This much is absolutely clear: MTV marketed adults-only material to children while falsely manipulating the content rating to make parents think the content was safe for their children," (Incidentally, according to news reports Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley's father, is on the organization's board.)
Placing her near naked girating body on display for millions of viewers to gaulk at (an many of the fellow celebs who were clearly not entertained), producers approved the act beforehand. The producers of the VMA's pounced on the vulnerability of internet voyeurs, thinking it brilliant to integrate Miley as a "dancer" into a collaboration with another popular singer.
Thicke should also be held accountable. At 36, (16 years her senior) he is old enough to be a mentor to Miley, but did not hesitate to play along with the performance, thrusting as the 20-year-old singer shook her booty in front of his male zone. Not to mention he is married to actress Paula Patton. What was more disturbing to me is that Cyrus is sending the wrong message about sex and sexuality. Her ideas about both are wreckless, aggressive, lude and wrongfully degrades the beauty of sex and its intended purpose. Contrary to the dance moves and fashion in popular culture, a woman does not have to act or look like a stripper or porn star to be appealing to a man, as the growing trend in this over-sexed generation suggests.
My message to Miley and other misguided young ladies is you can grow up, but grow up gracefully.
