OK, cultural differences again. Although I admit I haven't seen the clothing line ad, we don't get it here. But pole dancing - it's considered acceptable here by most people, a form of healthy exercise. Yes, it probably began as a tool for strippers to show off their naked (or near-naked) bodies, but we have had a lot of coverage of some very respectable people teaching on TV how pole dancing is a way to exercise. Trouble is, you need to be fairly fit to begin with. I would LOVE to have a pole, but I know I'm just not strong enough.
Back when I was a kid, we had a garage built with poles holding up the roof and I used to try all sorts of exercises including climbing up the pole using my bare feet. I would have LOVED to know pole-dance moves to help me use those poles to get fit. I used to imagine they were fireman's poles (which we don't have in Australia - it shows te influence of US TV).
But pole dancing here, is only as risque as the clothing being worn by the dancer. So if you have a man who is interested in pole dancing, DON'T send him to pole dancing in Australia hoping for titillation, because he is unlikely to get it. Only if you combine poles and strip clubs!
I'm not certain, but I think we're getting them in some schools now, in gym classes.
It really is in the mind of the beholder.
However - other things this little cherub has done, including those photos showing a lot of skin - a bit 'adult' for someone who is still I feel too young for such an image. OK, her father was present but that only seems to make the eventual images more creepy.
In Australia we have our own "sweet young thing" desperate to be seen as growing up and now adult. Her name is Nikki Webster. You may remember seeing her - she was the little girl dressed in pink at the Sydney Olympics Opening Ceremony. She is the same age as easy child 2/difficult child 2 (who also auditioned for that role, was in the final 30). We've seen the flak this kid has copped through the years (and very glad with hindsight that easy child 2/difficult child 2 didn't get the role). It happens - in Australia we call it the "tall poppy syndrome" and it is seen as peculiarly Australian, to attack and criticise those who are suddenly doing well in the public eye. But I think it is international.
Nikki followed up the Olympics with a role as Dorothy in Wizard of Oz. A little girl role. She would have been 14 in 2000, she was still doing Dorothy at 16. She brought out a couple of teenybopper hit singles in Australia, one which had the teens secretly laughing at her - it was called "Strawberry Kisses". The song was boppy and innocent, but the double meaning of the title was perhaps not known by the songwriter. Certainly not realised by Nikki's "people".
http://www.musicsonglyrics.com/N/nikkiwebsterlyrics/nikkiwebsterstrawberrykisseslyrics.htm
As she's grown, she has fought against the public criticism. Much of it was as the focus of jokes from TV comedians, trying to get a laugh out of someone who was publicly perceived as unbelievably saccharine sweet and too good to be true. Disney would have loved Nikki Webster.
When she turned 18, she did a series of 'tasteful' minimally-dressed poses for a girlie mag, "Ralph" I think it was. Lots of airbrushing, lots of black lace and bare skin, loads of makeup. But the reason she got the original Olympics gig is her baby face and it just looked incongruous in those soft-porn photos. Even though there wasn't the slightest "naughty bit" showing, it was obvious that the photographer would have had to have seen plenty.
http://images.google.com.au/images?...&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4
Her work these days involves a fair bit of stage work (not too much in the limelight) and whenever there is a TV panel looking at topics such as 'growing up in the public eye" and attitudes of her generation. She also runs her own dance studio for children and I'll bet there is a pole somewhere in her life.
Despite working intensively as a performer since she was less than five years old (something a lot of people don't know) she has actually turned into someone remarkably normal.
From what I've seen of Miley Cyrus - I think she is a very intelligent young lady, thankfully. She is going to need it in order to cope with all the flak hurled at her. I do think some of the choices being made seem unwise but she could be trying to avoid the Nikki Webster phenomenon, by challenging NOW the "sweet young thing" image which historically has always been so difficult to overcome. She seems to me to be deliberately stretching the boundaries, but stopping well short of "let's call in the welfare authorities" limits. I think it's deliberate, constatly re-setting the boundaries and preapring the stage for her constantly growing older and eventually maturing into an adult who will want an adult's career.
Perhaps there is more in common between Australian attitudes to upbringing, and US country. I don't know - but in the Cyrus parenting, I see a reflection of so many people I know here, the ones who have had most success. It's realism, it's understanding that if you forbid everything, the kids will lie and sneak about nd can get into awful trouble; but if you accept the existence of some behaviours you have more control over it all. Miley Cyrus's relationship with "that underwear model" which is about all the bloke gets called in Australian media, is something I would find a concern as her parent. But then - think about how kids these days live, what their attitudes to sex are, the level of experience (sadly) in young girls of today. I remember back when I was in my teens, the surveys said that a girl reaching 18 who was still a virgin, was in the minority. Although only just, it was about 50%. These days - I'm not sure where the 50% mark is, but I'll bet it's way, way lower. sadly. And the 25% mark is, sadly, pre-teen. Because children get molested.
But that is another topic.
Time will tell who has been the most successful childstar, when it comes to not only having a careeer as an adult but also managing to be fairly normal. When I look at people like Britney Spears (and her struggles to find where 'normal' is) and even Shirley Temple, I do have moderately high hopes that Miley Cyrus has a better than average chance of making it.
And I know that sounds weird.
Time will tell.
Marg
