Thursday, May 01, 2008

Billy and Miley Sittin in a Tree


Annie Liebovitz

"That’s just my personality. I don’t get shaken or stirred up over anything. Which can be a problem sometimes. I’m just, like, so no emotions. I just don’t let things faze me. I’m very much like my dad. My dad’s like this." Miley Cyrus

Interesting article by Rebecca Traister in salon.com on the Current Cyrus Controversy. I wrote about it too earlier this week, but I have more to say. Especially in response to readers comments, including one that accused all who decry the photos of having dirty minds.

I was skeeved out by the Billy-Miley images, not because I have a "dirty mind" but because the father-daughter photos were deliberately sexualized. And because Vanity Fair, Disney and Miley's parents chose to showcase them in that context.

Of course fathers hug and kiss their daughters in complete innocence; many such loving acts are caught in family photos. But few fathers would willingly contribute to, much less allow publication of photos appearing to celebrate Daddy's Little Ho.

Look at that picture. And the others. Does that say father-daughter to you? Yeesh.

And by the way, did anybody bother to read the actual article? Even it's author is taken aback by Miley's creepy child-woman maturity.

You have to wonder about her parent's judgement beyond the photos when you learn Miley's favorite TV show is Sex and the City. And that she tries to make Hannah Montana into a SATC teen homage. Not the sex, she assures us, just the friendships.

Blech. Really. Blech.

I'm a certified Baby Boomer (we invented open sexuality, remember). But I have to draw the line at a 15-year-old watching a show that portrays believable adult characters discussing the intimate details of their sex lives and engaging in soft core porn.

Neither Miley nor any other teenager can possibly understand or process the complexities of adult sexuality and relationships -- nor should they.

Our 24 year old son grew up in an open, loving home with all questions welcomed and answered. And with plenty of hugs and kisses. But he--and I--still find it creepy and uncomfortable to sit in front of the TV together watching graphic sex scenes.

Not because there's anything "dirty" about sex. But because we're mother and son. And because he was taught the value of privacy, decency, personal space and appropriate boundaries. He's also smart and mature enough to find sexual pictures of a 15-year-old disturbing, not sexy. Especially those with her father.

Teen sexuality is out of whack in this country already. The Cyrus pictures just make the issue more glaringly real. And sad.


Parents should educate their children about sex, but not by Show and Tell. A concept the Cyrus family seems to have left behind in the trailer.



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