The Right to Be Miley Cyrus

The press seems over deluged with stories of stars and starlets behaving really badly. The past couple of weeks seem overrun with gals going out in public dressed like Fredericks of Hollywood models. Rihanna's barely there plunging necklines and open sided outfits often leave me wondering how they stay on in a light breeze. Lady Gaga went to dinner in a shockingly see through outfit that exposed her bare butt; I'm not sure what kind of dining warrants a dressed up thong.  But Miley Cyrus's MTV performance topped it all with not only revealing fashion, but a 'dance routine' that was tasteless and near pornographic.

These are all talented women, but instead of promoting their hard earned musical skills they're flaunting their assets (pun intended). I was tiring of reading stories about promiscuity and even more concerned that these women are our young peoples' role models, when I ran across a news article that put all this silliness into perspective. In North Korea Hyon Song Wol and 11 members of the Unhasu Orchestra were executed by machine gun fire as their families were forced to watch. Why? For allegedly making and selling a sex tape. While there are possibly political reasons underlying the execution, the fact is that creating pornography was reason enough for the government to assassinate these 12 performers.

That story quickly reminded me of the freedoms we have in America and what stark differences there are in our treatment of women as compared to many countries. Violence against women worldwide is epidemic, and in some countries punishment for unacceptable behaviors like talking back to your husband or being seen without a head cover are cruel and torturous. In fact according to UN Women it's a major cause of death and disability; rape and domestic violence are more dangerous than cancer, motor vehicle accidents, war and malaria.

So while I may find Miley's performance vulgar, perhaps racist and decidedly entertaining, it's good to live on a country where the only backlash is bad press. Many women sacrificed much  so we'd have the rights we do... how we use  those freedoms is up to us.