Yesterday came the story that fifteen year old pop sensation Miley Cyrus may have some issues with her portrayal in a Vanity Fair photo shoot. The photographer took pictures of the minor child semi-nude in sexually provocative poses and facial expressions. What was shown on the news ranged from inappropriate to downright nauseating. Cyrus' popularity comes from a fan base among middle American children whose parents look to an ever shrinking pool of family friendly entertainers for role models. Some of it also comes from country fans who liked her father's music. Meanwhile others debate that the pictures do not reveal anything and that many are simply overreacting. Cyrus herself seemed to approve of the pictures prior to publication, but afterwards criticized the final product.
First of all, her opinion either way is irrelevant. As a minor she has no capacity to consent. Not many fathers in the United States of America would approve of their children being portrayed in a sexually provocative manner. Why Billy Ray Cyrus approved the publication of racy photos of his daughter is beyond me. Vanity Fair is full of wacko liberals. He ought to know better, being raised a Kentucky boy. Some argue that this controversy will increase her marketability and it certainly will among sleazy men that paid discomforting amounts of attention to Brittany Spears when she was a minor.
This debate comes on the heels of the breakup of the fundamentalist Mormon ranch where a charismatic leader apparently established a culture that encouraged older men to regard teenage girls as sex and marriage possibilities. Women described being shown to older men in ways that resemble a meat market. While there are strong reasons to debate whether or not the government should interfere in polygamy when the participants are consenting adults, no one argues that teenage girls ought to have sex with older men forced upon them at so young an age.
Interestingly the media and society see the cultural sexualization of teenage girls differently depending upon who does it. If a liberal magazine portrays a girl provocatively, people defend it. After all, the girl will make money from it someday. Others see it as art. Fundamentalist Mormons are not part of mainstream culture, so they get no media defenders. They see it as their culture's way to create a strong family.
In BOTH CASES the sexualization of teenage girls is WRONG! The fundamentalist sect and the modern sleaze media industry now run on parallel paths, selling the sexuality of young women with no regard as to how it affects them and how they are viewed by others. Young girls get bombarded with sexually charged imagery even in magazines produced exclusively for them. (I have a teenage daughter and I have seen them. A parent should always know what they are up against when it comes to influences.) Most issues are devoted to giving tips on how to lose weight and look better. Some run articles that try to help the girls figure out their sexual orientation (I kid you not!)
This disturbing path in how the media views children has developed recently as the culture grows more and more youth obsessed. It's time for America to wake up and start pushing back. If nothing else, the parents of these celebrity girls need to put the media in check. It is just as wrong to sell your child's soul for money as it is to believe your soul can be saved by giving your minor pride and joy to an elderly man in marriage. Look at the results, broken and destroyed spirits whether they are nameless women who fled these compounds or Lindsay Lohan and Spears. They all lost their childhood and spend large parts of broken lives picking up the pieces.
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