I can’t remember the last time I saw Miley Cyrus fully clothed, and I bet you can’t either. Ever since her 2013 VMA’s appearance, when she infamously bent her body into a ninety degree angle and twerked on Robin Thicke, Cyrus has become a sort of sex icon, wearing as little as possible and leading a risque lifestyle full of raunchy music videos and glamour. I can still remember her Hannah Montana days, where she doubled as both a country star and average teen, Miley Stewart, heeding the advice of her family and friends as she struggled to balance superstardom and everyday life. But this old Miley is gone, replaced by a sexualized pop diva who recently hosted the 2015 VMA’s, and rather successfully, too, until her run-in with Nicki Minaj. This new Miley is confident and carefree, so much so that clothing has become an unnecessary hassle for her live fast, die young, lifestyle, for better or for worse.
In one sense, I applaud Cyrus for being so confident with herself and her body. For many women, simply wearing a bathing suit is an event that requires months of preparation, but for Miley, a birthday suit is daily dress. During her hosting of the VMA’s, Cyrus not only wore an uncountable amount of miniscule outfits, but even flashed her nipple on national television and continued to speak as if it never happened. Her “I don’t care” attitude is unmistakably obvious, and seems to be an almost forced persona which she upholds in order to increase her celebrity status. If true, her scheme is most certainly working, as her popularity has risen substantially since she began her blithe antics. I can’t help but to wonder, though, if this new, sexualized Miley Cyrus is empowering females or further objectifying them through her risque self-portrayal in the global media spotlight.
One argument is that Cyrus is breaking boundaries, by showing the world that women do not have to follow traditional dress codes and are allowed to embrace their sexuality. Miley, more than any celebrity at the moment, exposes her body to the paparazzi’s camera flashes and videographer’s lenses as if to say, “I know I’m beautiful. Look at me,” which is respectable, to an extent. On other media fronts, models, actresses, and other female activists are embracing the Free The Nipple campaign, a movement which fights for the rights of women to show their nipples, like men, in advertisement photographs, social media posts, and public breastfeeding situations. But, unlike Miley, Free The Nipple activists pair their exposed breasts with a clear, meditated message regarding equality, transcribed from their website below:
Free The Nipple is a film, an equality movement, and a mission to empower women across the world. We stand against female oppression and censorship, both in the United States and around the globe.
Miley, on the other hand, exposes herself for the purpose of novelty and sexuality, instead of for change, and seems to intentionally fish for the eyes of lusty men rather than stand individually in her own bare beauty.
From her nip slip on the VMA’s, to an Instagram post she posted shortly afterwards showing herself topless in bed, to multiple other sexualized escapades we’ve seen in her recent productions, I’ve come to believe that Miley Cyrus’s sexual persona is not a feministic venture, but a media stunt. By this understanding, too, Cyrus is not only doing nothing the feminist cause, but is actively working against is as she uses her body for fame, instead of her talent. Before the Robin Thicke twerking incident, Cyrus had practically fallen of the celebrity map. She disappeared somewhere in the fog of all those Hannah Montana movies, only to be resurrected on all fours with her butt in the air dancing to a song called, “Blurred Lines”, and the rest is history.
If you take a closer look at Miley Cyrus’s music career, or simply compare her to more established artists, you’ll realize the Cyrus never had, and never will have, the musical chops to make it as a successful musician. It is because of this that she has resorted to drastic attention-grabbing behavior while in the media spotlight, using her body as her moneymaker rather than her voice. They say that anyone can make it in Hollywood, Los Angeles, the city of angels. What they don’t say, is how.
Follow Matthew Zamudio on Twitter at @neutralcolored
