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Hanson argues that at this point in pop music, artists like Miley have nothing to rebel against to make them artistic -- Miley has to go full circle and just make sex, music, and performance ugly.

Camille Paglia argues that the problem with Cyrus's performance wasn't that it was "disgusting," but rather that it was unsexy ("atrocious"), and that subversion and sexual liberation need limits and can't rely just on shock.

I might add that I think Paglia is largely right, but then again, wrong: Isn't she mis-identifying Cyrus? Cyrus was out for shock, not sexual liberation (in my reading). She's not trying to be the next Madonna. (If you read other Paglia arguments, a recurring theme is: "This new artist isn't Madonna.")

Camille Pagila is at it again! Although our class discussion is currently focused on Lady Gaga, I found this article Pagila wrote about Miley Cyrus interesting. Pagila does mention the focus on sex in the music industry and credits Madonna as the executive of such an image, in the most positive way possible. Pagila described Gaga as the striking end of sex and gender. Here, Pagila claims that pop music/culture itself is on the exponential decline. Don't forget to read the comments, they're quite amusing, actually!

This is an article on how the University of Edinburgh has decided to ban Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines from all Student Buildings because it promotes an unhealthy attitude towards sex and consent

Very interesting. I wonder what folks in the class think about this being banned?

This video discusses an interesting metaphor about gender and sex, from the movie "Hedwig and the Angry Inch."

This is Steve, by the way.

I came across this article and it reminded me of the discussion in class where gender is fluid, it changes and what the meaning's on gender and sex were. According to article it describes a culture in Mexico where there are ''Muxes'', these are Zapotec indigenous men who dress and behave in ways associated with women. But Muxes are most commonly known as a third gender, rather than a sexual orientation. It is interesting to see that in the article the muxes aren't ridiculed in their hometown, but actually celebrated, for instance they have a party, and to the muxes themselves they see that it is ''important to have this party to rescue our culture, to rescue who we are and show the rest of the people in this city how we live our sexuality, how we exercise our rights''. On the other hand, mothers in the Juchitan area of Mexico encourage their sons of the muxe leanings because their think the ''Muxes are a blessing from God because their look after you when your sick.....''. All in all this culture in Mexico is very different and when many others see this type of identity as unusual or even disgraceful especially in more conservative places in Mexico.

Since we touched up on it a little in class, I wanted to share with you all this article about the Bratz dolls and how some parents think they're too sexy for their children. There is an argument from the company saying that it's only the adults that see "sex" but the children do not, what do you guys think?

I used to have loads of Bratz dolls when I was younger and I loved playing with them and dressing them up. I totally aggree with the statement in the article that 'Adults see sex in everything, but kids don't' as someone who had these dolls as a child it never crossed my mind these were oversexulaized, I wouldn't have even known what that meant!. I would make the comparisson to Barbies and comment that the parents who critize these dolls may have had Barbies when they were children.

It is interesting how Emilie uses sex as a form of self embracing in her music video. Also, the very title 'Fight like a Girl' commonly used as an insult in sports, is used in a very inspiring and confident tone. 

This long - over an hour - but Dr. Dines discusses rape and porn culture and it's affect on society and the impact it has on women. I particularly thought her discussion of the Paris Hilton sex tape was relevant to our discussion about Miley Cyrus. She encourages people to "think about the trauma of being nineteen years old and that is circulating everywhere. Just for a moment what it must have felt like, and then, like most women who are traumatized," she had "two choices" to either "hide" or "decided...to embrace that trauma and 'own' it as your own....if you're going to call (Paris Hilton) a slut, then...(she'll) be the best slut you've ever met in your life". This all or nothing attitude that women in our "image based" culture must have to survive. Granted, this talk is about the porn industry, but I think a lot of it can also be used in discussions of women and pop music. Be warned, though, it does include some pretty graphic language. EDIT: Around 45 minutes in she talks about Miley Cyrus's photoshoot for Vanity Fair and the hypersexualization of young girls. It takes place before the VMAs, but she still talks about the transition from Hannah Montana to Miley Cyrus.

I guess Miley has some new photos out that are pretty risque.  This post just writes about how Miley is all about the controversy and getting people to talk about her.

I agree with the post, i guess is easy to say that Miley is always fame hungry and wants people to talk about her. But surely if people keep talking about her won't they just get bored.

This blog post talks about how Miley Cyrus is a genius because "she doesn't just talk like a bad girl, she behaves like one...if you're a musician, that's an incredible place to be."  Sinead O'Connor also wrote a letter to Miley about empowerment.

I feel Cyrus' response to this letter so shocking by talking about Sinead O'Connor having had mental illness and re-tweeting post O'Connor said whilst mentally ill. It appears O'Connor meant well and Cyrus' reaction was uncalled and down right mean. This however may be said for the shock value that it is been made clear Miley Cryrus is all about now!!

Zoe, I agree that Cyrus's response was awful--that rather than deal with issues, she taunts and resorts to attacking her for her mental illness, which especially bothers me.

This video is rather outlandish, the video is shows the abuse and overt sexualisation of females, but it isn't until the very end that the point of view is changed.  For Gayle Rubin class

Hannah, I think this video is great for analysis -- I'm thinking of R&W's point about how videos create authenticity, and that this video, through that shift at the end, tries to portray Prodigy as somehow clever, not misogynist. It's a "clever" move to say: "Look, we're not violent! All people, even women, are violent. We and our fans don't have to think about being implicated in a culture that's violent toward women, because everyone is violent toward everyone!" That changed point of view, in my reading, is way to build "ethos" with their fans and allow them to continue to be violent and cool.

For Rubin article

This video reminds me of the Watson and Rialton article we read for Tuesday.  The black women are hypersexualized and animalistic, while the white women are looking down on the black women (like in the beginning of the song).  

I think a great line is "even white boys gotta shout" so it not just one group, but generalizes to all.

"So are those oh-so supportive words she's been sweetly saying about Miley Cyrus not the truth? Selena Gomez has totes had her fellow teen queen's back as she raunches it up, but it sounds like she might not be Team Miley!" - Perez Hilton Just thought this was interesting given the link I shared last week regarding the Lorde/SelG. feud. Didn't Gomez herself state that gossiping and dissing other women is not feminism? Hmm.