Put Your Clothes On!

Shame on Billy Ray Cyrus and his wife for letting their 16-year old daughter Miley do a semi-pole dance at the Teen Choice Awards on Monday. While Miley is a huge star in her own right, she is underage and her parents could put a stop to it if they had any interest in her beyond the millions she brings in each year.

The incident brings us yet another reminder of how guilty our culture is of sexualizing little girls before they're even out of grade school. There are beauty contests where children are made up to look like they're adults,young girls are engaging in sex parties and we call it simple experimentation, and teen pregnancy is on the rise because attention starved girls are looking for someone to love. In my own neighborhood I have seen teen girls engage in inappropriate sexual behaviors because they are ignored by parents who care more about their own social life than what is going on with their children.

How hard it must be to teach a daughter to have self worth, and moral values in a society that consistently tells her she is nothing more than a sexual object that was put here to display herself for every weirdo's pleasure. I find it strange that while we continually push the idea of self importance and self centeredness in America, we are at the same time, encouraging our young females to prostitute themselves in the name of fame and adoration.

I feel sorry for Miley Cyrus, and the millions of girls like her who aren't center stage. While fame is a powerful drug and many will do anything to get it, there is a price to pay. Like Lyndsay Lohan and Brittany Spears before her, I'm sure Miley will eventually self destruct and she'll likely take many girls down with her because no one told them the behavior was wrong.

I only hope that when that time comes, Billy Ray Cyrus, his wife and the other
parents of the country who are left to clean up the mess, will blame no one but themselves.