"Current Blog"

I just wanted to write a blurb on the Miley Cyrus affair, the latest one that is,
---the Cyrus family and Disney are upset by the way the younger Cyrus is being portrayed in a Vanity Fair photo spread. First of all, if you've seen the pictures they are “artistic,” the very word Cyrus herself reportedly used to describe the pictures before Disney condemned them.

The fact that Cyrus's image is imbued with a beautifully dark (in color not theme) and subtle mix of nascent sexuality and innocence is fitting for a fifteen year old. For Disney to suggest that Cyrus was manipulated into portraying that image is to deny the perennial reality of teenage sexuality. Yet the beauty of this picture is that it does not portray her as bubble gum pop star teenage fantasy. It portrays her in real fantasy as a partially clothed statuesque mythological figure strong and perfect. Disney should encourage the image of a woman embracing herself and her body in such a beautiful and artful way and Cyrus should be proud to be a part of that especially in the amazing hands of acclaimed photographer Annie Leibovitz.

Disney should take note of where other girls who supposedly embraced the Disney image, the idea of fake innocence, are right now. Just as the Puritan concern with repressing sexuality bears responsibility for the extreme and twisted sexual and drug excesses that have hallmarked American life, the Disney idea has spawned child stars who have struggled to survive into their mid-20s.

Disney should be happy that Cyrus is so strong and that her portraits reveal an inspiring and exceedingly appropriate and self-possessed sexuality.