Teens are putting up half-nude pictures and questionable pictures on their MySpace.
And Miley Cyrus is in that big controversy right now over the Vanity Fair photos. Moms of young girls and teens are outraged that she chose to pose in such a provocative way. She's supposed to have a clean cut image for her fans.

What do you think?

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24356473/

For me, the issue of teens on the internet and the whole Miley Cyrus thing are totally different. Protecting our children from predators and teaching them to respect themselves and not reveal too much on the internet is very important. The Miley Vanity Fair pictures thing has been blown out of proportion, IMO.

She is 15. Becoming a young woman. Expressing herself. I CAN understand why some parents are upset though. She does show a little too much skin for the younger of her fans. But most of them have seen more skin than that on other magazine covers when they are waiting in line with their mothers to check out in the grocery store. So it can go both ways. And I don't disagree with either side. Both sides make good points.

This is a toughy.

I agree with Ronaldsmom - this one is a toughy and I tend to agree with both sides too.

I don't have a problem with the pictures. I think they are tastefully done and that our young women see more skin at the pool then in Vanity Fair. Besides - what pre-teen girl is reading Vanity Fair anyway?

I do wish that she would have stood her ground on the pictures though. If she would have come out with a statement that she liked the pictures and thought they were tastefully done by a very famous photographer and that it's unfortunate that everyone else has a problem with them - I might have a little more respect for her.

Either way it's been blown WAY out of proportion.

Yeah, if no fuss had been made over it, anyone younger than 18 probably wouldn't have known about it.

No matter what, it has served its purpose for Miley: No publicity is bad publicity. Plus, she's at an age where she probably doesn't want to be Hannah Montana, pre-teen icon. Even if she was embarrassed after-the-fact, I can see how she might have wanted to do something to prove that she is not a CHILD anymore. Although, at 15, moms still see her as a child.

I haven't seen the picture myself, but going on the discriptions given, I probably wouldn't have a huge problem with it.

It's the photo on page 2 of this article that people are flipping over.
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/06/miley200806
I agree with all of you that there are valid arguments on both sides of the issue, but we also have to remember that Miley Cyrus is 15 years old and shouldn't be making these kinds of decisions herself (I assume her parents were the ones who OK'd everything, as I've read they were both on the set). What 15 year-old wouldn't want to pose for a picture like that with arguably the most famous photographer in recent years? But a 15 year-old is not an adult, and maybe her parents will decide they made the wrong choice...or maybe not. But either way, like FunnyMummy says, this has sure thrust Miley Cyrus into an even bigger spotlight than the one she was already under, and that is never a bad thing for a star!

And btw, speaking of publicity, I read that Vanity Fair's website crashed yesterday because of people going to it to look at the Miley Cyrus photographs. Not too bad for them either!

no of them seem that bad to me.

only that one that you posted the link to. that was the only one i thought dis-tasteful. its actually just gross to me! LOL

I finally saw one of the photos today (I'm assuming there are others). What has all the rage been about? I thought it was a beautiful and artistic portrait. Yeah, she's 15 and wearing a bed sheet. But, it didn't seem seductive to ME....


Yeah, that one of her and Billy Ray... gross.

Question . . . When did "becoming a woman" turn into becoming a sex vamp? I remember when Janet Jackson turned from bubble gum pop into her "woman album" and her photos stirred controversy in the 80's. Don't get me started on Britney Spears. Even the Olson twins, what is that about? Christ, I remember being 17 and still playing with Barbies and NOT AT ALL being concerned with my body image in a bathing suit or vampy pictures. I just think we need to go back to clean cut Seventeen Magazine days - - Oh if it were only that simply to do!!!!!

P.S. I hear 2nd graders all the time talking about other students as being "hot" or "not hot". At age 8 how is that possible? They are basically sticks with heads and they are supposed to be!!! No curves or anything to distinguish them from each other. TV!! UGH!

I agree that girls today are pushed into becoming body-conscious and younger and younger ages, but Barbie? Barbie's curves are somewhere in keeping with Pamela Anderson's, and she's (Barbie) been around for ages. I don't think Hannah Montana or even Britny Spears is to blame for the pressure on young girls to look a certain way, but we definitely live in a culture that places value on an often unattainable body image.
As for Seventeen Magazine, I checked it out just for kicks and see that the lead story on the "Dating" page is "Chace Crawford Tells You How to Get the Hot Guy!"
http://www.seventeen.com/