I swear, I really wasn’t going to talk about the Miley twerking ‘incident’ at the VMAs. I mean, everyone knows it happened and has semi-moved on from the entire thing. Plus, I don’t really think someone dancing around half-naked on a stage is newsworthy (lots of people do it for a living every day!) But, I just keep thinking about it, which of course means I need to write down my thoughts about the VMAs in general.
// Basically, nothing on MTV surprises me anymore. Am I disappointed that some stars use their fame/spotlight to do less-than-tasteful things on TV? Heck yes. This goes for everyone – both male and female. Personally, I think Kanye interrupting T.Swift all those years ago was far more tasteless than anything that happened this year.
// And then we have Lady Gaga wearing practically nothing both while performing and then while chillin’ in the audience. Now, as a 27 year old, I’m used to Lady Gaga and her shenanigans and her outfits and her shocking… everything. But I just wonder, isn’t MTV aimed at a bit younger audience? Is the message really that women (or men, I guess) need to bare it all to be noticed? Is it ever really appropriate to be at an event wearing such small underwear and nothing else? Now I’m all for women feeling great about their bodies and showing them off at the beach or with a flattering outfit, but I think there is a time and place for wearing clothing – and an awards show is definitely a circumstance that I think warrants a proper outfit! I mean, are young women going to watch shows like this and think that underwear is an appropriate ensemble for prom this year? Do we really need to take self-confidence and sexy to such extremes?
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// Of course, it can’t be a convo about the VMAs without mentioning Miley Cyrus and her vulgar dancing/twerking/whatever the kids call it these days. All that I gathered from this is that it’s okay to twerk in a unicorn onesie, but it is definitely not okay to twerk in underwear all up on Robin Thicke. Especially if you’re going to stick your tongue out and do anything at all with a foam finger. But didn’t we kind of ask for something like this to happen when millions of us watched her original video and professed our love for her moves? I think we probably encouraged this. And I also believe that at thousands of high school homecoming dances, teenagers will be performing similar dance moves with their dates, and no one will think anything of it (except for the chaperones who are probably more and more horrified each year).
// But do you know what part of this whole thing REALLY irritates me? Well, have you seen the picture comparing Miley’s backside to a raw chicken? I have and I hate it. Not that I’m surprised when I see this sort of thing, because the media loves it and I guess we, as consumers, must love it because we keep sharing it on Facebook and over social media every time such a disgusting photo comes out. I must say, I’m especially annoyed when I see males posting this garbage… I see that females may post this ‘stuff’ because we feel the need to criticize each other’s bodies to feel better about ourselves (that is why we do it, right?) but for males to criticize the way perfectly healthy females look (or any female, actually)… I just get too annoyed for words. I mean, if Miley’s ass is worthy of criticism, what does that say about mine?! And can’t women wear underwear/swimsuits without it being implied that they’re extending an invitation for others’ opinions about how they look? Of course, I think it’s fine to criticize someone’s outfit choice in a tasteful way, but criticizing how someone’s body looks in it… it’s just not okay with me.
(I’m so glad that I’m not famous (yet!) because when I wear an outfit I think I look great in, and then see pictures later that prove that I actually looked a hot mess, I can just not post them on the internet! I can even untag them if someone has already posted them to Facebook! I pretty much have complete control over what is out there. And let me tell you, there are plenty of pictures from me in my 20s that I’m glad aren’t online.)
So let’s just all get back to our normally scheduled programming and forget the VMAs until next year’s sure-to-be-shocking program. Personally, I think our time may be better spent thinking about how we can bring joy into people’s lives around us instead of spending our precious time criticizing celebrities (especially their bodies) that have little or nothing to do with our own lives.
