History of Feminism
Related: About this forumSolidarity is For Miley Cyrus: The Racial Implications of her VMA Performance
I thought this deserved its own thread. This whole article is good.
Okay.... but can we talk about the problematic and racist nature of her performance? Her literal use of people as props? Her association of her newfound sexuality with the traditional codifiers of black female culture, thereby perpetuating the Jezebel stereotype that black women are lewd, lascivious and uncontrollably sexualized? Can we talk about the straight up minstrelsy of that performance? Can we talk about how not a single black person won an award last night even though the people who did win awards have been mining black music and culture for years?
No? Ok... I'll just sit at the back of the bus then. #solidarityisforwhitewomen
Now some people have said that Miley is only 20, and she's "just a child" and that she doesn't understand what she's doing. But Miley isn't new to this. Her video for the single wasn't even the first precursor to this madness. She has been quoted as saying that she explicitly wanted "a black sound" for her new album. She is more than aware of what she's doing, and has consciously made the choice to dabble in traditionally black aesthetics and sound in order to breakaway from her good girl image and further her career.
http://groupthink.jezebel.com/solidarity-is-for-miley-cyrus-1203666732?action_type_map=%5B%22og.likes%22%5D&action_object_map=%5B155252038013239%5D&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&fb_action_ids=10200674489208193&action_ref_map=%5B%5D
winterpark
(168 posts)We shouldn't slut shame her because she was trying to be slutty, but we should shame her because she was identifying with black females as being slutty and skanky.
hlthe2b
(102,468 posts)to days of slavery, using black women as mere props, which might be bad enough, but exploiting them in such a stereotypical and controversially sexual way moved the performance from merely provocative to something far less defensible.
That said, i'm sure most viewers probably didn't pick up on some of what she was doing, but I'm betting her target audience certainly will.
Meh, I only hope she grows up and finds a way to actually display and market her own (vocal?) talents. This surely doesn't seem to me to be the way.
EC
(12,287 posts)What did bother me about her act is that she really seems to NEED that type of attention. She's pretty messed up.