Gloria Steinem Speaks Out About Miley Cyrus, Ends The Debate Forever

[kpete]

Last edited Mon Oct 14, 2013, 11:35 PM - Edit history (1)

I wish we didn’t have to be nude to be noticed ... But given the game as it exists, women make decisions. For instance, the Miss America contest is in all of its states ... the single greatest source of scholarship money for women in the United States. If a contest based only on appearance was the single greatest source of scholarship money for men, we would be saying, "This is why China wins." You know? It’s ridiculous. But that’s the way the culture is. I think that we need to change the culture, not blame the people that are playing the only game that exists.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/14/gloria-steinem-miley-cyrus_n_4097006.html

[Demo_Chris]

1. Gloria somehow managed to get noticed for her MIND. ..

If Miley had talent she could just sing.

[KentuckyWoman]

12. OK she can't sing. But she CAN shake her groove thing

and someone is willing to pay her a bunch of money to do it. She doesn't hurt anyone taking money to go out there and wiggle around.

I've never understood why using one body part to make a living is OK but using a different one is not.

[dionysus]

18. no, she doesn't even twerk well.

[Demo_Chris]

20. It's not, and that's not the reason so many flamed her...

People LOVE to tear down anyone famous. That's the downside of celebrity In regards to Miley, she's not famous for any talent, she's famous for being famous, and now apparently feels that the only way to retain that fame is to do ridiculous things. She is the Sarah Palin of pop music.

[2naSalit]

32. +1000!

[KentuckyWoman]

43. Understood but I disagree with her being the Sarah Palin of Pop Music

Sarah Palin helped get Gabby Giffords shot and is part of the gang helping to hurt an awful lot of Americans with this shutdown.

I have no particular feeling for Miley one way or the other but I figure she's a young woman ( a kid to me) not hurting anyone with her antics. Maybe down the road she'll use the riches to do something worthwhile and maybe she won't - that remains to be seen.

As for people love to tear down celebrity - yes I agree 100% on that. We humans are a petty bunch sometimes.

[merrily]

21. Because Steinem put on a Playboy bunny suit and wrote about the experience.

(As opposed to only putting on the suit.)

[mopinko]

63. she did it as a writer.

that was the point all along.

[jzola]

51. It wasn't her mind that

was noticed first. She was a Playboy bunny---and then wrote about it.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

2. Sorry, Neko Case can sing Miley under the table...

and last I checked, she does so while fully clothed and not rubbing one out on stage. That's just one example.

But I do appreciate the point re: scholarship money and goofy pageants.

[randome]

27. Love Neko's 'Ragtime'!

[hr][font color="blue"][center]A ton of bricks, a ton of feathers. It's still gonna hurt.[/center][/font][hr]

[WorseBeforeBetter]

30. Good one!

[progressoid]

54. +1

[WorseBeforeBetter]

61. Ooh, and Elvis.

I hadn't seen that, thanks!

[RebelOne]

3. Love Gloria. And yes, she definitely was reconized for her mind

and intellect. She made a name for herself, and she was a hero for women's rights.

[roguevalley]

4. personally, do both. I loathe miley for thinking this shit makes her an

adult. She's part of the problem and will continue to be as long as she is just tits and ass with legs. Put your tongue back in your mouth.

[CoffeeCat]

5. I agree with you...and I think it's more than Steinem suggests...

I am bothered that a young woman of twenty believes that "growing up" is writhing on the floor with her tongue out and swinging naked from a giant metal ball and licking a hammer provocatively.

Seriously.

My 12- and 13-year old daughters think Miley is a flake. They are more mature and sensible than she is.

Miley had plenty of choices. If she wanted to be famous, there were many roads she could have taken. Rubbing her crotch with a foam finger and simulating sex on stage weren't her only choices.

[roguevalley]

14. its a matter of self respect which women struggle with all the time anyway

i don't think its an age thing either. Hugs, honey. your daughters sound wonderful.

[Brigid]

6. Sorry, Ms. Steinem, but I gotta disagree with you this time.

Show biz is not the only game in town, and making a fool of yourself isn't the only way to make it. You of all people should get that.

[Skittles]

13. I agree with you

these women CHOOSE to participate in this sexist garbage - WTF

[loyalsister]

19. + 1000000

I don't see MS speaking out about how the game is rigged and working to change them. She seems to have too much fun with the attention she has drawn.

[Nye Bevan]

7. I prefer her earlier stuff:

[LittleBlue]

8. The debate was a publicity stunt created by Miley to make even more money

Sinead O'Connor and Gloria Steinem are merely playing into the publicity game that Miley and her record label executives have created. Readers will be reminded that Miley has released an album, and they'll go watch Wrecking Ball, and they'll buy the album.

The people who listen to Miley Cyrus don't know or care who Steinem is. But they keep the Miley publicity blitz going, making her considerable $150m fortune grow even larger.

[joeglow3]

39. For her, it has nothing to do with money

Look at her childhood. She is so in need of attention that, like a little kid, will seek out that attention by any means necessary. She needs this attention for her own survival. I hope she gets the help she needs.

[riderinthestorm]

9. Femen.

Couldn't resist.

(Rider exits thread)

[Dr. Strange]

10. Um...

I wish we didn’t have to be nude to be noticed

Adele didn't seem to need it. She relied on actual talent. Maybe Miley (and others) could try playing that game?

[leftstreet]

16. +1 Maybe she means people without talent?

That just seems like a dumb statement, and an insult to famous women from Catherine the Great to Katherine Hepburn

[JI7]

17. maybe it helps that Adele has actual talent

[Spitfire of ATJ]

11. The culture has changed. The Twist got Twerked.

[Rebellious Republican]

15. Oh she can sing.....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3831415

[ReRe]

22. Look it...

... Miley's a kid. It's her life and career to screw up as she likes. My only hope is that she has enough sense to not wipe out on drugs and alcohol. We are such a judgmental prudish society.

[merrily]

23. Steinem is a national treasure, but Miley Cyrus was not unnoticed until she went nude.

That comment might be fine in the context of someone who gained fame as a singer or an actress after appearing nude somewhere, but that is not Miley's bio.

On the other hand, I have no problem with the nudity. Maybe I did not see the full video, but I saw less than I would have seen on a woman wearing a thong bikini.

[tabbycat31]

52. she was famous before going nude

However, she had a completely different image as a Disney child star who's fanbase was primarily 12 and under. (My now 12 and 13 year old cousins went through a Hannah Montana phase and had their room plastered with Miley Cyrus posters).

I guess my beef with the nudity/sexuality is due to the age of many of her Hannah Montana fans.

[FreeState]

58. I'm not sure any pre-teens should idolize rock star adults

I have no problem with Miley at all - I actually like her new music and her personality. She is a rebellious 20 year old - imagine that. She owes no allegiance to her Hannah Montana fans - its been over two years since it was filmed - she played a character it had no bases in reality.

[snagglepuss]

24. .

[PasadenaTrudy]

26. I agree with

Dr. Lisa Wade's take on this...

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/10/14/my-two-cents-on-feminism-and-miley-cyrus/

[MadrasT]

28. Sorry but FAIL.

As long as women continue the play the GAME, the GAME will continue. We are ALL responsible for changing the culture if we do not like it. No pass for Miley.

I reject the GAME wholesale. Just no. My sexuality is not a commodity. I don't want any advantages if that is the path to achieving them.

[Kurska]

36. Your sexuality may not be a commodity, and you have every right to treat it not as one.

It'd be entirely wrong for anyone to tell you what to do with your sexuality against your wishes. Yet, Miley Cyrus clearly desires to treat her sexuality as a commodity. I don't understand why a person would demand no one tell them what to do with their sexuality, yet imply that someone else is wrong for using their sexuality how they see fit.

It comes off as double standard to me. "I do what I want with what I got and you also get to do what I want with what you got" seems rather unfair to me.



Personally, I think it is her body and she could sell it spare parts if she really wanted to. It ain't my body, it ain't my call.

[SomethingFishy]

31. So it's society's fault that Miley Cyrus acted like an idiot at the VMA's?

Seriously? This woman who had a career handed to her, who had backing from the mighty Disney, was famous all over the world before she was 20 years old. She had to take her clothes off to be noticed?

Bullshit.

[rocktivity]

42. DING DING DING! SomethingFishy, you're our grand prize winner!

Last edited Tue Aug 12, 2014, 04:24 PM - Edit history (8)

Miley Cyrus...had a career handed to her...had backing from the mighty Disney, was famous all over the world before she was 20 years old...

Miley was neither "discovered" nor plucked out of a casting call for Hannah Montana -- thanks to her famous father, she got to start at the top. Her "game plan" appears to be taking control of her career by"de-Disney-fying" her girlhood image now that she's "of age." That would certainly explain her VMA performance and gratuitous nudity. But hopefully she's noticed the fate of those who have boarded what I call "the Madonna Express."

The downside of being a headline-grabbing "sensation" rather than an actual, credible artist is that sensations wear off -- and so quickly that your survival relies on reinventing your style rather than your substance. You have to become more famous for dresses made of meat, bras made of cupcakes, blue hair, beating up photographers, going into rehab, and four-star production videos than for anything you sing. When Madonna got too stale, she was replaced by Britney (also a Disney product), who begat Gaga, who begat Niki Minaj, and so on.

Miley has decided to ride the Madonna Express -- and I hope it's just for some quick paychecks, because she's put herself on track for an inevitable collision with oblivion.


rocktivity

[Taverner]

33. Nice morning cup of "wake the fuck up!"

[rocktivity]

34. Shame on you, Gloria -- you launched Ms. magazine

Last edited Tue Feb 9, 2016, 01:26 PM - Edit history (5)

when opportunities for, and images of, women in magazines were limited to homemakers, star-struck teenyboppers and nude centerfolds. YOU said "No" to "playing the game," and as a result, you changed the culture -- VERY much for the better!


rocktivity

[RebelOne]

48. I used to subscribe to MS magazine

and it was my bible during the '70s.

[dawg]

35. I doubt very seriously that the Miss America scholarships pay more for women ...

than Georgia's HOPE scholarships, that cover tuition for in-state colleges for women (and men) with B averages or better.

[Kurska]

37. Florida has a similiar bright futures schoolarship.

I assume she is talking about scholarships, EXCLUSIVELY for women.

[Sgent]

40. I don't know

what stats she's using, but I would bet big time money that if you added up all scholarships for women's sports (and maybe just basketball or soccer by itself) you would dwarf that available for Miss America.

[FarCenter]

50. Here is the list for 2013

http://www.missamerica.org/scholarships/recipients-2013.aspx

Most of them are for $3000. It seems unlikely that these represent the majority of scholarships available to women. Maybe it is the largest number of scholarships by a single organization, rather than the most dollars?

[snooper2]

38. If her talking ends the debate forever, why does this thread exist?

[Waiting For Everyman]

41. Wow Gloria, that was stupid.

Really? So because the Miss America pageant exists, that justifies whatever ridiculous things someone else does? In what universe does that make any sense?

But since Gloria specifically raised the point of college in defending her, why hasn't Mylie spent any of her wealth on sending herself to college? Surely she can afford it without a scholarship. So what is the point being made here, exactly?

All I see is someone I once thought something of, Steinem, proving that she actually has no substance or values. Sucking up to a kid, that's pretty cheap.

I agree we need to change the culture, but not for the reason Steinem says... but because it gives the biggest rewards to lowest common denominator crap like what Cyrus has been promoting lately.

[TBF]

46. No - Steinhem is correct.

We play the same games with economics. I watch folks sit around and wax poetic about dream candidates and 3rd parties while the elephant in the room - capitalism - is never seriously addressed. If you are not "winning" via capitalism it is because you individually are doing something wrong. Same thing here. A focus on individuality and blaming the victim, when society as a whole needs to be examined. Why are we not questioning the men involved in selling sex - why are we piling on Miley? Sexism and blaming the victim rather than addressing how we treat women in our society.

[closeupready]

44. I just love Gloria Steinem - always have. K&R

[RebelOne]

49. Ditto. n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

45. Except, Miley Cyrus is not in the theoretical physics industry, she's in the entertainment one.

So she's doing what entertainers do, entertaining... At least, for the people who like that sort of thing.

What I think some people don't get is, when we 40, 50, 60 year-olds complain about the music of teens and 20somethings, for some odd reason it doesn't make that stuff any less popular.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

60. I'm about half a century and listen to college radio...

and I imagine I'll be doing so when I'm 80.

This isn't a "get off my lawn" thing.

[URL=http://www.sherv.net/emoticons.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[Warren DeMontague]

65. They still have College radio?

That's good, so Peter Buck's daughters will have something to listen to while they're away at school.



Anyway, I like to imagine I'm relevant, too... even as my kids moan and groan through all the 35 minute Dark Stars from 1972 played in the car on road trips. ("You just don't appreciate it, man!&quot

Still, the parameters of the argument- "Miley has sex and drugs in her music! She dances lasciviously! She co-opts African American culture! She horrifies the parental units!" ...okay, if that's not a GOML thing, it certainly follows a well-established rock and roll script.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

68. In North Carolina, no less.

I understand the script and pushing boundaries. But I don't follow Gloria Steinem telling us that Miley is "playing the only game that exists." It's simply not true. And young women need to know that.

(I'm with your kids on Dark Star. And Homer Simpson on Shakedown Street: "I've been listening to this song for 3 days and it's only the end of the first verse!&quot

[Warren DeMontague]

69. Nice. That's hysterical.

I agree with all you say, here.

Miley's in showbiz; and there are lots of ways to play even that game. The artists I like (ahem) have valued integrity and honesty and pluckiness and cough cough yes yes tenure over flash-in-the-panittyness.

I just don't totally grok why some people seem so "mad" at her. She didn't go out there and say "drop out of grad school, learn to stick your tongue out so far you can lick your own ear" (a phenomenally UN-sexy move, in my book, but what do I know) ... she set out to shock the squares and succeeded with an almost mathematical precision.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

47. it is NOT the only game that exists

but seems to be the only game SOME know how to play... ffs...

sP

[chervilant]

53. Yet another Miley Cyrus thread...

Too bad she's so "irrelevant"!

[gopiscrap]

56. welcome to DU

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

59. I disagree

I think Sinead O'Connor nailed it that Miley is making a conscious decision to play by those rules, but she isn't forced to do so. She wants to.

A musician with her clebrity and name recognition could take a stand and publicly speak out (as lesser selling acts like Grimes did) and she could be a real influence. Instead, she chose to respond to O'Connor by attacking her battle with mental illness.

Yes, the record industry promotes this oversexualization and objectification.
But Miley Cyrus, Britney and the rest of them get off on it and try to defend what they're doing as some sort of feminism. I think Madonna started this trend of doing whatvever it takes to sell records, and then try to pass it off as a sign of strength.

And there are plenty of musicians who make it without degrading themselves. There was a whole tour of them a decade ago with Lillith Fair, women like Bjork, PJ Harvey and Florence Welch sell records without doing strip club act on MTV.

Sure, they don't sell as much as the poptarts do. But they chose not to play the game. Miley does, and she deserves flack for it.

[riderinthestorm]

62. Gloria Steinem did a stint as a Playboy bunny.

I'm amazed at the lack of background knowledge.

[mopinko]

64. as a writer.

for an assignment.

[riderinthestorm]

66. To further her career.Do you think Miley is operating any differently? nt

[mopinko]

67. well

using her tits was not what furthered her career. telling the truth about women who got paid to flash their tits is different than living off your tits.
good or ill. it is different.

[rocktivity]

70. THIS JUST IN: Miley has officially gone straight to

Last edited Wed Jul 23, 2014, 10:22 AM - Edit history (1)

the dogs!


rocktivity