The Confusion of Miley Cyrus
The Miley Cyrus performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards last night was fascinating. A few opinion pieces came across my desk this morning before I watched it myself. As the performance unfolded I felt a combination of shock, awe, revulsion, and despair. Was this the worst possible outcome of (white) feminism? White women lowering themselves to the basest of male behavior while joining men in sexually objectifying themselves and treating black women as lower beasts? Some opinion pieces paint Cyrus as merely giving the audience a stronger dose of what the public already rewards in young women. Others focus on the racist misogyny in the performance, with Cyrus treating black women the way both white and black men routinely treat women of all colors on stage. Robin Thicke’s mother weighed in, expressing her disapproval of Cyrus’ lewd gestures toward her son, which is funny, given her son's video of naked women portrayed as stupid animals in need of "domesticating."