to think that Miley Cyrus is not a feminist because...

[IceBeing]

feminism isn't just about individual expression but about making the world a better more equal place for everyone....or if you can't do that then at least don't make it worse for the rest of us!

It is perfectly feminist to make money by getting naked if that is what you want to do...and in a perfect world where your actions don't affect other people that would be the end of it.

But in this world here, the one we actually live in, MC's actions make life noticeably worse for swathes of the population, all the way from teenage girls who feel increased pressure to become sexually active before they are ready, through even younger and younger girls believing that their looks are their defining characteristic, up to old farts like me working in male dominated environments who find themselves in a professional setting suddenly being faced with questions about twerking.

So no Miley you are not a feminist because you don't give a shit about the result of your 'self-expression' on the rest of woman kind (or human kind for that matter).

[WorraLiberty]

I don't care what label she gives herself

She's still a twat.

[Pootles2010]

Sorry don't agree - don't think anyone is in 'charge' of feminism and gets to decide who is and who isn't.

Were you listening to Radio 4 this morning? If so, what I took from it is that she said she was, then 10 seconds later said she wasn't, so she sounds a bit confused about it all anyway.

[HoneyDragon]

What Worra said, in the main.

[NoArmaniNoPunani]

I don't see how she is making the world worse for anyone else. I actually thought what Cliff Richard said about her was spot on (and I'm totally not a fan of him at all)

She's just a puppet being manipulated by her record company.

[mrsjay]

she is just a silly attention seeking girl who thinks all publicity is good publicity however she conducts herself sells records gets her on E news and sells records that is her job, I wish she would just behave though if my 20yr old acted like her I would be mortified

[tabbytolst]

I think that she is confusing self empowerment with enhancing womens' rights for generality of women. The persona she projects can be seen as exploitative / exploited depending on your viewpoint, but that is not feminism. It's pandering to a sexist stereotype for personal gain. She's encouraging the one dimensional view that women are valuable only in so far as they are sexy or attractive. While making your career on that is fine, it's a lifestyle not open to everyone. Calling this a feminist act is absurd.

[hyenafunk]

I don't think she knows what she wants or who the hell she is tbh. She just seems like a very lost girl. It's always seemed to me that she had fame hungry parents and considering Billy Ray's one hit wonder was dead and buried they decided to pawn their daughter off to Disney as so often happens. Out of all of the child stars I think Justin Timberlake is one of the only ones who has come out unscathed thus far, time will tell for the more recent ones.

To me all of this is the natural rebellion that should have happened in her teens and should now be tailing off at 21. But her teens were basically taken out of her hands. She had to be this wholesome girl to preserve the Disney image and obviously suppressed a lot of feelings. And so now that rebellion is happening in the full glare of the media because it's like Hannah Montana turned bad so the media are loving it.

That's my take on Miley. I don't think she's promoting feminism or anything else, I think she's on a crash course for disaster and I'm seeing Amanda Bynes and Britney Spears all over again.

[claig]

She is being manipulated just like the other ex-Disney star, Britney, was.

This is the standard route that the record companies lead their former young artists along. It is about creating an image and selling records, but above all it is a deliberate policy of "epater le bourgeis"

What's going on with Bieber? I think he is being manipulated too.

[claig]

bourgeois

[redshifter]

YANBU

The trouble is. Who are we to define the meaning of feminism? Labels mean different things to different people.

"One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" . Even committed feminists disagree about what is or is not a feminist action. Some would be totally agree with MC calling herself feminist.

Fwiw I agree with your definition and think MC's actions are harmful.

And MC is twat

[mrsjay]

she is 20 no 20 yr old knows what they want except she wants to be famous and noticed this is what she is doing, Ex disney starts tend to go a bit like this it seems once they reach a certain age they go a bit bonkers, with bieber it is an over inflated ego the boy just needs to behave himself

[NoArmaniNoPunani]

I feel really uncomfortable with people calling her a twat. I hope none of the people doing that define themselves as feminists

[WorraLiberty]

I think she's an utter fucking twat

And no I don't label myself

[QuintessentialShadows]

She cant be a feminist. She just won the MTV award for best video purely based on gyrating semi nekkid on a ball!

[SaucyJack]

I don't think she's "expressing herself" and she certainly isn't empowering womankind, but on the flip side she is making one fuck of a lot of money and fame out of very limited talent, so fair play to her if that's what she wants.

There's a reason Miley has to get nekkid to sell records, and Adele doesn't.

[QuintessentialShadows]

Lana del rey is extremely sexy in her demure dresses. She also has a stunning voice.

My son loves the song wrecking ball. He does not like Miley though, so prefers cover versions of the song.

Why must the world see her naked? She is not expressing herself. Just exhibiting herself. Those are two very different things.

[LaRegina]

Off subject slightly. But I happened to hear her singing live on the radio yesterday and she was actually really good. Made me really sad (for her) that she thinks she needs to act the way she does to get attention.

[Famzilla]

I was an utter twat wreck at her age, I did a lot worse than what I've heard about her doing unfortunately. The difference is, the media didn't give a shiny shit what I was up to.

And everything hyena said.

[NoArmaniNoPunani]

Why do people assume it's her calling the shots and not her record company? Even huge stars like Prince and George Michael have had rows with their record companies in the past wanting them to be something they didn't want. Do you really think Miley Cyrus has that much artistic control?

[HaroldTheGoat]

Are you not allowed to think people are twats if your a feminist?

Hannah Montana gone bad, sums it up. Like Britney she feels the need to shake that wholesome image off, I can only imagine it must be very unpleasant to spend your teens pretending to be a good wholesome Disney girl. It always seems to end badly.

No strong opinion on her but I wish she'd keep her bloody tongue in her mouth.

[QuintessentialShadows]

It is a fact that nudity sells, and she wants to make money. MEN do like female artists that puts on a naked act. It is as close to porn as you can get in your living room without anybody batting an eyelid.

Miley is not the first woman to use her body to make money, and she wont be the last. Money is more important than integrity to some.

If she wants to prostitute herself with her music, then let her, but her videos should be x rated, not shown before the watershed, and filtered out by webfilters/netnannies and put in the category porn, not music. It being music is only secondary. The song is forgettable. The image of Miley Twerking, or gyrating on a ball, is less so.

[babywipesaremagic]

I heard an interview with her yesterday that said that she aimed to be outrageously sexual and 'adult' because people heard her name and changed the channel. If she was naked then maybe some people would stick around and notice that she can sing.

I think a big problem here is that promoting someone from such a young age makes it hard for them to naturally transition into their adult self. Imagine going for a job interview for a career in finance with the interview panel looking at your maths book from year2.

I don't particularly like MC and dislike pop in general because it's far more insulting than other genres as women have been somehow convinced to devalue themselves.

[grimbletart]

She's a very boring brat. She will grow one day - perhaps.