Why Miley is my Queen

1. She has great music:

Man, that girl can hit the notes! I've always thought her music was super fun––Party in the USA was my jam in '09––but her new album truly blows my mind. Not only are the vocals outstanding, but it's one of the most diverse albums I've ever heard. The songs pull from an eclectic range of musical influences. You can hear pop, country, hip-hop, jazz, and so many other genres coming together in one album. She's broken free from the all-sounds-identical route that pop-music has been traveling down lately.

2. She's funny:

Nothing shows that she's okay poking fun at herself more than the fact that she enters her Bangerz tour shows on a giant slide version of her tongue. Clearly, she embraces all of her quirks. One of the best parts of the show had to be when the little person was dressed up as a joint; it showed that both she and the dancer have senses of humor and that they are not uptight.

3. She's expressing herself:

I've heard countless people say that Miley is trying to sexualize herself for the media, but they are flat out wrong. Miley is not sexually objectifying herself; she's just expressing her sexuality. Not many women do that, and I think it's kind of fantastic. When people were getting all uptight because she touched her crotch with a foam finger, I was just thinking, "have any of you people ever seen a rapper perform?" How is it okay for men to grab their crotches willy nilly, but the moment a women references her sexuality, all hell breaks loose? Miley doesn't conform to cultural norms; she is a symbol of female freedom of expression. 

4. She puts on a great show: 

The Bangerz tour has everything: gigantic blow-up dogs, crazy cartoon videos, huge birds, hot dogs, cars, people in animal costumes. But even with such a busy set, Miley manages to hold to attention of the audience. She's got great stage presence; perhaps it's partially because she's always doing something shocking, but it's mostly to do with the fact that she's having fun and she's comfortable in her own skin.

5. She's changing what "beauty" means:

Miley is going against everything the media tries to drill into our brains. She is writing a new definition of "beauty" in front of the entire world. Beauty doesn't have to mean long hair, big boobs, and a big ass. The performers on the Bangerz Tour are people of all shapes and sizes: tall women with huge butts, little people, jacked girls, skinny girls, muscular men, chubby men. Together with these performers, she is teaching us to see beauty and worth in people that don't fit into the tight box that is our societal ideal.

The Lucky Ones

I was talking with my mom about what feminism means today and how it differs from when she was a teenager and even way back when my great-grandma was a teenager. She said that she thinks that nowadays feminism should be focused on developing countries and that we should feel lucky to live in North America. I disagree with both of her statements, but her latter opinion in particular bothered me.

A lot of the time when people talk about being a woman in North America or any place where women have equal rights, we use the words like "fortunate" or "lucky." We're so lucky to have the opportunities we have. We're so fortunate that we are born in a society that is where there are laws against rape, where women are seen as persons, where girls are not only allowed to be educated, but legally have to. I resent this. We are NOT lucky. We have simply claimed our birthrights as human beings; things that we never should have had to claim. If anything the other women––the women that live in places where they are seen as property, where they have no voice, and where they are not permitted to get an education––are unlucky.

But even describing women in other countries as being "unlucky" is wrong. There is no luck involved in the way people are treated; there are only the decisions and actions of the people who choose to oppress. There is no choice, no pre-determined action in luck, and there certainly is in rape, in violence, and in legislation.

So please do not be so ignorant as to call yourself or anyone else fortunate because you/they are being treated the way you/they should be treated. And do not think of people as being unlucky if they are treated unjustly; instead, think of the people who treat others badly as being the sick, ignorant humans they are.

Why I stopped watching Modern Family

I was a huge fan of Modern Family for the longest time... I mean who doesn't crack up at Phil's idiocy? But I couldn't watch it anymore when I realized that the show was doing a horrible job of portraying a real, Modern Family.

While it's great that the show is promoting gay relationships, sometimes the way Cam and Mitch's relationship is portrayed creates delusions about gay relationships. The characters have these huge, overdramatic fights in every episode and they don't seem very well-suited to one another. It's almost as if the show is acting like gay guys will date each other just because they are both gay, which is totally not true. Gay people are looking for the right connection just as much as straight people are.

The second part that bothered me was the fact that none of the women worked. HOW can you call a show Modern Family and not have a single working woman on it? Not only do they not have a working woman, but also when Claire runs for office to make positive change, trying to do something other than her 1950s housewife duties, she loses to a man that is a total scumbag. Here's to the not-so-subliminal messages telling young girls not to try doing "men's work"! I haven't watched the new season, but I've heard that Claire recently did start working. The problem is that that she got her job through her rich dad. Again, I just adore the message telling girls that they have to have powerful, male connections if they want to work. Just to be clear, I don't have a problem with women not working. If they want to stay home to cook, clean, and care for the kids and their partner is okay with that, then they should, but the media also needs to show that women can balance work and kids.

Finally, my last issue with the show has to do with Jay in the newest season. I watched part of a couple episodes and it seems like he does almost nothing to care for the new baby. TV not only needs to portray the working woman, but it also needs to show the engaged father. The modern man cares about his kids and wants to be a part of their lives. Besides, how can the working woman balance work and kids if she doesn't have a partner who helps with housework and childcare? 

I know it's just supposed to be a funny show and that the creators probably don't mean to give across these messages, but people in the media need to take responsibility for how they portray people. TV, magazines, and websites are so prevalent in our lives today that they have as much, if not more, effect on our minds than the people around us do. We need to recognize the power the media holds and send more positive messages out into the world by portraying more diverse people and relationships.