To be fair to Miley Cyrus, she wasn’t the one who first said that her songs were about female empowerment, and I give her credit for not answering a question about female empowerment with a chomp, a hair twirl and a “WHA?” MTV’s Sway asked her if she thought that’s what her songs were about, and Miley responded:
“I think ‘Tamed’ does it the best, and ‘Liberty Walk’… It’s just about freeing yourself from anything you think is holding you back. And I think that’s really important, especially for girls, because so many people are told, ‘No, you can’t do something,’ or, ‘You need to be this because Mom and Dad say that, teachers say this.’ [My advice is to] really think about what you want to do for the rest of your life. There’s a short amount of time, when you think about it, and no day needs to go by wasted.”
[From MTV]
I do think in her own mind, Miley is an empowered young woman who is fighting for women’s rights with ill-fitting leotards, feathers and on-stage masturbation-lite. And maybe she is, who knows? But my absolute favorite thing is when she’s asked to give advice. At the ripe old age of 17, Miley tells young girls to “really think about what you want to do for the rest of your life.” Teenagers really think there’s nothing else, do they? I’m trying to remember if I was like that when I was 17 years old. I don’t think I was, but I remember being an a–hole. Here’s the video clip of Miley’s interview:
Also, in this MTV interview Miley claims that the song “Liberty Walk” was written “for women that feel like they’re stuck in abusive relationships, but it’s a dance song. So you think that must be kind of a sad ballad, but it’s a party song. … It’s about breaking free.” Miley has talked about abusive relationships before, and I’ve always wondered what her reference point is, because I seriously doubt Miley has been in an abusive romantic relationship before, and although I make jokes about The Mullet, I don’t think Billy Ray abused his daughter. Is she drawing from friends’ experiences? Is she just making this up as she goes along?
Header: Miley performing on June 20, 2010. Credit: WENN.
yuck
Miley, get off you high horse already. It’s time for your next diaper change.
I’m sure she’s given a platform, an X for positioning and list of bullet points.
The only thing she’s freeing herself from is clothing.
Oh chuckle.
Female empowerment!!!
Who you gonna believe?
Miley in scanty, highly sexualized get-ups, or your lying eyes?
Confucious says: A picture is worth a thousand words.
Miley Cyrus thinks?
I think the Wonder Woman underroos I wore in 1978 were more empowering to women than a Miley Cyrus song will ever be…
I don’t think I have heard even one of this child’s songs, so I cannot judge her music.
However, I have no doubt that her romantic relationships–young as she is–are fraught with power struggles and she may very well have been abused by a boyfriend. She’s attractive, popular and accomplished; no doubt she’s run in to more than one young man who would like to “put her in her place” out of his own insecurity. While many males are untroubled by female power (and this little girl has lots of power) there are many who find it repugnant.
Look, I know she’s ridiculous on a lot of levels, but MANY, MANY young women I counsel deal with this dynamic in their early romances. Girl has it together: good grades, athletic accomplishments, attractive and engaged. Guy comes along and systematically attempts to dismantle her self-confidence and then her accomplishements (“quit gymnastics, it makes your legs fat”; “stop playing the flute, you’re a geek”). In that sense, she may be singing about empowerment, in the fledgling manner with which she is able to perceive it.
Britney and Miley serve as a bellweather to how our culture treats young ladies–we would do well to pay attention.
She sings well.
Of course she does. She’s delusional.
omg, i loved my wonder woman underoos.
Oh puh-lease Miley, the female species is doing just fine without you. These artists always say the same thing, “it’s about female empowerment”. Truth is, they are actually bringing females down.(young ones mostly) I mean what’s so empowering about walking around with no pants, and wearing no panties?
she does not know of what she speaks.
I am just SO GRATEFUL that nobody interviewed me when I was 17. Now I can pretend I was never that idiotic and self-absorbed. Poor Miley will never be able to pretend this since it is all recorded for posterity!
Riley – AWESOME!! Underoos, yes!
I’ve gone on enough about Miley in other posts. My opinion of her hasn’t changed. Denise is right – she shoots herself in the foot with how she presents herself.
Every young kid feels the need to “fight the power”. That message isn’t unique or revolutionary, it’s been around since the beginning of rock and roll. Miley would do much better in delivering that message if she wasn’t equating sexuality with empowerment.
At her age we all knew everything about all subjects. Too bad she is a role model to so many young people.
Because obviously sex is the only way for women to be empowered. I really hate that word.
Do we really need more teens thinking they know better than their teachers and parents? Methinks not!
*Yawn* Yeah, Miley. Your awkward crotch-thrusting and booby-grabbing has left me feeling more empowered already.
What would women have done without YOUR fine example? Read Germaine Greer or Erica Jong’s books?
*Cracks open Katherine Hepburn’s autobiography*
She’s 17, has had a mega-career already, and she has more money than she can ever spend– NOTHING is holding her back– except her ultra-immaturity and ignorance of life. Too bad she’ll never get smarter…
She dates men (i.e., several years her very young junior), dresses like a slut and then tries to tell us she’s trying to help empower women. So in order to be empowered I need to show as much skin as possible and sleep with older men as a teenager…
Shut the hell up!!! And stop using the word empowerment to describe selling yourself short for attention!!!
hmmm…i don’t know too many “empowered” females who gyrate half-naked in a giant bird’s nest.
Oh how I like all of these OLD feminist ladies who have never heard of the “third wave”. Read up, ladies, THEN blurt out something that actually means something. Miley is doing great considering her age, and considering how all of you still think that a proper “female” needs to be nice and sweet as opposed to herself.
Embee are you insane??? Seriously Britney and Miley are a bellweather to how our culture treats women?? Not at all! They put themselves into compromising situations daily parading around in totally inappropriate clothing, wearing no undergarments, dancing on stripper poles, dating inappropraite boys/men by their own choise, etc etc. If they wonder why people dont respect them much – HELLO their actions are the reason. These women have made their own beds for money and fame – they are not margins for how society treats women. Thats is an insult.
LOl @ Rosanna!
Excuse us old ladies for having morals and values. Miley is far from a good role model for young ladies. Just so you know, I’m not old at all, and have two young daughters. I thank God they never liked Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus. That’s because mommy taught them well. They know to wear panties and pants. Empowerment is about intelligence and respect for oneself, not this crap Hollywood is trying to shove down our throats, and our kids throats.
@ Rosanna: third-wave feminism–really?? I thought they were the ones *against* portraying women as sexualized objects, who existed solely for men’s enjoyment? Or are those outfits in honor of Betty Friedan?
This is just the “feminism” and “female empowerment” label being used by people like Miley to cover themselves with, because they can’t be bothered to look at their own ideals and see if they’re hypocrites or not. I think they’re just too afraid to call a spade a spade: they’re materialists, out to get as much money and things as they can. Oh, wait, is that what she means by “empowerment”?
Miley hon, look around you and name a singer who ISN’T about female empowerment, one who sings about how wonderful it is to be under a man’s thumb, getting beat up and told how awful she is. Please. You’re nothing new or unusual just because you’re not wearing pants or because you’re 17 and slutting it up after being a Disney girl.
Atticus, how can Miley “fight the power” when a multi-national entertainment corporation called Disney put her on the map. This is all delusional; I’m wondering if her PR ppl aren’t feeding her crap/lines that she doesn’t understand and is parrotting this stuff which is why it is so ridiculous. Otherwise, she really has nothing to say about anything since she has lived in a celebrity bubble all her life. Is she even attending school or receiving schooling or is that put aside as she races to obscurity.
i’m gonna have a buddha made with miley’s face on it.
she is so, so wise.
Third wave feminism, my ass. I doubt Cyrus could SPELL feminism without a run up to it and a quiet place to sound it out. She owes whatever career she enjoys to a mega-corporation’s publicity machine, opportunistic parents, and Autotune.
i don’t doubt that she thinks she’s empowering women and that she may have had an abusive relationship, lets face it billy ray doesn’t exactly keep her on a tight leash, she could have had a bad relationship at any point in her teens. like most teenagers they think they know everything and she’ll probably cringe at saying things like this in the future but sure, she’s not here to be a role model for adults, she’s here for teens and she doesn’t really do much wrong OR get up to much that other teen girls don’t do.
Jover, good point. It’s called “biting the hand that feeds you”. She’s trying too hard to break free of the mold that Disney put her in (that seems to be her perception of it…others may call that ‘being given a golden opportunity’). Unfortunately for her, she thinks that in order to establish herself as a credible, independent woman, she needs to trot around wearing next to nothing and do pole dances at award programs.
God bless mileys talentless little heart! does nt she know that pretty girls dressed in skanky cloths who have no singing ability are a dime a dozen? she s nothing special, as soon as her fans are old enough to realize she has no talent whatsoever other then singing in nearly nothing onstage she ll be another has been.
Some of you must have been real together uptighties when you were 17. I was a self-centered, immature, total a$$hole. Like you’re supposed to be. It’s called youth. I think her answers were pretty good, myself. Most of H’wood and the music industry couldn’t come up with anything better even the ones double her age.
And yet again, being an uneducated slut is packaged as female empowerment. Yawn.
PFFFT! Miley doesn’t have a clue when it comes to REAL LIFE.When I was 17 , I had to deal with the fact that my dad was diagnosed with a brain tumor and the fact that he could possibly pass away at any given time.My dad actually passed away in February last year , 3 months after my 19th birthday.I was also dealing with an
abusive friendship aswell, but decided to end it. I wonder how Miley would cope without her dad.
@ Caz
So sorry for your loss.
I don’t know why you would assume she has never been in an abusive relationship… I was seriously beaten by a boyfriend when I was 15 and its seriously insulting to assume that just because a girl is young means that she has not experienced real pain. Embee is right.
Boy you people are sooooo quick to be nasty about her – not saying she doesn’t dig her own grave whenever she opens her mouth, but JESUS CHRIST SHE’S 17!!!
No one makes any sense at 17. They all think they’ve got it figured out and they’ll marry their high-school sweetheart and that they know who they are and all that.
Just be lucky you weren’t bitched about by thousands of strangers on the internet at 17…that probably would have hurt a bit, wouldn’t it?
By the way, I think she looks tacky-ish, but I think she’s in her feigned “experimental” stage. She’ll rebound at some point, although it may be a while.
Thanks Atticus, does this girl realize she has no fans and the ones she has are actually just studio audience members for these lame industry sponsored “award” shows and morning talk shows. Does she really believe that the Miley Cyrus Deranged Bird Tour is going to get many takers. She is going to have a hard fall; btw what are the numbers for her recent movie. Notice she hasn’t said anything about that pedestrian venture. WHo saw it?
LMAO. Oh, celebitchy is on a roll! First crazed sex poodles and now a 17-year old claiming her songs are about female empowerment. Please! She’s one of the worst role models for today’s young women with her clothes, inappropriate sexual actions on stage, and having sex before the age of 16 (at least she hasn’t gotten pregnant).
I think she needs to look at other young women who are doing very well without hooking up with guys in their 20s and rubbing against a stripper pole and see how grossly ignorant she is in thinking she’s about female empowerment.
I was mulling over the idea of her being 17 and what was I like at 17. My opinion of her as reflected in my comments is that of a 35 year old woman who knows better. 17 year old me likely would have been more supportive of her. Kind of like when I watch the old 90210 reruns. Back when the show first came out, I was all about Brenda and thought she was the coolest chick ever. Now when I see the reruns I think, what a self centered, dramatic, ungrateful little bitch, her parents should ground her for life!
Miley conducts herself like most 17 year olds probably would in her situation. That’s when Tish and Billy are supposed to step in and give her the adult perspective and some parental guidance. Of course…seems like their perspective is the same as hers, so perhaps we’ve solved the problem right there.
i USE to like miley/hannah, but as she grew i noticed some of her songs were not like a NORMAL “empowering” singer. For example- super girl. it sings how she is so hot,awesome, popular, etc. Just listen to the song and you will know what im talking about. i understand she can do more things when she grows up. but miley, growing up and growing into a slut are two different things honey.
“Miley is doing great considering her age, and considering how all of you still think that a proper “female” needs to be nice and sweet as opposed to herself.”
Something that Ive learned throughout the years is that being a lady doesn’t mean your stuck in victorian times but you don’t have to show alot of skin and give people lap dances to be considered sexy. Yes she is sure of herself, which is a good thing but she expresses it in the wrong way. Im confident and I don’t act or dress like that. I think that some other young stars like Emma Watson and Selena Gomez are better examples of young women today, Miley just seems to be turning into a Britney Spears. Intelligence will get you alot further than short shorts and D cups believe it or not