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The Point

The Student News Site of Fitchburg State University

The Point

The Student News Site of Fitchburg State University

The Point

I hate these blurred lines

Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus dancing with Robin Thicke at the 2013 Video Music Awards

By Emily Varno

If you follow pop culture, even if you don’t, you’ll probably know there has been a mess of controversy in the past month or two surrounding Miley Cyrus.

Miley recently released the music video for her new song “Wrecking Ball,” and the number one reason why everyone knows about it is because she’s naked in it. The video sparked a near uproar. Most people were shocked and many were offended. All I see, however, is a disturbing double standard.

Shortly before “Wrecking Ball” was released, the video for “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke had everyone talking. There are two versions of this video; I’m talking about the unrated one, which features three women who are completely naked, save for a skin-color thong.

In the video these women are doing nothing but walking back and forth across the screen, staring into the camera while Thicke (who is married, mind you), Pharell, and T.I. point at them and dance next to them as though they don’t know what a personal bubble is. The women in this video are made out to be objects. It’s quite clear that they’re there for the pleasure of the men; they’re not dancing, they’re not singing, they’re just there. Naked, not hiding anything.

On the other hand, while Miley is naked in her own video, she doesn’t bare everything. Any part of her body that would be deemed inappropriate is covered. And yet, she’s been called a “slut,” an “attention whore,” and has been accused of having “no self-respect,” while the women in “Blurred Lines” didn’t take nearly as much heat.

Maybe it’s because Miley is more famous, most likely it’s because she used to be Hannah Montana and some people still see her that way. Either way, it seems to me that people are okay with the three women in “Blurred Lines” being naked and just being in the video practically as a prop (while the men around them sing lines such as, “I know you want it,” and “You the hottest bitch in this place,” no less). But suddenly it’s a huge problem and a huge controversy when Miley makes her own decision to strip down for her own video, where she is the center focus, and while she sings a song about a break-up that was clearly emotional for her.

I’m not here to condone Miley and bash the “Blurred Lines” girls, nor am I here to give some lecture on feminism. I just think the general reactions to these videos were unfairly different. It doesn’t make sense that Robin Thicke, a married man, can have three naked women half his age in his video basically for something nice to look at and call it “art,” but when Miley calls her video art, she’s immediately shamed for it.

I understand that she did come out of the Disney scene and she is still a role model for young girls and women but the truth is she’s not Hannah Montana anymore. She’s older now and she can make her own decisions, so why should she get shamed for making this video when the women in “Blurred Lines” did the exact same thing, when in fact they showed even more?

People act as if it’s okay when the women baring skin are not in their own video, but when it’s their own decision, for their own video, then it’s suddenly a problem, and that I just don’t understand.

 

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  • T

    Thomas PotterNov 15, 2013 at 12:42 am

    Wonderfully written from a talented writer, you covered all the points! It’s a refreshing read and eye-opening, allowing the reader to form their opinion with the given truth of a two-sided story. Great job 🙂

    Reply
    • E

      Emily VarnoNov 16, 2013 at 8:20 am

      Thank you very much!! 🙂

      Reply
  • A

    adNov 14, 2013 at 3:40 pm

    great article!

    Reply