Modesty and Miley Cyrus

Wendy Shalit, author of A Return to Modesty and Girls Gone Mild, has a great article in the New York Daily News on Miley Cyrus' performance at the Teen Choice Awards and her recent photo shoot with Elle Magazine.

I found this point to be especially insightful, let me know what you think!

"Then there is the August issue of Elle, which features America's favorite 16-year-old in a number of contrived poses. In one, she's in black stilettos, with an exposed midriff, striking a backbend-pelvic-thrust combo. On the cover, she's in a leather push-up bustier, her cleavage revealed...Elle editor Robbie Myers is at pains to explain, in her sanctimonious "Editor's Letter," that Miley, in "facing the camera" this way, is "offering a very clear view of herself" and "trying on a more mature persona." You see, Miley exhibited more than mere cleavage on the set that day; in going along with Elle's plans for her, she showed "genuine openness."...

Elle claims its interest in Miley is not titillation, but empowerment, "watching her take the wheel." Think about this for a second. Miley is a talented singer of chart-topping songs, a multimillionaire teen mogul and actress. She has launched a fashion line and is the envy of little girls around the world. Yet we are to believe the girl simply did not "have the wheel" until a fashion magazine induced her to pose with her pelvis thrust forward."

Read more here...