Just this week, in light of all the wildness of Miley Cyrus' videos, behaviour and recent Rolling Stone cover story, Sinead O'Connor penned an "Open Letter to Miley Cyrus" where she tells the starlet that she is being prostituted, whether she likes it or not and that she will be chucked aside when her time is past. Ms. O'Connor felt the need to write the letter in part because many people likened Miley's performance in her Wrecking Ball video to O'Connor's Nothing Compares 2U (which, FYI, she didn't write. Prince did).
Well, I think that the whole thing stinks something awful.
But let me back it up for a minute here.
Sinead wrote in her letter that she was "extremely concerned" for Miley, and basically said that she didn't believe that Miley had any idea what she was/is doing nor that she is in any type of control over herself. This is insulting to Miley Cyrus as a young woman and a professional. Miley is not any more naked, more sexual or more "out there" than any other pop star today. And unlike many pop stars today, Miley has decades of experience with Hollywood. And for O'Connor to be "extremely concerned" she would need to actually KNOW Cyrus personally. I suspect she doesn't. What she maybe meant was that she was concerned with the situation, but she said she was concerned for the person, without knowing anything about the girl's life.
She also, wrongly, and disrespectfully decided that Miley is whoring herself. This is wrong for so many reasons against my gender that I don't even know where to begin. Wait, I do. My biggest issue with this is saying that Miley is the problem, not any lecherous person who would go overboard. Basically blaming Cyrus for the dirty thoughts of others when she has no control over anyone but herself. This is classic slut-shaming and I'm not a big fan of it.
Shortly after O'Connor's "open letter," another musician, Amanda Palmer, wrote an open letter in response to O'Connor's open letter.
Sigh.
While I agree with a lot of what Palmer says in her post, I think that at the crux of it, what is happening is two women desperately trying to engage in a conversation about what it means to be a woman in popular culture and using Miley as a Maguffin. At the end of the day, neither of them acutally could care less about Miley Cyrus. If they did, they would try and speak with her privately. Raise their concerns in private and speak in more general terms in public instead of lambasting a girl who is behaving in no less a risky way than any of her counterparts today.
Open letters can be incredibly important and useful in times when the author does not feel he or she can be heard. In this case, I think that both O'Connor and Palmer are using "open letters" to try and engage in a bigger conversation without actually having the conversation.
And that's part of the problem, isn't it?
For Miley's part, she has tweeted at O'Connor, and while mostly dismissing the elder singer (I would, as well), she does say this:
"I don't have time to write you an open letter because I'm hosting & performing on SNL this weekend...So lemme know when you are free to meet up and talk in your next open letter. :)"
Touche, Miley. Touche.
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