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The Rolling Stone's interview with Miley Cyrus in which she attempts to explain her reasoning behind her VMA performance, the Wrecking Ball music video and ratchet culture.  

It was something we touched on a few classes ago about Miley Cyrus being the centre of attention in the VMAs controversy yet Robin Thicke managed to slice through without much criticism. In this article it is suggested that sexism and discrimination are really the only reason anyone is still talking about Miley's raunchy performance at the VMAs last month.

An argument that Miley Cryus's VMA performance was (though unintentionally) a minstrel show that echoes the minstrelsy of the 19th century, especially performances of "Uncle Tom's Cabin." This is a heritage that we carry with us from theatre, and plays out in hollywood, such as "Orange Is the New Black" character Crazy Eyes.

This post includes a file with all 150 of the complaints sent by viewers of MTV's VMAs about Miley Cryus's performance. These complaints focused on the sexuality of the performance and often express being "traumatized." Unfortunately for the complainers, the FCC does not fine or regulate cable television like it does broadcast television.

I thought this was especially interesting, since we had been talking in class about the similarities between Lady Gaga's performances and Miley Cyrus's at the VMAs.

A satirical critique on the news coverage of Miley Cyrus's performance.  It's more about using pop culture as revenue than the actual performance.

Another post from Rolling Stone this time a recent photo shoot. Interesting to see visually how Cyrus is flaunting her new edgy, grunge look.

Wow, I didn't even know she was going to be on the cover. It's especially interesting how, in one of the photo captions, Cyrus herself points out that there was a double standard at the VMAs.

I don't know if you guys heard this (actually I might post it) But because of her performance at the VMAs, Vogue withdrew Miley's chance to be on their cover in... November/December because of how disgraceful it was.

Rolling Stone Miley Cyrus for the racy cover of the Oct. 10 issue of Rolling Stone magazine. Miley also talks about her VMA's performances and how that now people expect her to twerk with her tongue lashing out and interestingly she said she would never do it again.

I did see someone had already posted some of these photos but here are a few more from the same photo shoot. Once again Cyrus is using the same shock tactics that appeared in her wrecking ball video and VMA performance.

Ohhhhhhhhhhh snap. Robin literally blows all the blame on Miley with a small comment, and she sort of responds on the Ellen show

Miley dresses up in Lil' Kim's famous 1999 VMA outfit.

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!

Another take on Miley Cyrus and ratchet culture. Although it's clear Charlamagne's trying to be funny at points, he does raise some interesting issues concerning Miley (though, in my opinion, he's rather ignorant in the way he explains himself). He also mentions Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, and Justin Timberlake in this video.

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.