Miley Cyrus covers the new issue of Marie Claire ahead of hosting the MTV VMAs at the end of the month but also to talk about her Happy Hippie Foundation. Click here to watch the video at the bottom of the page to hear her talking about raising awareness for homelessness within the LGBT community, as young people struggle to find acceptance and cope with the rejection they experience in their homes, from their families. This is a reality I saw firsthand in my work with Covenant House Vancouver. For a lot of street kids, existing in an alley is preferable to the sh-t they took from the people who were supposed to love them the most.
Two years ago, Miley Cyrus was Public Enemy #1 after she twerked her way to infamy at the VMAs. Everyone had a prediction. She was bringing down the world. She was self-destructing. She was The Worst.
None of that ended up happening. In fact, you could say that Miley’s shown more growth the last couple of years than many of her peers. Both Miley and Taylor Swift have been criticised for their lack of cultural sensitivity, their privilege, their myopia. Which one, if any, do you think is most likely to have taken the time to listen to that feedback and process it?
Miley’s an easy target though. Because, well, she won’t put any clothes on or apologise for it, although she does say that she doesn’t understand why her nudity is so offensive when other images and messages are much more alarming:
"I don't get the violence revenge thing. That's supposed to be a good example? And I'm a bad role model because I'm running around with my titties out? I'm not sure how titties are worse than guns."
She’s referencing Taylor’s Bad Blood video, of course. But you could also apply what she’s saying to Instagram’s ridiculous propriety policies. Breast-feeding shots have to come down. Women freeing their nipples are not allowed. But somehow this is OK:
Women’s bodies are too often weaponised against them. Lenny Kravitz’s dick busts out of his pants and he’s not hurting for it. But when you hack into a celebrity’s phone and spread her breasts all over the internet, it’s meant to embarrass. Because… why is it embarrassing?
You’ll never be able to shut down all the hackers. But you might be able to take away their ammunition. When the exposing of the female form isn’t seen as some scandalous thing, when we stop being scandalised by a woman’s nakedness, it will cease to be a scandal – and therefore a silencing and supressing mechanism – when a woman gets naked. That seems to be Miley’s approach:
"I don't really stress too much about being out there. There's nothing left to catch me doing. You want to hack my e-mail so you can find my nude pictures? I'll just f-cking put them up."
Click here to read more from Miley in Marie Claire.