Miley Cyrus' Unintentional Favor To Conservative Women
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Miley Cyrus is unintentionally reversing the sex symbol trend. (Twitter)
The current array of pop stars, however, may be creating a new revolution, one that caters to the more conservative woman.
Starlets of the past changed the role of women and opened the possibility for them to convey their sexual side with more ease and less criticism. They shaped history by paving the way for women to own their bodies and bear no shame when it comes to sexual matters, and conveying to men that the modern woman could not be tamed or tied down—at least not without her consent. This trend continued into the 21st century, but it’s starting to lose momentum, leading to an entirely new result. The generation that spent their awkward pre-teen lives envious of Christina Aguilera’s “Genie in a Bottle” crop tops and mesmerized by the Britney Spears' concert bed romp (regardless of whether they understood it wasn’t just insinuating a slumber party), has reached adulthood.
While many of them realized somewhere along the way that real life does not allow for belly dancing with a massive boa constrictor, they also witnessed the devastating rise and fall of some of their favorite stars. Many of the most sexualized and controversial celebrities seemed to fall momentarily out of fame only to board the crazy train, final destination rehab. The most open and out-there stars became associated with "psycho," creating the dialogue that seems to be happening today.
Miley Cyrus is without a doubt one of the hottest topics in Hollywood. Unfortunately for her, that hot topic isn’t aligned with just plain hot. As she breaks free from her Hannah Montana image and projects herself as a sexual star, she has been met with harsh criticisms, rather than the awe given previous celebrities. While she topped the list of Maxim’s Hot 100 in May, her antics in the months since have catapulted her to the bottom of the majority of people’s lists and left many questioning when she will self destruct.
A similar phenomenon took place when Lady Gaga hit the scene. She followed in the footsteps of Madonna, giving off the "what will I do next" vibe, but fell short when she became too vulgar and unrelatable. Gaga and Miley both have prioritized reaching out to a fan base that thinks outside of the box. They embrace their weird and crazy side, but also try too hard to be sexy, resulting in what some have argued as the “death of sex.” They empower the portion of the population that marches to the beat of a different drum, but have also thrown the sex symbol trend into reverse.
Miley is stretching vulgarity and sexuality too far. By doing this, however, she’s actually unintentionally empowering an entirely different and unexpected group of women.
The atmosphere where stars become too famous too fast has created a situation where vulgarity closely aligns with psychosis. This creates a new respect for the modern conservative woman, a woman who doesn’t flaunt her sexual side (although she still has it), and the girl who aligns herself with the girl next door image. Pressures on the average woman to conform to meet celebrity standards begin to diminish. While previous generations have attempted to mimic the creative and revolutionary pop sensations, today’s generation associates the wild child mentality with crazy and offensive. The sweet and grounded in Hollywood fall into the role model spot—cue: Taylor Swift.
Not only are women noticing the trend, an astounding number of men also agree. They believe the overly sexual stars like Miley and Gaga could not be farther from what they consider sexy, falling more in love with the level-headed and grounded: think Jennifer Lawrence, Mila Kunis, Emma Watson. Still sexy, but not in your face, and mature.
In defense of Miley Cyrus, the media plays a role in the crazy train mentality. While she may be vulgar and over the top, her success continues to skyrocket and it’s apparent she isn’t stopping anytime soon. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Miley addressed her VMA performance and admits, “I wasn't trying to be sexy… If I was trying to be sexy, I could have been sexy. I can dance a lot better than I was dancing."
Miley knows how to work the press and arguably does one of the best jobs promoting herself of anyone in the business. While she might be associated with crazy and have countless haters, she is still cranking out hits.
The celebrity train wrecks before her truly defined the term train wreck, both hard to watch and a long time coming. Britney Spears hit an ultimate low at her VMA “Gimme More” performance, Amanda Bynes fell completely out of the spotlight only to be brought back in because of her issues.
Miley, on the other hand, keeps working as hard as she can: crazy or not, she’s not going anywhere. Keep doing your thing Miley—you’re changing history and giving conservative women everywhere a reason to stay conservative.
