Ah the Daily Mail. Don't get me wrong I think this wasn't the smartest move the young lady could have made. But I always find it funny that the most right wing nut basket newspaper that bemoans the lack of modern morality and constantly bangs on about the pedos under the bed and infesting the internet... (deep breath) just loves to print pictures like this.

They're seriously schizo.

Gaah. She's not looking ridiculous, but she does look like she's a youngster out of her depth an an adult world. I'd say that photo borders on child abuse. It certainly makes me feel icky. Ewww.

Well, the original photo spread is supposed to be in the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair; even Miley herself is supposedly not happy about it:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24245846/

So, I can be found watching Hannah Montana (because I do have two daughters in the age range!), and yeah, I do hope she and mom and dad figure out how to navigate the world of a billion dollars and a billion paparazi. Because that would be a very good thing for her, and she honestly does seem to be very talented, as singer, comedian, and actor.

(It's not the silly lipstick, or all the bones on her back that bother me about the photo. It's those things plus the unattractive hair.... The whole photo is a mess and should've been left in the wastebin.)

Yup, it's a blunder. The pictures are dead-average but the very fact that they took place is a tad disturbing.

This remembers me the mess Vanessa Anne Hudgens got herself into a while ago. Like Miley, she's a Protégée of the Disney Corporation. She also got some nude pictures that surfaced. I have a weird feeling that somebody is sleeping on the job...

How utterly unoriginal and predictable.

The semi-nude, "come-hither" pose photographed by Annie Leibovitz. Haven't we seen this before? I always thought Leibovitz was overrated, and now I'm certain of it. This counts for originality?

And how predictable. Since there are no doubt millions of Miley Cyrus pix in circulation, one more photo, even captured by Leibovitz, was likely to draw snores. So, how to create some buzz? Got it! Let's introduce an element of sexuality to a 15 year old girl who had up till now built a career on a wholesome image. That'll do it!

Pathetic.

That's not cool. What's weird is that she comes from a showbiz family (her dad is the bemulleted Billy Ray Cyrus, of "Achy Breaky Heart" fame). You figure someone involved in her career would have the sophistication to avoid this. Let's hope this isn't the first step towards Spears-dom for her.

"the sophistication to avoid this." JustinC

well, yeah, unless the deal is that this is the exposure they actually want. Sure, everyone has to say that they oppose such things [with a wink] but it does increase ratings, and sell papers, no? Who is under the delusion that this isn't the case? Perhaps because she is laboring UNDER the whole fame machine, they are incapable of just letting her rise on talent. Seems like that is no longer enough for many.

As long as she keeps the train on the rails, unlike spears, this is a value add in the long run...

"Cause you could've sworn you thought you heard her saying...

"Good girls don't,
Good girls don't,
Good girls don't, but I do." - The Knack

A calculated scandal, in other words?

Too bad the picture is such a failure.

The attempt at childhood bedhead (the hair across the mouth) looked particularly ridiculous, too.

I disagree with this post generally, not specifically. Annie's getting older. If you have a chance to get a portrait from her, you should probably do it!

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_04_27_archive.html#6777014630649016882

Yep, another kid farmed out to be a pedophile's dream... all in the name of art.

just lovely. All of Miley's handlers were on set when these digital photographs were taken. They all thought they were very tasteful. Not bad for a girl pulling 7 digits despite her father being a wierd country-music star.

But in steps Disney. "Miley, it's embarassing because we tell you it is." And all of a sudden, a tasteful picture becomes indecent because the Corporate Mouse says it is. OH THE HUMANITY! How dare she show her shoulder.

Can we stop being puritans for like...a day? Sometime? Ever? Because, if this is 'scandalous' you should see how girls dress themselves in jr. high and high school.

If anyone should feel dirty, it should be because they looked at moe99's link.

Meanwhile, the real child pornographers are hoisting up thier anti-choice banners with pictures of naked fetuses.

With props to JD --thanks for taking the first stab at Devil's Advocacy here-- I don't think glamour photography like this is really what causes pedophilia. This child made more money this year (it's only April!) than I'm going make over several lifetimes; her life is obviously not going to be that of a typically sheltered schoolgirl anyway.

(And speaking of her shelter, I have no idea whether her parents are still married. Anyone care to wager, and then look it up? My money says there's an achin', broken heart in their somewhere. And some bad haircuts besides.)

The drunken horndogs who see this magazine on the newsstand and go home to do some molestin' were not going to be giving their stepdaughters a very good experience with masculinity in any case.

Also, 15 isn't twelve. 15 is too early to get naked in national media, but it's not too early for sane young women to understand that their sexual allure has a very personal power, and that sometimes that power is dark and freaky.

Furthermore, and this is a big one, she's not a "role model" for all those tweeners, she's a scientifically packaged product that's being sold to them... Not because Mr. Iger thinks it would be good for their immortal souls, but because he wants the fuckin' money. The fact that she's a Disney® product doesn't mean anything good was going to happen to your kids when you bought them her stuff, anyway.

This is not worth getting all Taliban over.

in there somewhere.

sorry

All of Miley's handlers were on set when these digital photographs were taken.

Actually, according to the articles I've seen, her parents had left the set by the time the semi-nude photo was taken, and only her grandmother and a handler were left. And I'm guessing that when Annie Leibovitz suggests you do something, you respond, "Yes, ma'am." It's only afterwards you think, "The hell? What was I thinking.

Can we stop being puritans for like...a day?

I am happy to avoid puritanism in relation to adults. Kids are another matter.

I'm not "outraged," just kind of creeped out.

That's how I feel. I agree with Crid in general that getting one's portrait done by Annie Leibovitz is a good thing...but this particular photo is not to my taste.

Here's the behind-the-scenes gallery. Judge for yourself:

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/06/miley_slideshow200806

On some quiet afternoon with an iced tea nearby, I'll compose a list of the 25 shittiest, most annoying words in the English language.

"Seminude" (as per Drudge today) will rank highly. No one who uses that word is going to say anything I want to hear.

JD - you should see how girls dress themselves in jr. high and high school

The point is that it is one thing for teens to display to each other in this way, it is another thing for them to be displayed to adults. This person appears to be a child. Either she is a child and is therefore being abused, or she is really quite adult and the photo is therefore pandering to people who like to fantasize over her child-like appearance. Either way, it sucks.

I like it when Crid and I disagree.

I just think it plain doesn't look good. She looks like she's sick. I don't care if she was tricked into it or knew what was going on. What matters aren't the photos, but the reaction to the reaction of those photos. She knows (or should know) that she can't be a Disney product forever, and this could have been the opportunity to say so. A shoulder isn't a big deal unless you pander to the people who make it a big deal, and that's exactly what she did.

You know what's creepy to me? "Handlers." As if she's some certified show pooch. Thinking about that, perhaps it's no wonder she's acting embarrassed about what happened.

"Here's the behind-the-scenes gallery. Judge for yourself:"

Thank goodness she's working for Disney and not being whored out to the media for filthy lucre. That would be a tragedy.

Whoops. I spoke too soon.
http://snafu-ed.blogspot.com/2008/04/miley-cyrus-to-write-her-memoirs-at-15.html

Well she isn't a child, and even so, I don't think the argument that this is abuse is legitimate: it is tennuous as best.

Alternatively, if she is an adult, which she is, it does not follow that she is pandering to those who fantasize over her child-like appearance. Even so, what is wrong with pandering? Or, what is wrong with fantasizing over her child-'like' apperance? On its face, I can sympathize that it sucks: However, her statements noted in the link above illustrate that it, in fact, does not. Perhaps if she was coerced into doing this against her will, this would be a viable argument, but there is no indication of such. Even teenage celebrities have some control over thier career, and I, for one, cannot fault her for wanting to take that next step. As one commenter above said: She knows that she won't be a Disney Product forever.

Gog: are your last two lines intended to be sarcasm? It got me thinking: being whored out, to whomever, is still being whored out. Perhaps it is Disney that is whoring her 'g-rated innocent' for thier own gain.

> I like it when

Good days ahead, I promise.

J.D. She's 15. In what way does that make her an adult?

King Tut ran an empire at the age of 13. Kids are often held to adult standards for civil infractions, and perhaps sometimes younger for criminal. Even contracts law has its exceptions. Eugene Volokh had an interesting discussion regarding this age bracket in a differenct context earlier this week (see volokh.com). Modern religions recognize younger ages as 'coming of age'. Judaism instantly springs to mind. ANd so forth, ad nauseum.

A person in the shoes of Miley's is, with little hesitation, an adult. She's been doing concerts for years, has racked up a half billion in profits, is responsible for, at the least, dozens of projects, not to mention an acting career plus her present tour. She's clearly encumbered with responsibility, and on that tip, has been exposed to it at a very early age. The character that so many have attributed to her, I would also argue, qualifies her as an adult (in contrast to those who I'm sure you know, as I do, and the rest of us, who are in thier 20's and 30's and yet still act like irresponsible children).

personally, I think adulthood is found on a case-by-case basis, and age is not determinative of that status. The argument that she's 'still a child' is, to re-use the word, tenuous. To your credit, there are, and must be, 15yo's that are still qualified as children. I just happen to think that Miley is not categorized as such.

King Tut ran an empire at the age of 13

Yes - in an era when people were very lucky to make it to the age of 40 and the concept of adolescence did not exist. Today, a 15-year-old is a legal minor (and is typically several decades away from probable death instead of just a couple). There are a hell of a lot of things she cannot do without the permission of her parents and guardians. If you think the modern concept of adolescence is silly, I won't violently disagree with you, but legally and culturally she is a child. Her career is managed by her parents and various other legal adults.

Plus, I'll point out that the Olsen twins were also millionaires many times over by the time that they were 10 and were involved in multiple projects. They were a two-person empire before they were teenagers. But that didn't make them adults. It made them children who happened to be making a lot of money, just as children ranging from Shirley Temple to Haley Joel Osment have done over the years. Miley Cyrus may be turning a bigger profit that they were, but that doesn't automatically put her into a different category of maturation.

Wait. Let me get this straight.

We teach them how to fuck at the age of 13. We tell ourselves that we can't stop them from fucking at that age.

And then we have the audacity to be outraged when they act like sex objects at the age of fifteen?

Please.

The first thing I thought of when I saw the photo was "vampire." Not very sexy at all...

The first thing I thought when I saw this picture was "vampire." Maybe that's what they were going for...

No one expects a 15 year old kid to have enough judgment and experience to make all the decisions for herself; that's why she is under her parents' guardianship. Miley's father and mother should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen.

This reminds me of the movie 'Hard Candy', which pits a 14 year old girl against a 32 year old possible pedophile. It touches on some interesting points with respect to the grey area of sex for kids of that age.

I agree that the photo shoot was a calculated move towards the next step in her career, maybe moving towards acting full time, or a more sultry persona for her singing career.