#shybutbold

The recent appearance of Miley Cyrus at the VMAs left most of us feeling, at the very least, uncomfortable.  For some, it angered and appalled.  For me, it was just sad.  It reminded me of how hard it can be for young women who are beautiful and naive.  It is the very rare young woman who realizes that she has more worth than as just a sex object, that she has more to offer than her looks and body.  After all, she has been told by most retail stores that she should be wearing ridiculously short skirts and thongs and has been taught that she is "sexy and knows it" all before she is out of grade school.  By the time she is in junior high, she has friends who are having sex or "not having sex" and instead giving blow jobs.  And by the time she finishes high school, she and most of her friends will have lost their virginity, and in many cases to someone who doesn't care much about them.  How are we supposed to teach young women they aren't sex objects when we do our best to raise them as though they are?