Miley Cyrus Cites Taylor Swift And Kendrick Lamar As Examples Of Media Double Standard
Miley Cyrus covers the September 2015 issue of Marie Claire. In a behind-the-scenes video, she talks of how excited she is for the story to expand on her Happy Hippie Foundation, which focuses on people in the LGBT community affected by homelessness. But in the interview itself, Cyrus also discusses the ways that she is portrayed as a bad role model. She argues that the media holds a double standard that works against her — and she cites Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar as examples.
To start, the Bangerz star doesn’t get the “Bad Blood” video. “I don’t get the violence revenge thing,” she says. “That’s supposed to be a good example? And I’m a bad role model because I’m running around with my titties out? I’m not sure how titties are worse than guns.”
Then, she talks Swift’s “Bad Blood” remix cohort: “There is so much sexism, ageism, you name it. Kendrick Lamar sings about LSD and he’s cool. I do it and I’m a druggie whore.”‘
Her argument isn’t perfect. The point about Swift makes sense; she has positioned herself as a role model, making sure that she mentions feminism in every interview she has done in the 1989 era, even though the “Bad Blood” video ultimately proved that she doesn’t have a firm grasp of the concept. (Feminism is about providing equal opportunity for both sexes, not just filling up the screen with an all-female army.)
But the one about Lamar doesn’t, even if you subscribe to the theory that the Lucy who tempts him throughout To Pimp a Butterfly is to represent LSD. Either way, he wasn’t praised for being “cool,” but being brutally honest about his own self-loathing — confessing that he was conflicted, misusing his influence, and particularly as an African-American male who made it out of Compton when very few do.
Cyrus deserves praise, for challenging standards of femininity and all her recent work with Happy Hippie. She just shouldn’t call out those who she thinks are being overpraised, when they didn’t ask to be role models to start.
See photos from Miley Cyrus’s Twiggy-inspired Marie Claire shoot up top, then read her full interview at the magazine’s official site.
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