With the memorable (I use that lightly) performance at last weeks VMAs by the late-great Hannah Montana aka Miley Cyrus, people have been less than quiet about sharing their opinions on the young star. In this article posted by Noisey’s Jessica Skolnik (aptly named after the riot grrrl band Bikini Kill’s song Rah! Rah Replica), she makes valid points about the many obstacles young starlets face when transitioning from cute tween pop stars in their early teens to full on sex kittens in their early 20s.
Young female starlets deal with maturing not only emotionally and physically but sexually, but they also must deal with the transition in a society that condemns them for growing up. Skolnik offers a timeline of sorts, demonstrating what most young starlets (or at least ones in the past aka Brittany Spears, Christina Aguilera and Lindsay Lohan…remember her short-lived music career?) go through when growing up in the spot light.
However, one thing she says that I disagree with is how Cyrus and many other white starlets play on and exploit black female culture:
True Skolnik, however I don’t find Cyrus’ performance to have been devaluing black women’s sexuality at all. Women have been used in music entertainment to add sexual value to music videos and performances for decades, so why now is it finally a problem about devaluing a certain race/gender when it has been happening for such a long time? And why is it different for females than males to do it?
Personally I don’t think Cyrus’ performance devalued black women, just herself and her music.