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Apr
28
New Moon Girl Media has a new blog called, Girl Media Maven. I met the blog author, Nancy Gruver, at WAM!2008 and she has accomplished far more than I can pay homage to in this post. Suffice it to say that Gruver, as the founder of New Moon, has dedicated a large chunk of her life to making sure that parents have good materials to introduce to, share with and give to their daughters.
In this post about Miley Cyrus’s photos that accompany a June 2008 Vanity Fair article, Gruver reviews the contribution or last thereof of the parties involved in that shoot:
You no doubt know that Miley plays Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel’s most-watched show. She and her character are beloved and idolized by millions of tween girls (on the Hannah Montana website emails from fans give ages from 8 to 12). Many parents have been relieved there’s a teen star who didn’t follow in the hyper-sexualized footsteps of Lindsay, Britney, Paris and countless others. Guess it’s time to re-think that relief.
I don’t blame Miley – she’s a media star in our oh-so-tired popular culture that still values women (and increasingly younger girls) for sex appeal and little else (no matter what it says, the images tell the truth). And she’s at an age when exploration of her sexuality is appropriate and important.
But her exploration shouldn’t be fodder for Annie Leibovitz, Vanity Fair or anyone else. That’s called voyeurism and it’s creepy. Which is exactly the feeling I got looking at the photo. Not only does it look like she’s been surprised in bed, her posture and expression make her look even younger than 15, giving the photo a very disturbing whiff of child porn.
Go for it – what do you think?
You should know that Miley has issued a statement about being embarrassed by the story and photos:
“I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be ‘artistic’ and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed,” Cyrus said Sunday in a statement through her publicist. “I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about.”
And from the wayback machine, does anyone remember what they thought of or how they felt when Brooke Shields was in Pretty Baby?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:40 pm April 28th, 2008 in Culture, Education, Gender, Marketing, Media, Parenting, Women, Youth
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13 Responses to “The Media, Miley Cyrus and Vanity (Fair)”
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I was surprised to see this, but from the one picture I saw I guess I didnt see the outrage. Probably inapproriate for a 15 yr old, and not for me, but I thought it was firestorm more because of her image than anything else.
As the mother of a former tweenage girl and the grandmother of 2 more tweenagers as they are now called (we just called them little girls) I agree with your analysis. I have always admired Leibovitz and I do not think she lured this girl into that soft porn-ish pose. Since both Miley and her dad no doubt saw the proofs I can only surmise that in spite of her after-the-fact “embarrassment” they both had a good idea that this might further the next step in her career. After all, she will not be a tween forever. Now she can have the all important publicity and voice her denouncement too.
I also thought, at the time and even now, that it was hideous to watch a movie where they paraded a child around on a silver platter looking for the highest bidder – yuck, yuck, yuck. And now she is doing commercials with her daughter – oh well the more things change the more they stay the same.
This is such an interesting situation, since she is such a bankable star for Disney.
Here’s what she said about the picture before the controversy:
“I think it’s really artsy. It wasn’t in a skanky way. Annie took, like, a beautiful shot, and I thought that was really cool. That’s what she wanted me to do, and you can’t say no to Annie.”
And now…she’s coming close to saying she was victimized by Leibovitz. Apparently, her parents and handlers were on the set of the shoot all day – so what does that say about them?
And recently, this 15-year old also commented that her favorite show is Sex & the City.
What is she saying to the little girls who idolize her?
With all the lessons Britney and Lindsay have taught us over the past few years, you would think that everyone involved here would be doing everything in their power to keep her from going down the same disastrous path.
Since hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake with the Hannah Montana franchise, I would be surprised if Disney doesn’t start exercising more control over their young cash cow, oops – I mean star, very soon.
Dear Mr. Keeler,
Anyone who thinks that those images in a national magazine are appropriate, for someone under 16, is one sick puppy.
When you get home from the nudie bar tonight, I hope that it burns when you pee.
uhhhhhhh
I said it is inappropriate and that there is controversey because of her image of “squeaky clean”. That is the main reason why there is the outrage. In no way am I defending it, I am saying that is why I think so many people are upset and why the story became so big. You see stuff like that everyday but no one says anything until it is a big star or something.
Proud Dad – Learn how to read before you comment on someone else’s comment.
First of all, I love Sex In the City (well, at least in the early days when it was more about about sex and less about love and babies). Would I watch it with my 15-year old? Only with the my finger on the fast forward button.
As for Miley, the photo was inappropriate and not even that artsy. It would have been more appropriate had she been wearing a Hello Kitty cami; it would have been more artsy minus the red lipstick.
As for Brooke Shields, yes I remember. True story: On a sailing club trip in college I met her on a remote beach in the Bahamas–she was with some young kids and they were spraying each other with cans of whipped cream. Then some stupid guys I was with put on their Calvin Klein jeans (yes, they all they them in their duffels) and asked Brooke to pose with them like the ad she she made famous–all the guys backwards, bending over and Brooke pointing to their behinds.
Another example of the mixed up world of teens and tweens. And another thing…Oops, sorry, I forgot. This isn’t my blog.
Why Meg – don’t let that stop you – my blog es tu blog!
So – did Brooke pose with the guys or not??
My sister-in-law went to prep school with Shields. I can’t tell those stories.
Shalom Jill,
Forget Brooke (although I’d probably kill for you SIL’s stories, but that’s the journalist in me), what about Disney’s first teen queen Annette Funicello?
Have you ever read the stories about how Disney had to bind the newly voluptuous Mousketeer?
B’shalom,
Jeff
I think that she probably should have been concerned when the shoot started with the photographer saying, “take your shirt off.”
I’m with J. Rowsey. There really isn’t any excuse from her parents on this whole issue. Methinks they doth protest too much! Wholly inappropriate. There is a cultural aspect to this – this is what we do to our daughters – we send them the message they their worth is wholly their appearance. I do feel sorry for Miley here – she may only be dimly aware at how badly her parents AND the publishing industry have exploited her. But money talks and in this case, screams. Sad.
Some interesting comments here from Howard Stern (when he’s right, he’s right) and the ladies on The View. And check out that picture of Miley and her dad. Whoa. Creepy!
http://tinyurl.com/6pmcfw
As suggested in the post and in a few comments, this is hardly the first pop culture event where a young, innocent girl suddenly becomes a sex symbol. I think it goes all the way back to Hedy Lamarr.
And yet every time it happens, it’s groundhog day again for the media and public. In a few years it will happen again. And once again the media will overcover it and people will be shocked.
To me this is a classic “tail wagging the dog” sociological phenomenon. The more the media talks about it, the more important people think it is. When people start talking about what the media isn’t reporting then maybe we’ll be getting somewhere.
And it’s hard to take Disney seriously. We know this means money for them and furthermore it’s not like they’re avoiding the topic on their TV network.