As an aspirant barrister I believe any person who allegedly
breaks the law is entitled to a defence, a view which often generates shock
from the people I meet– how can you possibly defend a rapist or a child killer?
The more I hear this question the more it actually begins to irritate me. But a
good answer to this question was recently given to me by a learned judge – ‘I
did it for the fun and the money. But defending people who are guilty is not
nearly as fun as prosecuting somebody who is innocent’. Apparently at this
point people suddenly realise why what they are asking might not be the most
logical question. In a civilised society people should be able to defend
themselves and this extends not just to law but everyday life. Even when I was
a child my parents would always ask me what happened if I was accused of
something. In fact this is one of my problems with the way ‘naughty pupils’ are
sometimes treated in schools; there is always a presumption of guilt.
 | ||||
| Miley Cyrus 'twerks' ^ |
 |
| Miley Cyrus VMAs ^ |
I am talking about this because a few days
ago
Miley Cyrus performed a controversial routine at the MTV Video Music
Awards
(VMAs). Since then there has been outrage, abuse and even threats
directed at
her in the media and particularly on the internet. Indeed there have
even been
accusations that Miley’s dance has offensive racial implications.
However when
I googled ‘articles defending Miley Cyrus’ I got nothing, the only
defence made
for her has been a couple of comments made by artists like Justin
Timberlake.
The list of articles criticising Miley is staggering and the amount of
people
speaking out in her defence on my Facebook is one – me. Now when I say I
want
to defend Miley Cyrus I am not saying I would have done what she did, I
personally think the dance is ridiculous and I find it worrying that
‘stars’
find the need to behave in this way to get themselves a hit. Frankly
that says
more about us than them. Nor I am denying that there are some people who
may
have been offended by the routine. My real problem is that the majority
of the
criticisms levelled at Miley are inherently sexiest. Many that do not
‘slut-shame’ come across as irrational, inconsistent and have conducted
poor research. Finally it alarms me that people on my Facebook who are
normally
politically apathetic suddenly have a view, but they haven’t used that
view to
criticise Robin Thicke, or to discuss the problems going on in Syria, no
they
have used their freedom of speech to call Miley ‘white trash’, ‘a slut’,
‘vulgar’. I wish people showed the same enthusiasm in contributing to a
debate
where the issue is actually important.
 |
| Britney Spears |
The
above pictures show the things that seem to have enraged some people across the
world – Miley ‘twerking’ on Robin Thicke in a suggestive manner and her outfit.
This group are the people who have labelled Miley a ‘slut’ and a bad influence
on young fans, people who say she has gone too far and needs to go back to the
days of being sweet, innocent Hannah Montana. I have little sympathy with this argument
and actually find it offensive. It paints a picture of a society in which women
are subjected to criticism in an entirely different way to men and does not
square up with the ideals of equality and fairness. The point is women and men
should both be free to do as they wish as long as it is within the law and
various regulations. The idea of a society where Miley Cyrus would be
restricted to doing an extremely conservative routine in a duffle coat
frightens me. I like being able to go out on a night out and dance in a sexy
way knowing my friends won’t judge me and call me a slag. The various comments
abusing Miley for this show that society has not made as much progress on
issues of sexism as we think.
Ladies... “You all have got to
stop calling each other sluts and whores. It just makes it okay for guys
to call you sluts and whores.” - Mean Girls
 |
| An example of comments being made ^ |
 |
| Janet Jackson |
Moreover
if these people truly believe what they are saying why is there not a similar
outcry when stars like Rihanna, Cheryl Cole, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears and
Madonna do suggestive dances? Some argue the problem is Miley is seen as
different because she was in the public eye when she was a child and played an
innocent, American sweetheart type character. In response I say two things,
first of all it is not up to these people what Miley does, she is her own
person and it is part of her freedom that she can do what she wants within
certain rules. Secondly if people do their research properly they will find
stars like Britney and Christina Aguilera were both famous as children, Britney
in fact used her innocence and purity to promote early songs. There is an
inherent sexism to these arguments and actually I would argue
jealously from a lot of people who see a young, talented and good looking woman
creating success we can probably never hope to gain.
 |
| Rihanna 1 |
 |
| Rihanna 2 |
 |
| Cheryl Cole |
I
would go so far as to say that I am not even sure the aim of the dance is to be
raunchy and sexy, most people agree she just looks ridiculous. If anything she
seems to be poking fun at the normal routines done by stars which are
sexualised. The dance might on further analysis be seen as ironic. Her opening
routine to number one single We Can’t Stop starts off with teddy bears lining
the stage bopping about – surely fun with an element of silliness and hilarity
rather than a strip tease? Perhaps the real irony of this
whole situation is that controversy is exactly what Miley's PR people wanted in
order to promote the single leaked yesterday - 'Twerk' feat Justin Bieber.
An argument I take far more seriously is the number
of black female commentators who feel offended at Miley's performance,
they say it is racist, for example this blog
http://groupthink.jezebel.com/solidarity-is-for-miley-cyrus-1203666732. It is
important to point out first of all that as quite a privileged white woman I
probably cannot fully identify with some of these issues and I could never say
that I have experienced racism personally. Nonetheless to make an accusation
like this is extremely serious hence why I approach this topic with caution. I
take issue with the post on the blog for a number of reasons. At the beginning
of the post the author basically accuses all white women of not really caring
about racism which is completely unfair and actually ludicrous. Women of many
colours of skin, including white women, have fought for equal rights of all
women and of all races, indeed men have! She does make a number of points that
if true are worrying and Miley should rightly be called up on this. The author
described how all the teddy bears were black women and they were basically
being used as props to reinforce a 'sexual' stereotype of black women. The fact is on
re-watching the performance multiple times I think it is practically impossible
to work out the skin colour of every single teddy bear on stage - there is
simply no evidence that every single backing dancer is a black woman. Indeed
you cannot even tell the gender of every bear! We simply cannot know whether or
not Miley intended for her performance to come across this way and to make such
sweeping assertions is dangerous. A friend of mine who is mixed race told me
that it frustrates her when people instantly brand things to be racist because
it moves away the real issues of race within society. For example, it disgusts
me that if you are an ethnic minority you are more likely to be subject to
social and economic deprivation. An accusation like this requires solid
evidence.
 |
| One might interpret these comments as racist... |
Furthermore I take issue with the claim that Miley
is purposely using black women in the dance to sexualise herself, apart from
the fact that the most sexualised dancing by far is performed by Miley Cyrus
herself, in her music video for the song there are a whole mix of people -
white, latino and black people. Surely if Miley was aiming to use black women
in this way she would ensure every person she is dancing with in a suggestive
way in the music video is black? However, let us say Miley is using these women
in this way, which could be offensive, why are other artists not criticised who
have behaved in this way? An example my brother gave me was black male rappers
who have quite deliberately only got black women dancing around them? Surely
this can interpreted as a black man reinforcing a sexual stereotype of black
women or even discriminating against white women? Indeed there is an
example of this shown immediately after Miley performs when rapper 2 Chainz
(and for consistency the same can be said for Kendrick Lamar) comes on
surrounded by black women dancing in a provocative way - is this not also
racist? If you are going to make a criticism you need to apply it consistently
and and tar people of all skin colours with the same brush. Additionally the behaviour
of Robin Thicke, 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar emphasises the issue I feel is
really at the heart of all this - these performances are perfect illustrations
of the patriarchy in action. A master (the man) surrounded by his sexy ladies
doing a nice dance for him. Is this not what is fundamentally wrong and
revolting about what happened at the VMAs the other night? Alarmingly I do not
see one comment in the blog about the blatantly racist comments that have been
made about Miley Cyrus, people calling her 'white trash' and 'trailer trash'.
 |
| 2 Chainz at VMAs 2013 |
When you read between the lines of the blog what
the writer is really saying is that she doesn't like a white woman doing a
dance which is seen as part of black culture and this has been reflected in
many views online. Is there not something actually quite racist about saying
somebody is not allowed to do a dance because their skin is a particular
colour? Why should I not be able to twerk as a free person if it just so
happens that I am white? It is like saying black women should not be allowed to
do ballet because this has historically been a form of dance we normally see
white men and women perform. If anything one might praise Miley for bashing
through the barriers of normal racial stereotypes! But as I said previously you
cannot possibly know the motives behind the performance and therefore should
not praise her but also should not brand her a racist. The only thing we know
for sure is that Miley wanted to provoke controversy and has done so
successfully- as Justin Timberlake said what do you expect from the VMAs?
"I'll go easy on Miley, man. She's declaring her womanhood. Let her do
her thing, man... I don't have anything to say about that, but she got
y'all's attention! This was not the Grammys, this was not the Oscars,
this was the VMAs.
"This was where Madonna came out in a wedding dress and humped the stage. This is where Britney did the striptease. This is where you do it. What did you guys expect?!"
"This was where Madonna came out in a wedding dress and humped the stage. This is where Britney did the striptease. This is where you do it. What did you guys expect?!"
