If you are not living under a rock then you know who Miley Cyrus is. She is a pop sensation who has recently stripped herself of the disney channel image as Hannah Montana and become “The bad bitch she really is” according to a statement she made on her documentary. That so called “bad bitch” has stirred many opinions of exactly what it is she thinks a “bad bitch” does. She wears the skimpiest of outfits, sings about sexual things, lights joints on stages, and grabs the butts of big black women during her performance. Is that Miley being racist or does the woman just happen to be black?…. Honestly, this is hard for me to say because it doesn’t have to be racist of you don’t look at it in a racist way. However, in this class, we must do so to see how “blackness” is still reflected in the contemporary world. Miley’s dancers seem to all be exotic women, mostly black, with large behinds “twerking” in provocative way. Maybe Miley doesn’t realize but this portrayal of the black woman has been previously reflected in literature we have read about black women being seen as provocative human beings ready to be sexual actions at any time. At the VMA’s this year when Miley was on stage and grabbed the butt of a black woman dancing but this woman wasn’t bothered by it at all, she continued her provocative dancing. (Most likely because she knew that grab was coming) But still, Miley and her choreography members should maybe take a step back and realize how sexually they are portraying black females. They send the message that it’s okay to touch them sexually and they aren’t bothered by it when that is wrong. No women, black or white, should be violated like this and Miley does a great job at sending out these wrong messages.
Miley’s choreography is portraying black women as sexual objects, and is more thoughtless than anything else. She probably didn’t realize what she was doing, but that does not excuse it. Her actions have shown that thinking things through is not her strong suit. It is difficult to draw the line between creative expression and the responsibility that celebrities have due to their influence on people, but Miley clearly did not consider either in her performance.
I think that Miley is just the latest in a long line of white pop stars who use WoC (and Black Women specifically) are props in their videos. Pink and Gwen Stefani did it also, and Lily Allen recently did it, claiming “satire.” Miley recently has been basically appropriating black culture, having fun with it on stage, and then being able to take it off whenever she decides goes back home to Nashville.
I also find it interesting that the media claims Miley is just exploring her sexuality in good fun when she twerks onstage, but the same media places will say performers like Beyonce and Nicki Minaj are bad for feminism for doing the same things.
I like the point that you made that by sexualizing and touching black women, Miley is portraying that it is acceptable to touch black women and sexually exploit them. I highly doubt that Miley Cyrus is racist, but given this country’s history, and the social climate that still exists, perhaps she should be a little more sensitive to the messages of sexualization and race lines that she is toeing the line of.