Are pop stars like Miley Cyrus empowered or exploited?
Twerking All Over the Place: The Politics of Female Pop Stardom
Many people have wondered if Miley Cyrus is making just a few more mistakes than strictly necessary as she transforms from the fresh faced Hanna Montana into the flirty, twerking, smirking performer she has become. Can that really be the Disney icon licking a sledgehammer in the nude in the video for the song Wrecking ball?
Miley Cyrus explains the Wrecking Ball performance was inspired in part by the video for Sinead O'Connor's classic, Nothing Compares 2 U. But while Sinead O'Connor was flattered, she wasn't terribly impressed.
"I am happy to hear I am somewhat of a role model for you and I hope that because of that you will pay close attention to what I am telling you. I am extremely concerned for you that those around you have led you to believe, or encouraged you in your own belief, that it is in any way 'cool' to be naked and licking sledgehammers in your videos. It is in fact the case that you will obscure your talent by allowing yourself to be pimped, whether its the music business or yourself doing the pimping. You shouldn't let them make a fool of you".Sinead O'Connor
Soon her open-letter -- and Miley Cyrus's tweets -- went viral.
And Miley Cyrus also made some disparaging remarks about Sinead O'Connor's mental state and her time in rehab. That didn't sit well with Sinead O'Connor.
And then there's Rihanna. The Barbados born singer is best-known to many for her stormy and abusive relationship with singer Chris Brown. Though, last week she made fresh waves with the release of the video for Pour it Up.
It's a video jam-packed with so much pole dancing and twerking many thought it made Wrecking Ball look like, well, like Hanna Montana. The online music video service Vevo pulled it after just 10 minutes.
At The Linden School -- a private, non-profit, "girl-centered" school in Toronto -- these videos are being hotly debated among the teenaged girls who make up Rihanna's and Miley Cyrus's core audiences. We heard from a group on girls on this subject.
- Jen Gerson is the National Post's Calgary correspondent. She published a piece on this topic last week and she was in Calgary.
- Roxane Gay is a writer who has also weighed in on this topic -- in a piece on Friday for Salon. She is also an assistant professor of English at Eastern Illinois University and she was in Charleston, Illinois.
- Melissa Benn is a British journalist and the author of the forthcoming book What Should We Tell Our Daughters? The Pleasure and Pressures of Growing Up Female. It will be released in Canada next month. She was in London, England.
What are your thoughts on Miley Cyrus? Is she exploited or empowered?
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This segment was produced by The Current's Pacinthe Mattar, Peter Mitton and Idella Sturino.
Last Word - Camille Paglia on Miley Cyrus
Lots of people criticized Miley Cyrus after the MTV awards, but culture critic Camille Paglia did it in the pages of Time magazine. Her take was a little different. She said Miley Cyrus was clumsy, flat-footed and cringingly unsexy. But she suggested the real problem is that the pressure to tour prevents young singers from acquiring emotional depth or creative skill. So many are just feeble imitators of Madonna.
Ms. Paglia gushed over Madonna's talent in a New York Times article more than 20 years ago. It unsettled some readers because she argued the Material Girl represented the future of feminism. But Camille Paglia believes she got the Last Word on that subject.
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