Typically when one thinks of the gender of Miley Cyrus they think female. It makes sense, right? She has all the female sex organs which classifies her sex as female. This does not classify her GENDER as female. Gender is the way a male or female is classified based on the “rules” society says these genders act. (insert gender photo) Here is a photo which describes male and female gender you can find on google when you search “female stereotype.” You can find photos like this one and many others describing the male and female genders this way if you do a search of your own. Even Planned Parenthood offers up descriptions of females and males on their website. Females are described as: dependent, emotional, passive, sensitive, graceful, innocent, weak, sexually submissive... the list goes on. While males on the other hand are described as: non-emotional, aggressive, tough-skinned, competitive, hard, sexually aggressive, clumsy, etc. It is no wonder that ever since Miley Cyrus cut her hair a few inches which made her look more “masculine” (her best hair style in my opinion) she has faced criticism from the public. I cannot go through my Facebook newsfeed without seeing a negative post about Miley Cyrus and something so “crazy” she did now. She gains so much negative attention in the media because of the statement Miley makes when she acts in a masculine way which defies typical feminine gender performance.
Many issues people have with Miley is not the way she acts, but the way she dresses. So many people criticize her “permanent wedgie” costumes she wears for her Bangerz tour or the scandalous outfits she wears at other events. My question for those who criticize her wardrobe is what is the difference between the skin being shown in the photos of Miley and the photos of these Sports Illustrated models? Both Miley and these Sports Illustrated models are wearing almost the same amount of clothing. The only real difference in these photos are the (slight) differences in poses and facial expressions. While the Sports Illustrated models are acting coy or “innocent” standing NAKED in the water - I just need to point out here that Sports Illustrated’s clear objectifying of women in their swimsuit catalogue is something they almost never receive negative press about - Miley is acting aggressive and sexually. She is seen aggressively giving herself a wedgie in one photo and in the other acting in a sexual way by rubbing a foam finger around her lady parts. Could it be that people do not actually have an issue with the way Miley is dressed, but with the way she is acting out of the female gender performance she is expected to follow? When Miley performs she does not act the way a female artist like Beyonce does, but rather how the Sex Pistols would act. The issue people have is not with Miley’s wardrobe, but the way she acts.
The most controversy that surrounds Miley Cyrus is the performance she gave during the MTV Video Music Awards in August 2013. The main issues people had with her were her sticking her tongue out, her “strange” dancing teddy bears, and of course her sexually charged performance. Re-watching that performance you see how the “strange” part of her performance started with her performance of “We Can’t Stop.” We saw her typical entrance with her tongue sticking out wearing some out-there outfit, but there was nothing sexual throughout the whole performance until Robin Thick came on stage to perform his duet with Miley Cyrus. It was not until then that Miley started to perform in a sexual way. She used Thick as a sex object during the duet.
It is funny the reaction so many people had to her performance of that song with Thick because anyone who has heard the song “Blurred Lines” they her the sexual objectification of women and rape innuendoes in the lyrics. Miley just turned the tables on Thick and made him her sex object instead of him making her his sex object. The music video for the song “Blurred Lines” just puts women on display for Robin Thick, T.I., & Pharrell Williams to take advantage of. Blurred Lines The music video I provided is the “clean” version of “Blurred Lines,” but in the original all 3 women are completely naked doing the same thing. Why was it so wrong for Miley to use Thick as a sex object, when Robin Thick does the same thing to women in his music video, but he receives little to no criticism for it? Miley, once again, was acting out of her gender by being sexually aggressive in her VMA performance. It is obvious that the public does not really have an issue with a male like Robin Thick performing as if women are sex objects because that is what is expected of males. What the public doesn’t expect is for a woman to treat a male as a sex object because women are supposed to be weak and sexually submissive.
Miley Cyrus is really receiving a lot of criticism for doing many things male performers get away with. Snoop Dog (Lion) openly smokes weed during his concerts in the U.S. where it is illegal in most states to smoke weed. Miley lights a joint on stage in Amsterdam (where smoking weed is legal) and makes national news for doing something so horrible. Miley Lights Joint Why is Miley held at such a higher standard than Snoop Dog? Miley is a woman, and is therefore expected to act like a female (a.k.a. be innocent and not do things like smoke weed, let alone smoke weed in front of a crowd).
Gender is a tricky thing to define, and Miley Cyrus is not letting people define how she should act. She will forever face criticism in the media for being out of the ordinary. People do not like change, and she is changing the gender performance of a female with every concert or awards show she performs at. Miley gains so much negative attention in the media because of the statement she makes when she acts in a masculine way which defies typical feminine gender performance. While the world is not quite ready for gender to be redefined, Miley Cyrus is forcing people to rethink what the female gender.
N.p., n.d. retrieved from:http: //www.plannedparenthood.org/health-info/sexual-orientation-gender/gender-gender-identity
"Gender Performance: The TransAdvocate Interviews Judith Butler." The TransAdvocate. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 July 2014. <http://www.transadvocate.com/gender-performance-the-transadvocate-interviews-judith-butler_n_13652.htm>.
Very interesting. Miley Cyrus is so popular and gets so much attention due to the U-turn her image has taken from a sweet Disney princess girl to a vulgar party animal. She does a good job representing a coming of age of a young adult in the 21st century which speaks to current status of gender roles in pop culture.
ReplyDeleteYour perspective is very intriguing. I looked up memes about Miley acting as a man, and it turns out many other people share your same view. It seems as though it is okay for a man to objectify a woman and act vulgarly, yet it is not accepted at all for a woman. This is a great example of how double standards play such a role in our society.
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