Breaking away from Disney’s stereotypical ‘girl next door, sweetheart’ image. We’ve seen it before with Britney and Xtina. And now it’s Miley turn.
Each transformation from child star to serious actor/ singer has had similar traits; but all have one in particular, sex or sexualisation. Cue the barely-there skimpy outfits, layers of makeup, inappropriate touching/groping of body parts and seductive stares. Why do these stars believe, that people will only take them seriously if they turn almost pornstarish?
Someone once said to me – Children are like sponges.
Monkey see, Monkey do.
They’re like little clones, when they see someone they know doing certain things, they assume they need to or can do the same and its acceptable.
The media is everywhere. On our phones, television screens, radio stations, glossy magazines and newspapers and laptops. It’s hard to escape especially for young children. When i was growing up my toys consisted of barbie dolls and wooden blocks, kids these days have ipads and mobile phones. As if that isn’t worrying enough.
Sexualisation of children, whether they are ten or fifteen is just wrong. We frown upon cases of paedophilia and child pornography, but we accept and laugh it off when similar things happen to well-known celebrities such as Miley Cyrus, and broadcast it all over the media.
For example, when the entire Miley twerking and then her wreaking ball music video happened, the media went into overdrive. Social media in particular. The amount of memes that were created overnight were ridiculous.
So why is there so much attention with children, sexualisation and the media?
The shock factor. When you think of children, you think of cute little innocent boys and girls. So when you see them being portrayed in a different light – (sexually) you kind of squirm. No one wants to see that. Ever.
And as for Miley, why should she get so scrutinised when many popstars before her have done worse things #shesjustbeingmiley
Time to reflect…
I’ve never thought of myself as a blogger. I’ve always wanted to start one but never got around to it. So when we were given this assignment i was pretty happy. I thought the topics were great because it allowed for research instead of everything being about basic knowledge.
My favourite would have to be controversial images– i loved researching and seeing all the different images and videos, some that had been banned and what they had been. Some were outrageous and shocking but that’s the whole point right!
I found the topic of the public sphere most difficult only because i had a hard time understanding the whole public sphere theory. But i got it in the end!
This assignment has opened up my eyes and taught me alot about how the media works and the stories they run. Reading everyone elses blog posts and seeing different pointd of views and opinions has been a highlight also. Sometimes you cant think of everything yourself so reading other peoples blog posts has really helped with my understanding of these topics we were given.
Until next time,
xoxo
T
thicharabe 
This is a really neat and interesting blog post. I really liked this sentence, “We frown upon cases of paedophilia and child pornography, but we accept and laugh it off when similar things happen to well-known celebrities such as Miley Cyrus, and broadcast it all over the media”. I completely agree with you; there is such a huge double standard between the exploitation of celebrities and every day people. Whether or not this double standard will ever been broken is hard to say, I think there are always going to be controversial images and people out there and perhaps the media’s main role of looking deeper into stories and images is the reason that we view these things as controversial, as we are looking for any sign of wrong doing.
This was a lovely post to finish up your blog, very well-constructed with the reflection and case study separated nicely. Congrats on finishing 🙂
I enjoyed that you directly related- Miley Cyrus to children and pornstars. It made your argument very straight forward, intriguing and easy to read. Your reflection was fun to read and gave me a chance to get you know you, well as much as you can through a singular post.