Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. We’re back from vacation and the kids are back to school. I’m diligently working on my Coming of Age Young Adult Novel. I must say I’m enjoying this one and I’m very excited about it. I enjoyed writing the Super Spies books, but it was time for some new characters. It has been refreshing to say the least.
Anyway, I’ve been hearing and reading a lot about Miley Cyrus and her behavior during the MTV awards. Everyone is outraged about it, especially about her “twerking.” Of course, I had no clue what “twerking” was, so I had to do a little research. 🙂 After I found out what it was, I decided it was one of those things I didn’t really need to know. It’s a dance and a very suggestive one at that. It’s my understanding that this is the dance Miley performed on stage in front of millions of people. I didn’t see it, so I can only repeat what I’ve heard.
Miley is getting a lot of grief over this performance. My take? It’s a marketing ploy, one that worked for Madonna, Britney Spears, and Lady Gaga. They made it big with this type of outrageous behavior and Miley is just following their example. She wants to make it big too.
The problem with that is, that Miley isn’t the only one that follows their examples. Tweens and teens do too. Now that Hannah Montana, er…Miley Cyrus is doing it, young girls are sure to follow, and that my friends, is where problems start.
Teens seem to be crying for attention and affirmation from their peers. What better way than to act like Miley Cyrus? Heck she’s paid to act that way.
“Paid?” The public asks aghast. “By who?”
By every single person who buys a Miley Cyrus CD, poster, tape, or downloads her songs on their ipod. We are paying Miley Cyrus to act that way. That’s right. If you really want to take a stand against this kind of “twerking” behavior, don’t buy her stuff. Send her a message. Believe me when her sales drop to an all-time low. We (the public) will receive an apology and she’ll change her ways. Then maybe our teens won’t think acting that way is so cool. 🙂
However, sometimes when parents openly boycott a celebrity, teens immediately want to know what all the fuss is about, and we all know teens can be defiant don’t we?
So, what’s the answer? On this one, I don’t know. My best guess is if you have a good relationship with your teen, and explain to her why “twerking” isn’t really cool she’ll listen. Again, it all boils down to developing a good relationship through those early years. Building a trust with your child so she knows she can come to you with questions. That way she won’t fall for Miley Cyrus’ marketing ploys. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and reading my post! I’d love to read your thoughts. So, leave a comment and share them with me! 🙂
Yo, Lisa! I remember watching Madonna rolling around the MTV stage in a wedding dress. Yes, my jaw dropped. But Madonna was playing to a different crowd, and Miley is still ‘Hanna-Montana’ in the eyes of her young fans and their parents. Miley seems to want to cut the cord from her adolescence and grow up, maybe even find a new audience. I was pretty shocked when I watched it too. Miley did achieve the one thing she wanted out of this performance: ATTENTION. Good, bad, shock, awe, she got it. I don’t blame Miley for wanting to change her image, but she should have had some guidance. It was too much too soon. I mean, how do you think Stephen King’s fans would feel if he suddenly started to pen romance novels? Cheers for a thought-provoking post!
Thanks for stopping by Sharon! I agree with you, she needed someone to give her some guidance. I don’t know why she couldn’t grow up with her fans. Keep the fans she’s got and get more along the way. I don’t believe you have to act like that to get attention. But apparently she thinks you do or her management team thinks she does. It’s really too bad.
True that, Lisa. Celebraties sometimes forget that they become role models (whether they like it or not), and if Miley is trying to break out of this ‘model’ she and her father and Disney has created, then maybe she/agent/publicist should have come up with a better strategy. On a positive note, her new song is great, and a step in the right direction, but the performance could have been handled differently.
I agree Sharon. She really is a talented musician and why not let her work speak for itself?
I had no idea what twerking was either, and I didn’t see the performance. I did, however, see a photo of the Smith children. Will and Jada Smith were there with their kids, and one of the articles I read showed the look on their kids’ face during the performance, and the look of shock (and dare I say horror) was enough for me. So I still don’t exactly know what twerking is…nor do I plan on ever finding out first-hand. And I’m with you. If we spend our money supporting performers who are good examples for our youth, we will see more performers become good examples (even if they’re faking it). Sigh. Okay, I might be a bit cynical about this. 😉
Thanks for stopping by Heather and sharing your thoughts. It’s kind of sad that this kind of behavior is what celebrities feel they have to do to sell their CDs. What ever happened to just loving the music? 🙂
Hi Lisa!
Your article is perfect! This is what I have been trying to tell anyone who mentions Miley’s performance to me, I didn’t watch it, but heard how shocked many were. What is so sad? She’s popular anyway. Kids will follow her into her adult life. For her to fall into the pattern of others shows what pressure can do to us. You are correct. It starts in the family. Strong relationships with your children are so important. My children are grown now and I am happy to report, they think Miley made a bad choice too. Whew! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by Sara! I appreciate reading your thoughts on this and I’m glad that you support my position that it really comes down to strong relationships within your family. It also shows how bad peer pressure is in the music industry. 🙂
If your teen doesn’t understand why twerking is uncool then they should watch this: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202251439911285
I think the main issue in teens minds is that they ‘think’ everyone is thinking ‘oh that is cool/hot’ but what they fail to notice is the reactions of everyone around them. That link is to a funny youtube video that illustrates the star trek crew’s reaction to miley’s performance- I crack up every time I watch it lolololol
Thanks for sharing it Virginia! I’m going to watch it now! And thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts! 🙂
I saw “Twerking” this morning on the telly when they discussed some fake youtube video and I remembered I had seen this post. I had so no idea about twerking and as you said above … IMHO it’s not worth any of my brain cells. LOL
I’ve got to say, thank goodness my girls are no HM or MC fans and don’t even like her music (that doesn’t mean they’re bad songs!). As already said above, there’s not much use comparing MC with Madonna …. it was a different time and era. I know it’s sounds a bit arrogant, but young kids weren’t as easily influenced as today …. I have to say I can’t even remember Madonna in her wedding outfit … it had obviously not made its way across the seas. As for today …. teenager get bombarded with this information from everywhere … the internet is a constant repeat button, kids are “teenagers” earlier than they were 30 yrs ago, though the maturity is not quite there yet!
The solution? I HAVE NO IDEA …. probably not making a big fuss about it and it just fades away ….. AND …. mock the celebrity for doing whatever they did. If you mock them it comes across ridiculous and embarrassing!
Thanks for stopping by Iris! It’s always good to hear what’s happening on your side of the world. I think you’re right. Kids have more access to this bad behavior than they did years ago. They’re exposed to it before they hone their critical thinking skills.