The Miley Cyrus Flap Redux

Five years ago I wrote about the stink that was raised by a photo of teen pop star Miley Cyrus. Mostly it was about the sexualization of teenage girls. But Miley is all growed up now, though she still favors the chance to thrust her sexuality in our faces.

A week or so ago, her performance at the MTV Video Music Awards was the talk of the nation. I didn't see it, so I looked it at it last night. I can see how some might think it's yet another step toward the end of Western civilization, though it seems to be another in a long line of recording artists trying to top each other in tastelessness. For those who haven't seen it, Cyrus, wearing her hair in knots like the horns of a billy goat, sings while dancers dressed as giant stuffed animals cavort beside her.

Then, in the part that got everyone's bowels in an uproar, she is joined by Robin Thicke to sing his hit song, "Blurred Lines." Miley strips off her revealing outfit to show an even more revealing one, sticks out her tongue, rubs her nether regions with one of those foam "We're Number One" fingers, and then bends over and simulates rear entry sex with Thicke. While she does this she "twerks," a word I hadn't heard before but is now so common that it made the O.E.D.

Cyrus isn't done with pushing the taste envelope. Her new single, "Wrecking Ball," has a video that sees her licking a sledgehammer and riding the title object wearing nothing but a pair of boots (smart, she wouldn't want to step on a nail barefoot). When she is clothed she's wearing a skimpy white t-shirt that shows her nipples and little white panties. Clearly, her next step is a sex tape.

So what does this all mean for our decaying culture? Are we headed off the cliff like the Romans did, when Tiberius was having orgies with slave boys on the isle of Capri? Maybe, but the larger question is why Cyrus is even popular. Who are her fans? The "Wrecking Ball" song is okay, instantly forgettable. She doesn't even have much of a voice, as evidenced by her live singing on the VMAs--a typical woman singing karaoke sounds as good. She's not particularly attractive, not helped by the horrendous haircut. Is she still appealing to those girls who watched her as Hannah Montana? Or is there a whole new generation of girls (certainly not boys) who think she's aces?

Stars like Miley Cyrus, and Lady GaGa, and Britney Spears, and Madonna before them, are products of stylists and choreographers who are just trying to do something never seen before. It doesn't really matter if it's any good or makes any sense. "Wrecking Ball" was directed by Terry Richardson, a photographer who frequently takes beautiful women and makes them look grotesque. It's all about shock, not talent. Does this all damage our collective psyche? In a way, it might, as the next star has a new bar to try to jump over. As evidenced by the nudity in "Blurred Lines," the sexuality of this performances are reaching a level that television might not be able to handle, and it will all be on the unrated Internet.

Imagine, almost sixty years ago Elvis Presley was not able to show his gyrating hips on The Ed Sullivan Show. Now twerking can be seen anytime. That's a good thing, in that censors should not be interfering with our lives. But do we really want to see twerking?