"Who owns my heart?” Miley Cyrus asks in her latest music video, as she writhes around in a barely-there ensemble. Well, the answer to her question is somewhat of a mystery, since her new album’s lyrics also include “I go through guys like money flyin’ out their hands.”
The star of Disney’s Hannah Montana is not alone in projecting a raunchy and racy image, making for pretty lousy idols for children. These so-called role models are projecting their sexualized and indecent images, which glorify their lewd lifestyles and send messages of unrealistic expectations of sex and romance towards children.
The Hannah Montana show has an audience of more than four million viewers, ranging from age six to 14. Just over a month before she turns 18, Miley’s latest video features the Disney star half-naked and writhing around on a bed, in the back of a limo, in her bathtub and finally lasciviously grinding on men at a raging party in the basement of a mansion.
Miley has built her “fame and fortune entirely on the backs of young girls,” according to the Parents Television Council, who condemned her video as a huge disappointment.
Hardly the type of young woman kids should be idolizing.
And this isn’t the first time Miley has turned up the heat. At the age of 15 she posed for Vanity Fair topless but for a bed sheet draped around her. As host for the 2009 Teen Choice Awards, she performed while sliding up and down on a pole.
Sexualized heroes for children are nothing new. Take the scantily-clad super-heroines Wonder Woman and Catwoman. Or even the previous generations’ Britney and Madonna .
The difference is the level of sexuality. Of course, Britney and Madonna were not rated G, but at least they kept their pants on. When Britney, a former Mouseketeer, dressed as a school girl it may not have been ideal, but it sure beats no-pants Miley rolling around in sheets making bedroom eyes at the camera. Things are moving in the wrong direction. Miley’s fans are much younger and much more impressionable.
The over-sexualized teens and tweens do not just stop at Miley. The leading ladies of one of Disney’s biggest enterprises High School Musical are also very poor role models for children. Nude photos of Vanessa Hudgens, which she took of herself to send to her boyfriend and co-star Zac Efron, leaked onto the Internet.
Anyone who knows how to use a search engine can access these photos, including children. Hudgens’ co-star Ashley Tisdale, like many Disney teeny-boppers, began a music career and her videos are similar to Miley’s.
What effect is this having on children today?
The Canadian Community Health Survey found that of the 100 people they interviewed, 44 said that their first age of intercourse was 13 or younger, and 35 said between the ages of 14 to 17.
This is awfully young.
And with MTV airing programs such as Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant, it comes as no surprise that when a 16-year-old star of Family Channel’s Zoey 101 became pregnant, she did not shy away from the cameras. Teen pregnancy is no longer a tragedy, but rather an accomplishment.
If Mickey Mouse could see what has happened to his girls, he would surely hang his head in shame.