The seduction of Hannah Montana
First Britney. Then Lindsay. And now: Miley Cyrus. Do they ever learn?
By “they,” I don’t mean the girls. I mean their parents. Where are they? What the hell are they thinking?
I don’t know how many times I’ve asked those questions over the years as a parade of young Hollywood starlets has burst onto the scene with wholesome charm, achieved dizzying fame and fortune, and then crashed back to Earth half-naked with corrupted souls and drug-glazed eyes.
Are parents without scruples more likely to sacrifice their daughters to the wolves of the entertainment industry? Or does show business sap all the common sense out of mothers and fathers who should know better? Either way, they are guilty of child abandonment.
Cyrus, for those of you without girls in the house, is the 15-year-old singer/actress with a runaway hit TV show (“Hannah Montana”), lucrative concert tour, and a Disney empire valued at nearly $1 billion. (Fortunately, my 7-year-old daughter is more fanatical about horses than cable pop stars.) The Mickey Mouse company is now in full meltdown mode over Cyrus’s latest photo shoot gone awry.
The photographer was famed celebrity snapper Annie Leibovitz. The magazine is Vanity Fair. Why those two names didn’t set off alarm bells the size of Texas for the Cyrus adults is beyond me. Leibovitz has a reputation for talking subjects into titillating poses under the guise of “art.” She put Demi Moore naked and pregnant on the cover of Vanity Fair.
She also put rising glamour girls Keira Knightly and Scarlett Johansson on the magazine’s cover unclothed; Johansson’s back side was completely exposed. Another promising young actress, Rachel McAdams, had the dignity, class, and self-posession to refuse to appear in the photo spread. When she arrived on set and discovered what the editors were up to, she walked out and fired her representative.
So where were Miley’s parents during the photo shoot? Dad hung out for a while posing for some of the photos (which featured bare-midriffed Miley draped across his knee); Vanity Fair quickly posted some video footage of those scenes to somehow “prove” that Miley wasn’t manipulated:
But according to the NYPost, Billy Ray left the set before the controversial nude photo was taken–and somehow, Miley’s grandmother and teacher who were left to supervise her had no clue about what was going on, either:
Miley’s parents did leave the shoot and were not present for the final shot, nor did they see any digital images of the shot in question,” a Miley spokeswoman told The Post yesterday.
Her grandmother and her teacher were left to supervise, according to People magazine.
“Annie convinced them it was going to be artistic,” a source told People. “Her parents are mortified.”
According to the Vanity Fair article, Miley herself recognized she was being coaxed into the shot by a cunning Leibovitz:
And though the pose was Annie Leibovitz’s idea, the topless but demure portrait accompanying this article could be seen as another baby step, as it were, toward a more mature profile. “I think it’s really artsy,” Cyrus says. “It wasn’t in a skanky way.… And you can’t say no to Annie. She’s so cute. She gets this puppy-dog look and you’re like, O.K.”
Somebody should have been there to say no. And there were ample opportunities to intervene.
Like when Leibovitz coaxed the 15-year-old into taking her clothes off.
Or when she coaxed the teenager into getting made up with smoky eyes and ruby-stained lips.
Or when she gave the girl a silk blanket and mussed up her hair and told her to look over her shoulder and look like she had just awoken after a one-night stand.
The adults surrounding Miley Cyrus shamelessly abdicated their responsibility to protect her best interests. Mom and Dad got caught up in the Vanity Fair glam. Vanity Fair didn’t see a 15-year-old girl. They saw magazine sale dollar signs. And Annie Leibovitz saw skin, skin, skin and another notch in her belt.
The parents, grandmother, and teacher are not alone in shouldering blame. Shame on Liebovitz and the pretentious left-wing editor of Vanity Fair, Graydon Carter.
“Artists” and “literary magazine editors?” Nonsense. They’re the elitist version of Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis and his video camera operators, coaxing girls to take it all off–just with more refined tones and high-minded pretentiousness.
***
Andrew Bolt lays into Graydon Carter: “Ah, yes, the poseur Carter, who pushes sleaze while preaching eco-salvation like some New Age prophet – a Gulfstream prophet in a Dior hairshirt, that is. Such a phoney. Save the environment, he bellows, while trashing the environment that actually matters most. Our moral one.”
Leibovitz used the trick dirty-old-men artists have employed to seduce vulnerable girls through the ages: she persuaded Miley that the pictures were “artistic”. But this is no celebration of young beauty. It is a blatant bedroom shot. Leibovitz saw the shock potential, the lip-smacking titillation, in posing a star known for her wholesome, girlish role in Disney’s Hannah Montana as if photographed by her deflowering first boyfriend.
What is more cynical is the decision by Vanity Fair’s supposed high-moralist Graydon Carter to publish the pictures. He saw their potential in selling his magazine’s special teen issue, since the chief excitement surrounding girl-women such as Cyrus concerns their entry on to the sexual marketplace. Years ago a website even ticked off the days and hours until the moment Britney Spears was “legal”.
It is the madness of Britney, and the drug problems and food disorders of Lindsay Lohan – both were also preteen Disney stars – that should prey upon the consciences of Leibovitz, Carter and Miley’s parents, who attended the shoot. Miley should be guided with care and respect into the adult stage of her career (if that’s what she wants), bypassing the money and headline-making phase of ravaged Lolita.
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Categories: Hollyweird
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Hollywood is a brutal and sexist place for women. The Hannah Montana thing will be dead by the time she is 18-20,and so where do you go?
You parlay your sensuality, so you can have other roles and a job in modern hollywood…probably play a prostitute or stripper.
Hollywood has no room for a Katherine Hepburn or Maureen O’Hara these days.
#94 said:
I 100% agree. Nothing more than aggressive marketing. Hell, I think this whole model was cast years ago when Brooke Shields was depicted as a 13-year-old hooker in ads managed by her own mother in the 1970s.
Disney is in on it too. They probably wouldn’t allow her to go on a risky ski trip if she tried, so this whole story about them being “shocked” by the photos is pure bunk. They’re probably knee-deep in expanding the portfolio of age-sensitive marketing and advertising available to Cyrus’ demographic as we speak.
Don’t you think it’s high time that we raid polygamist compounds and remove the children from their secluded environment so they can be exposed to “normal” societal values through popular magazines and TV shows?
That would show them how young girls are supposed to be treated. It would also teach them clearly that it is wrong for 15-year-old girls to be used as sex objects for men – unless, of course, it is done in an artistic way for a large sum of money.
/sarc off
They really are after the kids.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=62907
I find myself agreeing with Mookie’s last couple of posts.
Strange.
Oh, absolutely. But there’s a hell of a lot more media driven outrage over these pictures than over 31 underage girls having been pregnant and/or given birth.
It’s ok, PB. I can virtually guarantee that I’ll say something you’ll disagree with tomorrow and the world will be back to normal.
Alas, that is how it must be. Call this our “Christmas Truce”, if you will.
Can we skip the soccer game? I’m a little out of shape.
Actually Im not a bit surprised. Although Miley got caught up in this mess, her parents and other guardians are responsible for her protection. Vanity Fair is no better than offering up kiddie porn here, although its “artistic” in their eyes, to a kiddie fiddler, its just the thing to get them going and looking for more.
This time they have gone to far… I say string them up…
From what I can tell, Billy Ray is a good father who’s taken great care to make sure his daughter isn’t exploited in the least and to keep her wholesome. You may not watch Miley’s show, but since I have a sister and cousins at that age, I occasionally do. There isn’t even a hint of impropriety or uncouth behavior (Billy Ray plays her dad on the show too).
Other pop-star parents aren’t nearly as careful with their kids and have allowed them to fall into the deepest pits of evil. I don’t even have to list examples, you know just by watching the news who I’m talking about.
My point is, the one time Billy Ray slips up and lets his guard down with a unscrupulous photographer whom he thought he could trust, his daughter’s picture comes out a little racier than any parent would like. Please put it in that context – other famous parents have a string of foulups a mile long, while Billy Ray slips up once, something I’m almost positive he’s kicking himself for now. Please do some more research into the both of them – I’m sure you’d be impressed by how they’ve worked hard to maintain decent family values over the past few years.
Leibovitz, Vanity Fair and the adults who were supposed to be watching over her should be prosecuted for something along the lines of seduction of a child.
Leibovitz is over-rated and has gotten over with publicity shots for years, selling skin.
She must have many problems to even think it well to pose young girls in seductive modes. Is she a lesbian?
Anyone hearing that she wants to take “artsy” photos should know arsty equates with sex.
Where were her parents for this shoot?
If it was my child I would never have left her alone with Annie.
The child is 15!!! I hope Vanity Fair loses money and Annie loses jobs.
I had to look it up–just what I thought, she is a lesbian–duh!
No wonder all the skin pics of young girls!
“Leibovitz had a close romantic relationship with noted writer and essayist Susan Sontag”—would you leave your daughter with her even after seeing her other “work” for Vanity?
The pics of Miley and dad are “Lolitaish” also–pretty sickening.
I’m curious. What makes anyone think this wasn’t Miley’s idea to begin with? I mean, she IS 15… it’s not like she’s 6… and she’s not stupid. $5 says she waited for daddy to leave the shoot fully intending to do something like this.
If it had been coerced or Miley felt uncomfortable her billion dollar empire would have had lawyers tying up Vanity Fair six ways from Sunday, as would Disney, five minutes after she left the shoot.
Instead it’s kept on the hush until we find out about it this way, all over the media and internet. Any publicity is good publicity.
Tanksoldier, you have a good hook on it. However, think you can throw in the fact that her father sang ONE song. (I never heard another one by him, except the Achey Breaky sphincter-lock).
Along with her budding maturity and his cry for another shot at fame, the combination is devastating to a young lady.
My take.
I did not like the picture of Miley posing with her dad either. I thought it was too provocative for a father-daughter picture. I’m not sure he’s the brightest bulb in the pack. Nor do I have any respect for Vanity Fair or Annie Leibovitz who knew full well what they were doing. Artistic, my Aunt Fanny. Even sadder, is that Miley looks about 12 in the pictures. Why is it imperative that people undress for pictures anyway? Why have we come to the point where sex is the only thing that sells?
On-my-soap-box said:
Every time I saw her picture I prayed – “GOD, not her” as I could see it coming.
Ditto Soap. I have been saying the same thing, but figured Billy Ray would not let that happen.
Wouldn’t this be considered Porn if the authorities found this on a computer? Half nude photo of a minor! The Editors should be arrested.
What is this Society coming to? No God, No Morals, No Consequences.
Parents also need to impress on their children that these characters on Disney, etc, are simply that, “characters”.
Our daughter is 14 and, luckily, has never been one to follow the crowd when a fad such as Hannah Montana comes around.
Since she was a small child we’ve been teaching her that television, movies, etc, are for entertainment purposes only. Do not confuse someone like Hannah Montana with a real person. You have no idea what this person is like in real life. So far, it seems to have worked….
Like many other posters on this site have stated, you have to be a parent, not a friend.
Mind you…some of the rubbish parents dress their little kids in, in those all-American beauty pageants, is far more disturbing…..
I wish the US was not so hidebound.
Young girls are often the most attractive they will ever be. It doesn’t hurt to celebrate that now and then. The bigger problem is the unrestrained lust of the beholders, probably learned from tv which lets you (trains you) to look where you damn well please and with tivo as long as you please. Sure it works. And then you meet a real woman (or man) and they chew your tawdry self a new….
Good grief. If we keep on doing this we’ll be as bad as the Saudis et al, who can’t be in car with a woman outside of the family, put women in bags in public, and basically own them and their sexuality as a means to control the ill-behavior of the young men in their society.
Lighten up and get a book on art history and consider this topic anew. Or better, go to a couple big museums and learn to see and think about what you see some more.
I have read almost all the comments. Got to get back to work, you know. One other thing is missing:
Never leave your daughter with someone you don’t trust 100%. Ever.
And yes, I have daughters — seven. And six sons.
I might as well add something else. It’s also very easy to take the remote control back from the children and tell them that their obsession with whatever program is officially over.
Just as easy is the task of imposing a stricter dress code. Skin-tight tanks and slut-wear shorts will never be permitted. Put on a nice dress, for crying out loud.
Parents should be benevolent dictators in their homes.
I think this is what Leibovitz has in mind
And appropriately:
The Waltz of Treachery
Thenardier
What to do? What to say?
Shall you carry our treasure away?
What a gem! What a pearl!
Beyond rubies is our little girl!
How can we speak of debt?
Let’s not haggle for darling Cosette!
When Glenn Beck did an interview with Billy Ray last year, it drove him crazy that Billy Ray kept saying he wanted to be Miley’s best friend and left the discipline to his wife. It was driving Glenn “crazy” and he asked him if he was a “cowardly guy”. He also said “But there`s got to be a lot of people that are watching TV saying, “You don`t need to be your daughter`s best friend. You need to be her dad.” I don’t always agree with Glenn Beck, but he was right on the mark here.
Secondsight #119
There’s a vast difference between the way the Saudis treat their women and this
NO BIG DEAL??? I have read the posts and for those of you that think this is no big deal have not been paying attention. The other “fallen” girls started small and then their lives escalated out of control in a hurry.
The other point I would like to make is that it sure appeared, for once, that our young ladies were going to have a decent roll model for a change. MC has hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of young ladies looking up to her. So MC decides to do a provocative photo shoot and some of you say it is no big deal compared to…
Sorry, IT IS A BIG DEAL!
Like Michelle said, it is good her 7 year old (who might otherwise look up to MC) is into horses.
I did not see this until this morning and I am saddened by this seemingly sweet girl being conned into taking this picture. I am the mother of two sweet teen girls, one of which just turned 16. I think parental involvement is the key to keeping kids on the straight and narrow. My girls have watched through the last ten years as young actors that they admired turn into drug users, and smut selling anorexics. Thank goodness these people are not their role models, but so many kids have looked up to these girls as the ideal. So very tragic in my opinion.
Please don’t flame … I honestly didn’t find the pose itself provacative or even very suggestive; it shows no more flesh than any common halter top. The lighting/contrast however did make it appear somewhat sultry but I submit that that aspect is within the art of photography. I do agree though that the parents failed miserably.
My two cents for what ever it is worth is this is nothing more than child pornography. Where are the authorities and why are they not going after this so called artist/photographer for her sexual abuse of a child. In recent years all I have seen in national and local news reports is how sting operations run by the national or local authorities drag in pedophiles accused of stalking young teenage girls on the internet and are captured as they show up to meet an underage girl. I find this disturbing and disgusting and call shame on Vanity Fair for trafficking in child pornography while feeding the lust of every pedophile in the world, not that I would ever buy their magazine and will make it a point to find out who their sponsors are to reward them properly by boycotting their products. This episode in our rapidly deteriorating society bothers me greatly in how this is being considered no big deal by the elite MSM and some commenters on this sight. If it is considered a crime to visit child pornography websites, down load their sick and twisted data, and traffic in children for sexual abuse why should this incident not be treated any differently. What a very bad message this family has sent to little girls that idolize Hannah Montana and all she stands for. /Rant off
So who’s telling the truth? I heard that Vanity Fair said both Miley & her parents were shown the photos & had no problem with them. And come on, a 15 year old is too naive to know that when she takes her clothes off & poses with nothing moroe than a sheet, she is posing half naked? If she is that dumb, she is too dumb to breathe. If at 15 you don’t know you shouldn’t pose that way, what do you know? What DID she think she was taking her clothes off for???? Fresh air?!?!
If I recall MM was critsizing the continued sexualization of young girls several years ago when she commented on “The Factor” about girls underwear with very provactive sayings and her concern that her daughters would go from diapers to a thong before they even had a chance to grow up.
If you think I am being harsh-check out the local clothes store at T-get/W-Mrt, and etc and you will see things that even Victorias won’t sell to that young 4-tweenager demographic.
GSP
Ditto Boomer’s comment that this is child pornography. Look, if you caught a middle-aged man taking this picture of a 15-year-old girl in his bedroom, you wouldn’t even set bail. But if the photographer makes enough money, and has enough liberal friends, he/she can be an artist instead of a child pornographer. This is really sick. Miley seems like a smart kid, I hope the takes a different turn from her predecessors who are now in/out of rehab.
Imagine if the gender of the photographer was male-he would be in jail and become “Bubba’s girlfriend”.
Sadly, if annie liebowitz is arrested, she will get the martha stewart treatment and come back stronger than when she went in.
GSP
OT: I have a photography degree, actively shoot with a yahoogroup dedicated to my work and a website in the design stage.
Billy Ray and Tish have always been portrayed as very protective and hands on parents for Miley in her career. This sorta shoots the heck out of that PR image, doesn’t it? They can’t be living under a rock–not aware of the reputation of Vanity Fair and Annie. Even I, an unsophisticated librarian in small town Michigan, know Vanity & Annie, and would NEVER leave a 15-year-old ALONE with them. On the plus side. . .there are enough celeb idiots in the world that this incident will soon be replaced by another celeb gaffe. Gives those of us in fly over country something to giggle at and take our minds off our problems.
Naked 15 year old girl.
Photo shoot.
This is child pornography. Where is the prosecuting attorney/
Kids “growing up” too fast…is this really what being grown up is all about? We’ve defined “growing up” as getting to do whatever you want, with whoever you want, no matter what the consequences. It is when we (hopefully) get older and wiser and retrospective that we realize how foolish it was to have wasted our youth on such mindless stuff as pop music and pop culture.
What happened to aspiring to be helpful and important to society? Now everybody wants to be an idol, a rock star, a star. If you are one of the few who actually do, you’re really just another media slave, only of value if you continue to be entertaining or controversial enough. Of course, where would the media be without us? Why do we buy this garbage and perpetuate this?
Philippians 4:8 has great advice for us all: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”
The folks who see nothing wrong with this have no sense of family values and little or no sense of morality. These secular immoral relativists of the liberal left either can’t or won’t judge evil – and the Pope clearly articulated the problem this creates during his recent visit.
If you are a parent trying to rear a young girl or boy to responsible adulthood, it is difficult to find any role models outside the family (and sometimes even inside the family). Hannah Montana was successful because wholesomeness does sell regardless of the evil doers in the entertainment industry.
Miley Cyrus, a relatively sheltered 15 year old, was tricked and her parents or guardians were not there to intercede. (This is exactly how evil plays its hand. Probe for just one moment of weakness or inattention.) If I was Billy Rae, I would be looking for some payback – and I don’t mean via the lawsuit route. Maybe it would be appropriate to give at least one woman, Leibovitz, equality in the “let’s go outside and settle this” arena.
Everyone; Miley her parents, and other relatives had their eyes wide open. People are concerned about “expoliting” a young naive girl. Give it a rest. What do you think her Dad, Disney, and Miley herself have been doing for a couple of years now. How about $125 tickets to a concert that teeny boppers had to see, and parents had to fork over. Who is being exploited there? This photographer had a reputation; they all knew it. Ive seen pictures of Miley in her concerts wearing things that my daughter at the same age would not have been allowed out of my house in. This whole family knows that in our demented society, that these child stars need “street cred” to shed their innocent images, and enter the perverse world of modern young entertainment. Just look at Timberlake, Britney, Aguliaera and see their transformations from innocents to sex objetcs to make them marketable to a recod buying public that sees innocence as (unmarketable) “goody goody” traits. So lets please stop the pity party for Miley; she and her handlers knew what they were doing. Disney couldnt be happier, no matter what they say publicly.
This past Sunday our church service was led by the youth group. What a great group of kids! At any rate, they did a little skit where about 10 of them were famous people – Paris Hilton, Tony Hawk, Britney Spears, etc…
In summation they brought the message home that as teenagers in this world they need to choose their role models carefully, not to get caught up in the ‘bling’ and showmanship of these celebrities and their lifestlyes. Ultimately, the more appropriate role model is Jesus. I must admit it was just refreshing to see that these youngsters get it. It’s unfortunate that this young person has been exploited in this way. It’s highly inappropriate, shame on everyone involved.
She 15, she’s not an idiot. She wasn’t tricked and her family knew exactly what was happening at the time. What they didn’t expect was the blowback and criticism it got. And when it came back to bite them in the butt, they starting backtracking and playing the victim role. Don’t fall for their BS.
If people wouldn’t buy these trashy magazines they wouldn’t do stuff like this. Why is America so fascinated with pop culture when there are real issues we should be educating ourselves about. If people spent 1/2 as much time arming themsleves with knowledge of how the jihadists were working their way into our society as they do with reading trashy pop culture magazines this country would be much better equiped to REALLY fight a war against terrorists.
Money doesn’t walk into vermin’s paws. We keep feeding the vermin.
And look where McAdams is compared to Johannsen and Knightly.
Comment #21 has it perfectly right. This is nothing new. The winners here are Vanity Fair which will sell a ton of copies and Miley Cyrus who now has way more name recognition among those without tween daughters.
And anyone who says this is child pornography is deluding themselves. It’s too racy for a 15-yr-old. But let’s not weaken the horrors of child pronography by throwing that term at something that doesn’t deserve it.
So, at what point are Child Endangerment charges going to be filed against Annie Leibovitz and Vanity Fair?
Nude (or mostly nude and clearly provocative) photos of underaged children are ILLEGAL in all 50 states. Why the hell haven’t the Feds come down like a hammer on Vanity Fair and confiscated all the copies of the magazine?
[sarc]Oh yeah, I forgot. it’s Hollywood and the Entertainment Industry, the American Privileged Elites. They live by different laws than the rest of us.[/sarc]
Disgusting.
I’ll bite. YES.
snausage said:
Mind you…some of the rubbish parents dress their little kids in, in those all-American beauty pageants, is far more disturbing…..
Once again, Snausage to the rescue with no sequitor moral relativism !
Oh for the love of Pete. Annie Leibovitz is a fantastic photographer with great skill at fusing controversy and beauty. Her lesbian orientation is neither here nor there.
That’s like saying men shouldn’t hire Leonardo da Vinci to paint their portrait. Leonardo was gay, after all.
You’re here. You belong there.
@BOB #5
I’m with you on this. The only thing I found shocking about this whole thing is that people were making a big deal out of it. The picture isn’t lewd, nor does it objectify her. . .it looks like she just woke up from a nap.
Abuse of innocence? Puhleez. I see neither how she was abused, nor do I see how she wasn’t aware what was going on. She was seduced by Vanity Faire into what? Having a picture taken where she looks a little sleepy and unkempt?
Did she accept payment? If so, she definitely got her money’s worth, as I’d never even HEARD of her before this trumped up ‘outrage’.
Because sleepy and unkempt sells?
This is all part of the marketing master plan for Miley. They have a formula they follow. It was used with Britney and in some form, seems to be at play here too. Here is a great article that all parents should read How to Make a Pop Star
What does this say about the world that we live in Rusty? That it is better to flaunt your goods for the world to see (look we’ll reward you for it!) or you can hold tight to your morals and values and not be a box office hit in Hollyweird. Oh the humanity. Everything glitters isn’t gold.
Whoa whoa whoa… both Johannsen and Knightley have done big films (Lost in Translation, The Other Boleyn Girl, Pirates of the Caribbean, Love Actually…) Knightley was 18 or 19 when the first POTC movie came out–she would have been big anyway without the naked Tom Ford VF cover. Ditto for Scarlett.
Leibovitz has taken some beautiful photos (of clothed people, of all things!) in the past; however, before letting my teenage daughter sit for her, I would have done my research.
Indeed, I hear the best selling magazines in the world are Sleepyboy and Unkemptler.
/sarc off
Everything that glitters isn’t gold.
What parent/agent in their right mind would sign a photo shoot contract for a 15 year old without having a “No Nudity Clause” somewhere in there.
Billy Ray should know better. He’s been in the business long enough.
But this is just the next chapter in the sexualization of our children.
I have to wonder about her folks though. I mean, they should have seriously known the type of pics Vanity Fair has. I don’t think if she was 18 this would be a problem. I think old Billy Ray and Miley are looking to the future but this has backfired in a sense on them. Seriously, how much longer can the Hannah Montana franchise go on? Two years tops, maybe?
I wish I could shrug and laugh this kind of thing off, but I know all too sadly how much effect these teen/music celebs have on the world/behavior view young people have, as most sadly (to me) exampled by rappers on young black boys/men’s attitudes and values. Yes, I wish I could laugh these “idols” off, but we pay for their effects somewhere somehow in the most sorry and expensive ways.
James Greenidge
Queens New York
If I took photos like that, never mind posed with, my 15 year old daughter the way Billy Ray did and had them developed at the local drug store, I’d be arrested quicker than you can say PERVERT!!!
I have a 7 year old daughter and I was very disappointed to see these pictures. For one, my daughter and I love watching Hannah Montana together because it is one of the few tv programs that I feel comfortable to watch with my children.
It is very frustrating these days to dress my daughter modestly. I am to the point of sewing my daughter’s wardrobe because I cringe every time I go shopping to find something “decent” for my daughter to wear, especially summer wardrobes.
Going back to the topic here…Billy Ray and Tish should know better.
Now this is California, where is the ever powerful Gloria Allred??? Nothing but silence… hmmm…
Much adieu about nothing…disproportional outrage and all that.
I understand Billy Ray and his wife wanting to help their daughter maintain her phenomenal success into adult, thus the transitional photo-shoot, but what part of seeing their fifteen year-old girl have her picture taken wearing nothing but a sheet on top did they not understand?
As Billy Ray’s hometown of Flatwoods, KY is just forty-five minutes from mine, and given that he’s still pretty popular around here, I do believe the Cyruses thought they were acting in their child’s best interests by allowing the shoot to progress as it did, but man, I gotta ask, “Billy Ray, what the heck were you thinking?!”
_ – _ – _ – _ – _ –
BTW: MM, you’re right to cover this issue on your site as it is endemic of the sexualization of children in our culture, and speaks volumes about the decay of standards and decency in our society.
dakine,
If you had a daughter would you allow her to pose in this way and at the age of fifteen?
I hear fathers all of the time talk about how they are going to protect their little girls and that she isn’t going to date until she is thirty. I didn’t grow up with my father but I would like to believe that he wouldn’t have allowed me to be exploited in any way, shape or form. It may be much ado about nothing to you but to the rest of us this fifteen yr old should not have been photographed this way. Towards what end? I’m what’s the point?
I mean what’s the point?
Maybe it’s not pornography, but it is the first step in that direction. I just hope Miley receives some type of guidance in her young life before we see photos of her appearing without the sheet.
The homosexual and lesbian movements are driven by youth – the younger the better. I did not know that Liebovitz was a lesbian, but that explains quite a bit about the sexualization of Miley Cyrus.
publiuswarmac9999, you are a dingbat. Liebovitz’s sexual orientation has nothing to do with anything. To suggest her work can’t be separated from her personal life is ignorant.
Stop using the smallest examples to fuel your hatred and bigotry.
Here is one of her photos that’s been getting a lot of attention. Look at all the young female flesh!
They made a mistake and they know it. I do not see Miley turning into another Britney or Lindsey.
The woman has done a portrait of the Queen – the REAL English Queen! – for Heaven’s sake. Associating her with child pornography or, even worse, suggesting she can’t do her job because she’s some kind of youth obsessed lesbian is ridiculous and indefensible.
Disproportional orthographic obsessions and all that.
Interestingly, enough the women in the photo above are naked but the dude, why, he has clothes on… just sayin’…
A bit of a stretch even for you Rusty.
She does her job quite well, if 15-year old skin turns you on.
Great post fourstring! Kind of a lame website though I gotta say.
Funny you should say that–after this shoot and looking at the one with Scarlett and Knightley, I thought–what is this Annie a lesbian??
I had to look it up and sure enough–she is. No surprise.
Can anyone point me in the direction of her artistic pictures of clothed celebrities? I still say she’s lucky and over-rated and the pics of Miley and dad look very seductive. Yuk and God help us.
If you’re talking about my blog, it hasn’t been updated in months. Work gets in the way of life sometimes. Sorry if you find it lame.
She didn’t set up that picture. The dude, Tom Ford, did.
“In early 2006, Ford was asked to be the guest editor and creative director for the February 2006 Hollywood edition of Vanity Fair.”
Ford came up with it and the world-renowned photographer took the shot.
This is disgusting. A gay person can’t create their art without people questioning their intentions?
DaVinci was gay. So this isn’t art. It’s porn. Right?
I didn’t say all of that Rusty. It was a joke on my part…lighten up.
Just a little perspective for the rest of us.
fsf,
I had that in mind when I told him to lighten up. Thanks…
Pooping deep in the woods: Harms no one.
Questioning the art of a lesbian photographer: Harms gay and lesbian artists everywhere. If they are seen by their orientation instead of their art, their art is completely undermined.
So, sorry if I find one humorous while the other not so much.
Just trying to keep it real, as the kids say.
I think hangfire says it best in post # 33.
I do not feel that Annie Leibovitz did anything wrong. She stayed within her “artistic direction”. As a parent of 2 daughters, I know that we are responsible for the actions and decisions made on behalf of our kids and with the slightest due diligence Mileys parents would have seen that.
So if you wouldn’t allow a lesbian to take a professional portrait of your daughter, would you let a straight man?
You have to admit, whatever your thoughts about this particular photo, it’s pretty crazy to suggest that this was some sort of scheme of the photographer to get a glimpse of extra Miley skin.
Leibovitz could have found about as much with google image search: http://www.entertainmentwise.com/photos/image/mileycyrus_chrishatcher.jpg
Whether the photographer was a man or a woman, gay or straight, I think this photo was exploitative — but unfortunately not a rare occurrence.
Michelle — where’s your post about Club Libby Lu? The store in malls across the country (including Tyson’s Corner) where very young girls (younger than 15) are “styled” to look much older with makeup, wardrobe and hair, and then photographed?
http://www.clublibbylu.com/detail.aspx?menu=4&app=126&cat1=385&tp=23&lk=no&title=Get+Styled
Liberals and their hypocrisy. I’ll use the premise of Ben Stein’s new movie and your words Rusty to show just how hypocritical liberals like you can be.
This is disgusting. A
gay personproponent of ID can’tcreate their artresearch biology without people questioning their intentions?DaVinci was gay.Einstein believed in God. So this isn’tartscience. It’sporn. Psuedoscience Right?Apparently. Vanity Faire obviously thinks so.
She flaunted what, her back? There’s more 15 yr old flesh visible at a public pool or the beach on a daily basis, if you want to be realistic about this, and I’ll betcha alot of the people posting about this non-story don’t even bat an eye when they see it.
Hell, if it’s such a big dea, let’s just get on with it, realize the seriousness of female skin being seen by the public, and institute Sharia law once and for all.
AK, you’re agreeing my point! Of course DaVinci’s work isn’t porn! And of course Einstein’s theories are science.
So of course this picture and others by Liebovitz (many which have nudity) aren’t porn or some kind of sinister lesbian plot!
I don’t know how you got your signals so crossed, but, thanks for backing up my argument!
A&F started out nice and clean too, but when sex sells, and Miley is growing out of her cute stage and becoming a woman, there are those that will exploit this. A back today, cleavage tomorrow….
Yes, but it is a matter of proportion, peer pressure (bring back school uniforms!), and an inundation of advertising, music lyrics, commercials, computer ads and popups etc. Add to this the tiny proportion of families that can afford to have a stay at home parent, and you see the problem.
And I remember Britney’s transition from bubble gum chewing to T&A grinding.
If these spoiled slutty brats want to trash their own lives, then do so in private. Don’t drag down society with you. And it IS their responsibility, as it comes with the fame etc.
As compared to dakine’s website!
No, you don’t gotta say.
Soap, I’m actually right there with you. We don’t need to trash each other’s sites. Making fun of me is ok because I have a thick skin.
Not saying fourstring doesn’t have a thick skin, but it was weird having dakine call him out like that.
Heh, I think you missed the sarcasm in my post Rusty. Have you seen Expelled yet? If so, do you go against your liberal brethren and speak out against the discrimination and persecution of those trying to study and teach biology (and other science fields) but question the complexity of the cell and its origin?
Mookie and others posting here from the left, your showing your inability to get the correct info before labeling people or your showing some bigotry and prejudice in your comments and I find that hard to believe coming from a liberal. yep, that was sarcasm. The 400 plus children removed from the site in Texas are not LDS,they are FLDS, big difference. 1 difference being the LDS church is against polygamy, has been since the 1890’s…where FLDS practices such.
– Dimsdale
You see, I don’t recall that transition. I remember seeing the very first of her music videos on MTV. It featured her dancing provocatively in a fetishist-dream Catholic school-girl outfit. Her videos got progressively MORE provocative, yes, but from the outset her solo career was based on selling her sexuality.
Indeed, Mookie and the others imply we don’t denouce such practices. Which is utter foolishness. Look at the demographic of Texas where this group is being prosecuted, they are rightly going after them for abusing young girls into illegal marriages and having 12-16 year old girls having sex with much older men which is illegal in Texas. I hope after all the DNA sorting is complete the men responsible do a lot of hard time in Texas prisons.
But I don’t see liberals going after another group that does the same looney stuff as this FLDS church does. Islam practices polygamy and forces girls as young as 9 to marry much older men and have sex with them. Where is your outrage at this group? If you don’t think it happens here in the U.S. you are a fool. MM has been covering it here and in Europe on her blog. How many left wing blogs are speaking out against it? Is there one? Bueller, Bueller?