The views expressed in this piece are that of the individual writer and not necessarily that of Her Campus.
Upon returning to Boston for my senior year of college, my parents treated me to a Red Sox game. Since I had never been to Fenway Park before—I know, I’m a disappointing Boston University student—I was insistent on purchasing some Red Sox merchandise.
“How about a foam finger?” my mom jokingly asked as I sifted through David Ortiz shirts.
Instead of visualizing prideful fans rooting for their home team, I instantly thought of twerking. And tongue-wagging. And drug-related lyrics. And grinding on older, married men—you know, the ones who have children.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Miley Cyrus did all of the above at the 2013 Video Music Awards.
Everyone has an opinion about the controversial performance. Some were shocked by the Hannah Montana star’s crude sexual gestures, while others thought this was a race issue. However, one of the more upsetting facts is that, by our generation’s standards, Cyrus’s behavior is normal—even admirable.
Though this extreme performance shocked many, perhaps the most surprising part of the whole controversy is that for America’s youth, it wasn’t that shocking at all.
When Shona Sibary of The Daily Mail watched the salacious musical act with her daughter, she was surprised to hear that her teenage daughter was unfazed. On the contrary, her daughter thought it was quite cool.
Televised or not, many teenagers are doing exactly what Cyrus’s performance encourages.
Our elders are shocked that the former child star would dare sing about “dancing with Molly,” but many people have already glorified using drugs on popular social media outlets such as Instagram. According to The Daily Mail, many Instagram users have boasted their heroin use with the hashtag #junkiesofig.
Most of the act’s criticism was aimed at Cyrus’ scantily clad body, promiscuous dance moves and inappropriate on-stage chemistry with Robin Thicke. However, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before: Heidi Klum and Rihanna are just two of the many celebrities who have posted topless and semi-nude photos online. Consequently, teenagers have emulated these celebrities by posting their own lewd photographs. TODAY reports that 22 percent of all teenage girls—and 11 percent of teenage girls from ages 13 to 16 years old—have posted naked or semi-nude photographs online or sent them electronically.
According to CNN, many moms are shaming Cyrus for failing to realize her power as a role model.
“I have to instantly think that Miley does not either a) care what her younger fans think of her or b) hasn’t even bothered to think of what her actions [are] doing to her image,” Larene Grady, a mother of two, told CNN.
The Anti-Jared’s Tony Posnanski wrote an open letter to his two-week-old daughter defending Cyrus’s questionable performance, which was reposted on CNN:
“Keep in mind that Leann Rimes stole a woman’s husband. Lindsay Lohan and Amanda Bynes have been arrested numerous times. Demi Lovato punched someone. Taylor Swift has dated numerous men in Hollywood and most ended up poorly. You can hear it in her songs,” he says.
“Yet you never hear much about Miley except she twerked and was provocative on the biggest stage at the time. On cable. She danced and got attention. Maybe it was in bad taste. She comes from a line of poor taste. You probably do not remember Billy Ray’s mullet.”
Since celebrities are real people (shocking, I know), Posnanski argues that celebrities shouldn’t be his daughter’s role models.
He has a point. Celebrities are allowed to make mistakes and are entitled to have fun as well as unleash their creativity. But whether they like it or not, people still view them as role models—not to mention they represent our generation. Our parents and grandparents came from generations with starlets such as Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly. I don’t know about you, but I’m not so crazy about belonging to a generation that started a twerking phenomenon.
We can disapprove of Cyrus’s performance; however, the superstar is not the only one to blame. If we want to point the foam finger at someone, we should look to the individuals in our generation who broadcast this rebellious lifestyle. Perhaps they aren’t performing for millions, but we would be naïve to think that Cyrus is the only member of our generation who acts this way.
By today’s societal standards, Cyrus hasn’t done anything wrong: she was merely following the trends that have been set and glorified by celebrities and teenagers alike. Don’t like it? Through our own self-awareness, we have the power to change how our generation is perceived. And let’s hope that doesn’t include innuendos about foam fingers.