The Positive Takeaway from Miley

In the past week the Hollywood world has been fixated on the performance Miley Cyrus gave this past Sunday. I didn’t actually see the performance and the few pictures I did see have reaffirmed the fact that I have no desire to view it. I have heard enough through social media and a few personal interactions.

It might be interesting to hear the following information. I have one friend that said the original version is available on YouTube (this is not a recommendation to see it) but for some reason they recorded a version that MTV later rebroadcast of the same award show. Within this rebroadcast Miley’s performance was slightly changed (this is also not a recommendation to watch it). Instead of the more horrific moments, the camera provides alternate angles, such as the backup dancers, to make a slightly cleaner version. This friend remarked how it seemed MTV had given into the pressure of society and provided a more favorable routine. It makes me wonder what else we can object to in order to change other unfavorable actions.

This morning I came across a well written article as a response to Miley and to raise the question of where the men were during this performance. You can read it here. The author, Geoff Steurer, brought up the fact that men’s roles are as a protector. Girls in this century need more physical protection than just killing a spider. Yes, we do appreciate killing gross disgusting things that we might swallow in our sleep. However, we need more than that. We need physical protection when it comes to the way our bodies are displayed and the way they are received. This protection can be given by respecting women and their bodies. I am not sure if this will sound harder or easier to you, but in my mind it takes an even stronger man to protect our virtue.

Think about it. When a man is protecting women and children I would imagine that adrenaline would work in the man’s favor.  I didn’t look up the science behind the fight or flight response as that is not really the purpose of this discussion, but on the flip side I would think adrenaline works against you when you see ladies who are not protecting their own virtue. There is a time and a place for relations between a man and a woman. Unfortunately, when it is not that time and place us ladies need a little help in order to save ourselves. For this reason alone I believe it does indeed take a much stronger man when protecting our spirituality.

Steurer states that protect can also mean respect, honor and cherish. Miley should have been doing this for herself, but for reasons we can only guess at, she chose not to. Even if I could be wrong, I would say that many girls feel the need to be validated by men. The sad fact is they get this validation by lowing standards in order to obtain the wrong type of attention. It is something that we as girls need to work on, but a little help from the guys would help tremendously.

The most shocking portion of Sturer’s article to me was the fact that at least one of the guys dancing with Miley is married with children. It had never even crossed my mind to wonder about such things. Where was the respect for his wife, children, Miley, and so many other countless people who were involved within and through viewing the performance? Like Joseph in Biblical times, how different would life be today if we all were as strong and we chose to flee from temptation?

While reading Sturer’s thought provoking article, I recalled that our bodies were given to us and they are to be treated as temples. Can you imagine the beautiful temples around us if they were as dirty, derogatory, and defiled as we have allowed our bodies to become? It is such a sad reality. With a few key words in a quick internet search I came across an article that reminds us of the sanctity of our bodies. You can read it here.

As mentioned above, MTV changed portions of the performance to make it less controversial based on the response from society. If everyone changes their responses in order to protect ourselves and others what good could come of it? Even if Hollywood and society doesn’t change based on our willingness to protect our bodies, even if it is just us who changes, how great will be our joy in knowing we protected something of such great worth?

Steurer, G. (2013). A response to Miley Cyrus: Where are the men? Meridian Magazine. Retrieved from http://ldsmag.com/article/1/13195

Tanner, S. W. (2005). The sanctity of the body. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. General Conference October 2005. Retrieved from https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/10/the-sanctity-of-the-body?lang=eng