Miley Cyrus

[Sara]

What do you think about her photo shoot in the new Vanity Fair? She is only 14 years old:

<img src=http://www.vanityfair.com/images/culture/2008/06/cuar02_miley0806.jpg>

[khanson]

Ugh, She looks terrible. I'd heard about it, but not seen it.

[Maritza]

I was reading the news last night....I am so sad that some parents would let their child do such a thing. It's totally wrong!!!! This is another way to send the wrong message to kids. I don't think it's age appropiate for her, it's like if her parents are selling her out:( ...and the picture is horrible!

Maybe I am too conservative

[tcolera]

What a horrible pictures. She looks dead.

[Lynette]

I saw that a few days ago and as the mother of a 14yo, that is verging on child porn IMO. It is especially disturbing when you realize although SHE is a teen, most teens don't like her and her fan base is tweens and little girls. I think she and her parents are trying to turn her into the next Brittany which is why they are sexing her up.

[tcolera]

Oh cause every parent should want their child to be like Brittney.:lol I want nothing more then for my daughter to idolize her.

[StacyK]

I saw this and read that she (Miley) is soo embarrassed and the picture didn't turn out at all like she had hoped. They were hoping for something edgy, but it ended up giving the wrong image. I think up until now her and her parents have kept it pretty low key and tried not to go down the britney route. My only question is...how else was the picture supposed to come across when you are naked and barely draped in a sheet of satin???

[Lynette]

I read that she thought it was beautiful and loved it and it was only after the press jumped on it that she got embaressed. She has also been running around LA without bodyguards because she wants the paparazzi to chase her and take her pics so I kind of think this is all very well constructed and purposeful. Like you said, how else is a topless pic supposed to be construed?

[Colleen&Kail]

i watched the view on monday and they were talking about this, i think the picture is ugly she look slike shes sick.


but even is SHE did apologize o her fans, its not her fault the parents were there looking at the dailys and could haev said something. its a whole different world with a whole other set of rules when your a celebrity i guesss....

[CMT]

ftr, she's 15 not 14. Not that it makes any difference in the whole thing, but just wanted to throw that out there.

I'm torn. As a mom I think it's pretty inappropriate for that image to have been taken of a 15 year old.
As a photographer, I can recognize the look that they were going for and appreciate the photo for what it is: A different spin on a classic portrait pose.
I guess I'm kind of on both sides of the fence on this.
Yeah, she PROBABLY shouldn't have taken the photo. But I also think people are putting far too much emphasis on her being a role model and not remember that she is, in fact, a child. A kids make mistakes. Especially teenagers.
Yeah, she kind of got thrust into this role model position, BUT we as parents have the final say in what our children see and idolize. My friend Julia said this really well to me the other day: If we don't groom our children to be nothing more than consumers, this isn't an issue. If we teach them there is more to life than the desire to be popular, rich and famous, then they are able to look outside of the box and find role models who aren't a part of the hollywood machine.
Which I completely agree with. This opens up a great opportunity for moms to talk to their daughters about self worth, peer pressure, and self image.
Also, I think that it's kind of unfair for people (no one here, just the general consensus I'm heard on this lately) to expect this CHILD to be infallible. My children make mistakes and I recognize that they will probably continue to make mistakes for MANY years. Just because this girl cashes big checks every month doesn't mean that she isn't still learning about life, trusting people, and what is "too far".
So yeah, I think the image was probably not the best choice, BUT I recognize that she's embarrassed by it and wishes they hadn't done it. Which is good enough for me.
JMHO

[MamaLaura]

I think she looks weird, but I don't see anything wrong with it. She isn't showing her breastsor anything, and it doesn't look like a sexual thing to me at all. Also, she's not 15; 16 later this year. Not a huge difference but still.

[MamaLaura]

I read that she thought it was beautiful and loved it and it was only after the press jumped on it that she got embaressed. She has also been running around LA without bodyguards because she wants the paparazzi to chase her and take her pics so I kind of think this is all very well constructed and purposeful. Like you said, how else is a topless pic supposed to be construed?

That's what I read, as well. I read that she and her parents saw the picture the day it was taken because it was digitial, and that they really liked it. Then only changed their mind when the press finally saw it.

[Lynette]

BUT we as parents have the final say in what our children see and idolize. My friend Julia said this really well to me the other day: If we don't groom our children to be nothing more than consumers, this isn't an issue. If we teach them there is more to life than the desire to be popular, rich and famous, then they are able to look outside of the box and find role models who aren't a part of the hollywood machine.

I totally agree *but* when kids get older not only do they sometimes not want your opinion, you just don't have the same kind of control as when they are little. It is a whole other world to keep them from watching SpongeBob at 2yo than to keep them away from certain celebrities when they are in school, around their friends, at other people's houses, etc. Sure we are responsible for the foundation but there are smarter, more experienced people than me trying sell sell sell this stuff to my kids so it does get to a point where you just hope for the best and trust your kids got the message. And that is just the parents who care or even think it is an issue, there are loads of kids whose parents don't care or who believe in the hollywood machine themselves and then you have them influencing your kids too so they get it from all sides.

I also totally hold the parents responsible, lots of 15yo girls (or younger) are just starting to figure out that sex has power and are experimenting with using it through flirting or teasing and how many 15yo girls don't already think they are grown up and know everything? That's why she thought it was fine.

[Kellie_MO5]

But I also think people are putting far too much emphasis on her being a role model and not remember that she is, in fact, a child. A kids make mistakes. Especially teenagers
ITA with this, and pretty much all of what Jackie said ;)

[CMT]

That's what I read, as well. I read that she and her parents saw the picture the day it was taken because it was digitial, and that they really liked it. Then only changed their mind when the press finally saw it.

just a side note. any photographer can tell you that that photo did NOT come out of the camera looking like that. So while they may have thought the photo on the back of the camera was great, digital editing can REALLY cast a different mood to an image.

[momtoM&D]

Hahahaha! Melody just saw the pic and said "Hey, what that lady doin'? She not supposed to be naked at the picture place!"

Yeah, imo, way too young! What's the point, and what were the parents thinking? I get the feeling Billy Ray is desperate for any attention he can get.

[CMT]

I totally agree *but* when kids get older not only do they sometimes not want your opinion, you just don't have the same kind of control as when they are little. It is a whole other world to keep them from watching SpongeBob at 2yo than to keep them away from certain celebrities when they are in school, around their friends, at other people's houses, etc. Sure we are responsible for the foundation but there are smarter, more experienced people than me trying sell sell sell this stuff to my kids so it does get to a point where you just hope for the best and trust your kids got the message. And that is just the parents who care or even think it is an issue, there are loads of kids whose parents don't care or who believe in the hollywood machine themselves and then you have them influencing your kids too so they get it from all sides.

I also totally hold the parents responsible, lots of 15yo girls (or younger) are just starting to figure out that sex has power and are experimenting with using it through flirting or teasing and how many 15yo girls don't already think they are grown up and know everything? That's why she thought it was fine.
I think the key there is consistency.
If you raise your child (from the time they are very young) to not blindly follow the crowd and idolize the girl with the longest hair and the biggest boobs, they will have that foundation laid. And if you continue to instill those same values in your children every day, then one day when miley does show us her boobs, you won't have anything to worry about b/c your child won't look at that and go "oh, i wanna be a slut now". She'll think "wow, that's not very classy, now is it?"
Someone else I know made a kind of OT comment about this which really made a strong impact on my opinion in this too. She said that miley is hardly the first young girl to do something like this (or worse) and have it all over the cover of magazines. Things like this are sensationalized in the media and then they peter out. In another year, no teenager is going to think "I'm gunna pose nude b/c Miley Cyrus did it a year ago". Kids don't have attention spans that long. Next week Heidi Montag will do something beyond stupid and that will be the new topic of conversation. This is in a magazine that kids don't even READ. I can't tell you what kind of "scandals" were blasted on the news when i was a kid, let alone tell you what kind of scandals were in magazines i passed in the super market.
I understand that this causes a big rift for families with children who are into hannah montana and what not (although I wonder how many kids would even know it's her from that image if we didn't tell them. My friends daughter thought it was her mom as a young adult :giggle), I just think sometimes we have to try REALLY hard to extend as much understanding to other people for their embarrassing mistakes and we would like for our own. It also makes me a little sad to see such extreme assumptions made about a family based on this one mistake.
again, this is totally jmo, and i know most people don't agree with it, and that's okay.

[Colleen&Kail]

im wondering if billy ray cyris is trying to make a comback through his daughter, he is in a pic with her too.

[Lorah]

i have my opinions on her, well, more specifically what she sings, how she dresses, and the types of photo shoots she has been doing recently...I am NOT a fan! And I don't care who her father is. That doesn't make it right. I know a ton of kids, like 5 and 6 year old gilrs LOVE her, and a lot of HS and even young college males do too (but for obvuously different reasons)... Again just because she is drawing attention, doesn't mean it's all okay...at least in my mind.

I respect others' opinions on her and what she does, so I won't argue with them, but *I* and not a fan, and *I* would not let my child do what she has been and is doing, and *I* wouldn't want her to be a role model for a daughter of mine. But then, again, this is my opinion.

[jellybeanmichelle]

I would not of seen this, if the media didn't say something.
So, with that said, if Miley is a role model, why did the media blow this up bigger than it really is.
How many of us subscribe to vanity fare? I don't. And it's a mag that I would not let V see until she is 18. Well hope to atleast.

My first thought, was she looked dead. Very pale, no color.

So, if the media was hush, hush about it, the teens who look up to her as a role model could leave it like that.

[Lynette]

im wondering if billy ray cyris is trying to make a comback through his daughter, he is in a pic with her too.

He is on the Hannah Montana show with her playing her dad.

Jackie- Now I am curious and going to ask Salina if she has heard about all this when she gets home. I know what she will say :rolleyes Of course like you said consistency is important, but that is exactly what marketing people are all about: consistency to the point of saturation. Just how long do you think it lasts when you have one mom and maybe one dad telling a kid one thing and crowds of friends, books, TV, magazines, the Internet, movies, music, etc telling the kid something different? Sure, some kids it sticks but some it doesn't which is exactly why marketing people make big bucks, to turn your kid into a consumer.

I think at the core what bothers me is that this girl's sexuality is being exploited for profit. It also bothers me that you know in a situation like this the lady photog was probably not the only one in the room when a nearly naked minor is taking these pics. Of course Miley didn't know any better, she's a kid but there were adults there who did. And no, it isn't the first time this has happened and it isn't the last but it is still sad.

[Colleen&Kail]

its just very unfortunate that these pics were taken, there are plenty of other poses (with clothes) that would have been just as "grown up" if you will.

i think it would have been more appropriate if she waited at least until she was a little older ike 17 or 18 then they would haev been more.....um whats the word...accpected?

[MamaLaura]

just a side note. any photographer can tell you that that photo did NOT come out of the camera looking like that. So while they may have thought the photo on the back of the camera was great, digital editing can REALLY cast a different mood to an image.

But the amount of nudity is there no matter what you do.

[becky]

ftr, she's 15 not 14. Not that it makes any difference in the whole thing, but just wanted to throw that out there.

I'm torn. As a mom I think it's pretty inappropriate for that image to have been taken of a 15 year old.
As a photographer, I can recognize the look that they were going for and appreciate the photo for what it is: A different spin on a classic portrait pose.
I guess I'm kind of on both sides of the fence on this.
Yeah, she PROBABLY shouldn't have taken the photo. But I also think people are putting far too much emphasis on her being a role model and not remember that she is, in fact, a child. A kids make mistakes. Especially teenagers.
Yeah, she kind of got thrust into this role model position, BUT we as parents have the final say in what our children see and idolize. My friend Julia said this really well to me the other day: If we don't groom our children to be nothing more than consumers, this isn't an issue. If we teach them there is more to life than the desire to be popular, rich and famous, then they are able to look outside of the box and find role models who aren't a part of the hollywood machine.
Which I completely agree with. This opens up a great opportunity for moms to talk to their daughters about self worth, peer pressure, and self image.
Also, I think that it's kind of unfair for people (no one here, just the general consensus I'm heard on this lately) to expect this CHILD to be infallible. My children make mistakes and I recognize that they will probably continue to make mistakes for MANY years. Just because this girl cashes big checks every month doesn't mean that she isn't still learning about life, trusting people, and what is "too far".
So yeah, I think the image was probably not the best choice, BUT I recognize that she's embarrassed by it and wishes they hadn't done it. Which is good enough for me.
JMHO:yeah

[becky]

I found the slide show of some of the other photos (behind the scenes) in case anyone wants to check them out.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/06/miley_slideshow200806?slide=1#globalNav

[khanson]

Yeah, some of the other shots make her look so much better.

[becky]

now that i see how the photo was shot it puts it all in a new perspective. while i think miley is too young to be taking photos where she looks like that i can appreciate the photo as a finished product from a photographers POV. There really isn't much more i can add that hasn't already been said.