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“HOT MODEL BITCHES”:
WHY MILEY CYRUS’ FEMINISM IS NOT ABOUT MILEY CYRUS
by
Hailey B. Winder
Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the Degree of
Bachelor of Arts with
Honours in Politics
Acadia University
April, 2015
© Copyright by Hailey B. Winder, 2015
ii
This thesis by Hailey B. Winder
is accepted in its present form by the
Department of Politics
as satisfying the thesis requirements for the degree of
Bachelor of Arts with Honours
Approved by the Thesis Supervisor
__________________________ ____________________
Dr. Geoffrey Whitehall Date
Approved by the Head of the Department
__________________________ ____________________
Dr. Andrew Biro Date
Approved by the Honours Committee
__________________________ ____________________
Dr. Anthony Thomas Date
iii
I, Hailey B. Winder, grant permission to the University Librarian at Acadia University to
reproduce, loan or distribute copies of my thesis in microform, paper or electronic formats on a
non-profit basis. I, however, retain the copyright in my thesis.
_________________________________
Signature of Author
_________________________________
Date
iv
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Dr. Geoffrey Whitehall for his guidance and encouragement during
this process and throughout my undergraduate degree. Each of the professors in the Politics
department throughout the years have challenged and motivated me, and I am incredibly grateful
for the time that I have spent with them all. I would especially like to thank Dr. Rachel Brickner
for her valuable insights. While there are many people who have contributed greatly to my work,
I would like to dedicate this thesis to my family and friends who supported me through this
process.
v
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... IV
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. VI
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER 1: CONTEXTUALIZING FEMINISM ..................................................................... 8
CHAPTER 2: CYRUS AND HER “HOT MODEL BITCHES” .............................................. 20
CHAPTER 3: RESONANCE ....................................................................................................... 34
CHAPTER 4: CYRUS IS ART .................................................................................................... 40
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................. 50
WORKS CITED ............................................................................................................................ 53
vi
Abstract
The aim of this project is to mobilize the notoriety of contemporary pop-singer and self-
proclaimed feminist Miley Cyrus in order to engage with a philosophical rearticulation of
feminist theory. I trace the development of feminist thought in the United States to situate
feminism as a self-critical ontology. In order to contextualize contemporary feminist critiques of
her, I conduct a media analysis of the performance art of Cyrus. While these critiques highlight
many problematic tendencies inherent in her work, I argue that Cyrus is a political figure that
embodies patriarchal contemporary social and political anxieties. Ultimately, I argue that a
philosophical framework that situates Cyrus as a work of art rather than a producer of art, is the
best way to engage Cyrus’ feminism.
1
Introduction
The concept of the rebelling female celebrity is not new in popular culture. Celebrity
breakdowns, rebellions, and outbursts are the norm in Hollywood. Through the past
century, stars such as Judy Garland and Bridget Anderson fell victim to the fast-paced
lifestyles of Hollywood (Frascella 2005, 293). This is especially the case with stars like
Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Vanessa Hudgens, and Amanda Bynes, each trying to
break free from their innocent, virginal personas. When we hear another ex-Disney
starlet has shaven her head, been arrested for drug possession, or released a raunchy and
controversial new album, we tend to dismiss it as the natural tipping point between the
pristine, asexual Disney star and the sultry, sexual adult woman. This transition is often
understood as the expression of sexual maturity on the part of the star, yet it is often
spoken of as a shameful fall from their previous good-girl, Disney star persona. Gender
theorist Tina Vares calls the phenomenon “fallen bad girl [status],” in which these stars
are “condemned as behaving in morally reprehensible ways” (Vares 2011, 142). There is
an important political and social tension within the contemporary paradigm that sees the
construction of the deviant female celebrity as a bad influence because her “sexuality [is]
considered to have crossed a normative boundary” (Vares 2011, 142). The young
rebelling female celebrity is incorporated into a “highly accessible moral discourse,”
(Vares 2011, 142) that either positions her as a bad influence and slut or as an individual
suffering from a psychotic or mental disorder.
In some of aforementioned cases, the female celebrity may very well have
succumbed to some underlying mental illness, or fallen victim to the fast-paced party life
of the celebrity. Some celebrities do simply let loose, outlandishly exhibiting their
2
sexuality, openly embracing the media and the ensuing publicity storm (Vares 2011, 142).
However, a gendered element is present in these transformations. Oona E. Goodin-Smith
highlights this gender imbalance as she points out the fact that “an overwhelming amount
of these train wreck stars, or the ones who seem to propel themselves off the deep end […]
appear to be female,” (Goodin-Smith 2014, 26) while their male counterparts such as
Ryan Gosling and Zac Efron have “transitioned successfully into mature individual
careers” (Goodin-Smith 2014, 26). Unfortunately for female celebrities, if they want to
stay in the limelight, their transition is often defined by one of two paths: entering
psychosis or becoming sluts. I argue that the way in which mainstream feminism and
popular culture situate the female celebrity is insufficient because it does not allow for the
creative rearticulation of their feminist subjectivity. I will mobilize Miley Cyrus,
contemporary pop-singer and controversy queen, in order to engage with this
rearticulation.
Though this is a single case study, there are many questions about Cyrus’ “cray
cray, just Miley being Miley exploits,” (Goodin-Smith 2014, 31) that must be addressed
in order to begin interrogating the larger phenomenon at hand. The gendered aspect of
this phenomenon is important as it becomes less about the publicized incidents of
rebellion which these female stars engage in, and more about the manner in which these
incidents are presented and spoken about in the mainstream media. Many female stars
have publicly announced their rejection of the good girl in favor of the sexy, controversial
woman, trading one gendered manifestation of the female for another (Gevinson 2014).
However, what is important through this discussion of Cyrus is the manner in which her
3
particular post-Disney construction is spoken about and criticized in mainstream popular
culture.
Though the reliance on the corporeal fabrication of gender identity is problematic,
Cyrus has instigated heated conversations concerning the physical manifestations of
performative gender for contemporary feminist discussion (O’Connor 2013; Makarechi
2013; Kagel 2013). Cyrus has traded in her heteronormative feminine Hannah Montana
identity for a peach colored bikini suit and an androgynous haircut which complements
her boyish frame (Gevinson 2014). Tavi Gevinson sat down with the starlet after the
release of her 2013 album Bangerz and addressed this new sexuality:
[Miley Cyrus] didn’t follow in the footsteps of young female stars who play
sexy for the benefit of the audience but have no sex life of their own (at least
not that they’d admit to); instead, her performance of sex is goofy and
inaccessible, intended only for her own pleasure and fun. (Gevinson 2014)
In order to engage with the gender construction and feminism of Cyrus, I will trace the
development of feminist thought in the United States over the past two centuries.
Through this historical analysis, I will address the emphasis of physical manifestations of
the female gender and race. Through this contextualization of feminism, it will become
clear that there has been a particular fixation on the corporeality of the female subject in
opposition to their male counterparts. This subordinate feminine identity is one that posits
the female as a sexual object rather than a sexual subject (Fredrickson 1997, 180). The
aim of this project is not simply to investigate the implications of this particular
fabrication of Cyrus’ new gender-bending identity. Rather, I will argue that a feminist
framework enables new ways of understanding feminist subjectivity.
Feminism seems to have been the buzzword of 2013-2014 celebrity culture. Stars
from pop diva Beyoncé to Star Trek legend Patrick Stewart have confirmed their
4
allegiance with the feminist movement. Emma Watson’s powerful United Nations
address also called for the reclamation of and involvement with the term feminism
(Robinson 2014). However, some celebrities such as Katy Perry and Kelly Clarkson have
denounced the term because “they believe in humanism or they love men or other such
reasons that make little sense” (Gay 2014). Cyrus has proclaimed herself to be “the
biggest feminist in the world” (Gevinson 2014). In an article for the Huffington Post,
journalist Gaylene Gould suggests, “this year, feminism cloaked celebrity culture like a
new mink and shifted units in the process” (Gould 2013). It seems that there is no space
for feminism in celebrity culture because the system dictates profit making and therefore
the celebrity is simply an object for profit. Is there any brand of feminism that allows for
this exploitation? What happens to feminism when it is idolized through the female
celebrity?
While the self-proclamation of one’s feminist status is important in the feminist
agenda, what is more important is the manner in which one acts out their feminism. In her
work Feminism is for Everybody, women-of-color feminist bell hooks speaks to the
phenomenon of lifestyle feminism in which “the assumption prevailed that no matter
what a woman’s politics […], she too could fit feminism into her existing lifestyle […]
without fundamentally challenging and changing [herself] or the culture” (hooks 2000, 6).
Lifestyle feminism is therefore an insufficient means of engaging with and challenging
the patriarchal constructions that dictate social, political and cultural inequalities of the
sexes. The concept of lifestyle feminism will be developed in conversation with the
waves of feminism in the following section of this project in order to problematize the
5
self-proclaimed feminist status of Cyrus. It is through the concept of lifestyle feminism
that this project will ask: Is Cyrus all talk when it comes to feminism?
This new Cyrus, like her Disney predecessors, sold her newly empowered and
mature style to consumers through music, dancing, and particularly her performance at
the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) in 2013 in the wake of her new album Bangerz
(Figure 1). This new Cyrus will therefore be termed post-Bangerz for the remainder of
this project. Cyrus is using her celebrity status to share images of what she holds to be
the ideal feminist subjectivity: women who are able to flaunt their sexuality, engage in
risqué and illegal behavior, and use racialized female bodies as props. Why? Totes obvi:
I mean, guy rappers grab their crotch all fucking day and have hoes around
them, but no one talks about it. But if I grab my crotch and I have hot model
bitches around me, I’m degrading women? (Gevinson 2014)
You’re right Miley! Where is the damn equality? Especially for those racialized women
whose asses you are slapping and twerking with to prove you’re equal to any male rapper.
You go girl, am I right?
Figure 1: MTV Video Music Awards Performance
Source: Kroll, Katie. “Twerk it out: Miley and Robin’s VMA Performance, One Year Later”.
Rolling Stone. August 22, 2014. Accessed: February 15, 2015.
6
Through using women’s bodies, simulating sex, and portraying an attitude of
nonchalance regarding the law, Cyrus sold us the image of the liberated, sexual, unafraid
female subject. But what we actually got was a rich, white, angsty postfeminist subject
whose “I don’t give a fuck” (Cyrus et al 23, 2013) attitude epitomizes the postfeminist
archetype? The notion of postfeminism comes from the idea that women have reached
equality and is therefore premised on the “pastness of feminism, whether that pastness is
merely noted, mourned or celebrated” (Negra and Tasker 2007, 1). Through
understanding that female celebrity reinforces the postfeminist subject, the problem
becomes less about whether or not these women are feminists, and more whether they can
be feminists. The appeal of the female celebrity is often located in their valuable and
highly recognizable bodies that are used to create desire and therefore inform
consumption (Rojek 2001). The reliance on good or valuable bodies is therefore crucially
important for the maintenance of one’s celebrity status. Sue Holmes, author of Framing
Celebrity, argues that “stars and celebrities communicate through their flesh […] and fans
idolize and decry the famous on the basis of the perfect or imperfect bodies they display”
(Holmes 2006, 15).
The female celebrity seems to be at the mercy of public criticism while she
attempts to navigate the journey between Disney star innocence and embracing her
prescribed and codified adult femininity (Vares 2011, 142). Can this Cyrus phenomenon
be understood as a young feminist expressing her freedom or is the female celebrity
inherently postfeminist? With the help of feminist theorists bell hooks (2000), Betty
Freidan (2013), and Elizabeth Grosz (2011), I will contextualize Cyrus’ particular brand
of feminism in order to formulate a new understanding of the female celebrity subject. By
7
interrogating the implications of celebrity culture on Cyrus’ feminism, I will reimagine a
Groszian narrative that is conducive to celebrity feminism through the concepts of art,
subjectivity, and becoming new. Ultimately, the intention of my project is to make Cyrus
useful for feminist thought in new and different ways. Cyrus is a feminist in that she is
challenging what we conceive of as feminism, therefore becoming a new feminist subject
of her own choosing.
In the first chapter, I contextualize feminism with an emphasis on interrogating
the embedded corporeal narrative within the philosophical feminist perspective (Grosz
2011, 77). This analysis will showcase that feminism is a form of ontological critique
rather than simply a suffragist movement for women. Subsequently, I will conduct a case
study of Cyrus’ performances, as well as interviews and articles concerning the efficacy
of Cyrus’ feminism. This analysis will not only allow for a critique of the feminism
presented through the performance art of Cyrus, but it will also facilitate a defense of her
feminism. In chapter three, I will argue that Cyrus resonates with contemporary youth
culture and therefore her feminism must not be dismissed. The third chapter will lay the
foundation for a philosophical rearticulaiton of Cyrus’ feminism. This project will
conclude with chapter four in which I will rearticulate the feminism presented by Cyrus
using the work of critical feminist philosopher Elizabeth Grosz, in order to explore new
ways of understanding feminist subjectivity. The final chapter will redeem Cyrus by
presenting an understanding of feminism that sees the feminist subject as one who is
always in the process of becoming feminist.
8
Chapter 1: Contextualizing Feminism
It is necessary to examine how feminism has evolved from its original appearance in the late
19th
century in order to engage with contemporary feminist theory. In this chapter, I will
highlight the pivotal moments in the history of feminism that have informed contemporary
understandings of feminist theory. I argue that feminism is critical of not only patriarchy but
also of itself. This self-critical quality has allowed for feminism to develop as we know it today,
and will enable me to engage in a critical reading of Cyrus in the second chapter. With this
contextualization of feminism, I will move forward to situate the problematic concept of
postfeminism. Ultimately, I argue that postfeminism is informed by historical understandings
of feminism and necessitates an ideal corporeal female subject.
Feminism can be seen as a series of waves. The wave not only distinguishes the first,
second and third movements, but it also symbolically represents the interconnection between
them. Natasha Pinterics and Estelle Freedman explain the ontological transformation of the
feminism that is useful to this chapter. Pinterics and Freedman inform this project because of
their particular care to contextualize mainstream American feminism through a racial and
classist lens. This treatment of race and class enables further interrogation of the cultural and
social inscription of sexed bodies, especially the one presented by post-Bangerz Cyrus. The
exclusionary nature of North American feminism’s history is important to understand because
it will allow this project to situate Cyrus within the new era of postfeminism. While much
literature has been produced pertaining to postfeminism, I will focus primarily on Diane Negra
and Yvonne Tasker’s understanding:
The commodification of ethnicity and racially marked urban culture. Once
difference is commodified rather than politicized within mainstream culture;
such cultural processes are predicated on an implicit chronology that firmly
9
“posts” activisms centered on the consequence of racial inequalities. (Negra
and Tasker 2007, 8)
Postfeminism is implicit in racial and classist paradigms. However, it is crucial to examine
the evolution of feminism from its beginnings with the suffragists to present day in order to
understand the exclusion of certain voices. It is because of the racial and classist focus of this
project that I will turn to the women-of-color feminism of bell hooks and Freedman to
problematize the generalizing and exclusionary tendencies of contemporary mainstream
feminism. Throughout this chapter, I will situate feminism as a critical ontological approach
to the socio-political ideologies that constitute contemporary popular culture—and, more
specifically, Cyrus.
Feminism, in much the same way that waves compound on and build from previous
waves, owes its existence to prior struggles. Pinterics examines the beginnings of the Western
feminist movement with the female suffragists who made way for “significant gains in the
lives of women” (Pinterics 2001, 15). While each subsequent wave has been built off of the
“gains” of its predecessors, progress is not the sole method of assessing feminism. A
chronological history of North American feminism allows for an alternative view of feminism,
not only a sequence of waves building upon each other, but a space of emerging critical
thought.
Ien Ang complicates “progress” in conversation with mainstream definitions of
feminism through discussing intersectionality, race, class, and gender (Ang 2003). Rather than
understanding feminism as the culmination of fought-and-won feminist battles, Ang argues
that feminism should be understood as the process of “developing a self-conscious politics of
partiality […], which does not absorb difference within a pre-given and predefined space but
10
leaves room for ambivalence and ambiguity” (Ang 2003, 191). Ang understands that feminism,
as critical theoretical framework, serves to problematize preconceived definitions of gender,
sexuality, and race. Therefore, I will trace the history of contemporary feminism in the United
States in terms of self-critical reflectivity.
The term feminism first appeared in Europe during the late 19th
century. During its
early development in the United States, Freedman argues that feminism was closely related to
the women’s movement that fought for “women’s common human identity with men as a basis
for equal rights” (Freedman 2002, 4). This women’s movement, also known as the suffragist
movement, was primarily concerned with women gaining the right to vote. Although the
origins of the suffragist movement pre-date the civil rights movement, I will draw upon the
tense social and political atmosphere during the civil rights era. Central to these early debates
were civil rights activists Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
(Freedman 2002, 4). While these women were known for campaigning for the abolition of
slavery, it was the social tension of the anti-slavery movement that allowed for the foundation
for women’s liberation. Through their exclusion from civil rights debates in the late 19th
century, these affluent, white women began to identify and challenge institutionalized political
and social practices and “privileges that only a few enjoy” (Freedman 2002, 79).
It is no coincidence that the first wave feminist movement coincided with the early civil
rights movement at the turn of the century: “the U.S. women’s movement split over a
constitutional amendment to enfranchise former slaves that did not include woman’s suffrage”
(Freedman 2002, 79). These early feminists identified the fact that African American men
would soon have political status that was superior to their own. Feminist historian Rosalyn
Terborg-Penn explains that early feminism was, “for the most part, […] for white women to be
11
included in the rights and privileges of a racist society” (Terborg-Penn 1998, 110). Feminism
began as a battle between definitive and differentiated bodies of inscription that positioned the
white female against the African American male. Suffragists used the civil rights movement to
support their agenda for women’s liberation by asking “[…] if ignorant Black and immigrant
men could vote… why not educated white women” (Freedman 2002, 80)? While there were
many motivations for the suffragist movement at the beginning of the 20th
century, it is
important to understand that race and class played a role it feminism’s early development. The
foundation of early feminism in the United States that was driven and supported by
predominantly affluent, white women has deep roots in racist ideology.
Even though women’s liberation can be seen in direct relation to the political struggle
of African Americans at that time, the outcome of the women’s suffragist movement was
crucial for the pursuit of political, social and economic equality between men and women.
From this point forward feminism began to broaden in scope. African American women began
to engage in the debates concerning equality and liberation and they provided a “critical
perspective for white women, alerting them to the integral connections between race and
gender” (Freedman, 2002, 83). These voices served to challenge social and political hierarchies
that favored the white, heteronormative male subject above everyone else by “articulating their
personal experience of race” (Freedman 2002, 83). The doubly oppressed subjectivity of the
Black female facilitated more broad conversations of race, class, and gender. Women-of-color
feminism served immensely to complicate feminism by incorporating class and race.
Second-wave feminism began in the wake of the Second World War that saw the mass
employment of American women to support the war effort from the home front (Freedman
2002, 191). After the men came home from war, women were forced back to the private sphere
12
to take care of their family and homes while their husbands resumed their roles as the
breadwinners of the family (Freedman 2002, 191). This restoration of traditional gendered
roles allowed for feminists such as Betty Friedan to articulate the widely felt frustration of
suburban housewives in her work The Feminine Mystique, as “the problem that has no name”
(Friedan 2013, 7). Though her work has since been critiqued for her narrow perspective and
entire exclusion of class and race, Friedan critiqued socially constructed gender expectations
and the “role of women” (Friedan 2013, 170). Chela Sandoval argues that second wave
ideology was considered “a ‘white women’s movement’ because it insisted on organizing
along the binary gender division male/female alone” (Sandoval 2012, 78).
Mainstream feminism during the post-War era was concerned with the struggles of the
modern affluent housewife (Friedan 2013). Second-wave feminists “embraced equal rights law,
but they could not ignore the complications posed for working women by pregnancy and
motherhood” (Freedman 2002, 191). It wasn’t until much later that women-of-color critiques
of feminism began to engage with the racial and elitist nature of second wave feminism. While
feminism at that time had been equated with the struggle of the housewife, bell hooks argued
that it did not “take racial difference or anti-racist struggle seriously” and “did not capture the
imagination of most women-of-color” (hooks 2000, 56). Though there was a move to bring
value to the lived experience and systemic struggles that women of color face on a daily basis,
one need not look further than the front page of today’s newspaper to identify the persistent
challenge that women and men of color face.
Women-of-color feminism can be understood as originating as the critique of second-
wave feminism, and remains a dominant feminist discourse to this day. Though it is clear that
there are significant racial tensions in the United States today, women-of-color feminism made
13
significant contributions to feminist thought in the last half-century. In her work Feminism is
for Everybody, hooks explores the elitist and racially exclusive qualities of feminist politics
during the 20th
century. Hooks draws the parallel between second-wave feminism and
neocolonialism in that “privileged-class white women swiftly declared their ownership of the
movement” (hooks 2000, 44). Furthermore, hooks argues that “many women [were]
appropriating feminist jargon while sustaining their commitment to Western imperialism and
transnational capitalism,” (hooks 2000, 45) without recognizing the implicit acceptance of
patriarchal narratives. It is through hooks’ argument that “metaphysical dualism was the
ideological foundation of all forms of group oppression,” (hooks, 200, 106) that women of
color began to question these fundamental epistemological paradigms.
Women-of-color feminism decolonized views on women’s issues and problematized
the subjugation of lower class, African American women. Hooks argues that it is necessary to
incorporate a more intersectional and critical feminism by recognizing the narrow scope of
contemporary thought:
As many black women/women of color saw white women from the privileged
classes benefiting economically more than other groups from reformist
feminist gains, from gender being tacked on to racial affirmative action, it
simply reaffirmed their fear that feminism was really about increasing white
power. (Hooks 2000, 42)
This marks an important shift in feminist thought, as hooks presents a more complex and
intersectional feminist subjectivity. Hooks moves forward in explaining that “all white women
in this nation know that whiteness is a privileged category” (hooks 2000, 55) and that it is not
their ignorance, but rather their denial, that allows for the continual repression of this
knowledge.
14
While hooks does not chastise other feminists, she calls for a reflection on the ways in
which we understand ourselves as feminists. This reflective ideology stems from hooks’
articulation of the concept of lifestyle feminism. Lifestyle feminism states that “there could be
as many versions of feminism as there were women,” (hooks 2000, 5) and that each individual
woman could be a self-proclaimed feminist “with the underlying assumption that women can
be feminists without fundamentally challenging and changing themselves or the culture”
(hooks 2000, 6). While it is problematic to deny a self-proclamation, hooks argues that it is not
enough to claim the title of feminist without challenging contemporary patriarchal structures.
Hooks uses the example of reproductive rights in order to critique this concept of ‘lifestyle
feminism’:
If feminism is a movement to end sexist oppression, and depriving females of
reproductive rights is a form of sexist oppression, then one cannot be anti-choice
and be feminist. A woman can insist she would never choose to have an
abortion while affirming her support of the right of women to choose and still be
an advocate of feminist politics. (Hooks 2000, 6)
While hooks is not the first women-of-color feminist, her work investigates the ontological
shift from a feminism based on the agendas of white women towards a feminism that integrates
the intersectionality between “institutionalized race, sex and class” (hooks 2000, 40). With
women-of-color feminism, hooks was able to mark a critical shift from the dualistic
ontological practice of second wave feminism towards a more inclusive third wave.
As a third-wave feminist, Leslie Heywood examines the importance of revaluing
subjectivity in order to engage with political and social realities. Heywood explores the
similarities between second and third wave feminism insofar as “the third wave [is] a
movement that contains elements of second wave critique of beauty culture, sexual abuse, and
power structures while it also acknowledges and makes use of the danger and defining power
15
of those structures” (Heywood 2003, 3). Third wave feminist theory has not departed from the
roots of the first and second waves. Rather, third-wave has placed greater value on the critique
of ontological practices that constrain and subjugate people, knowledge, and ways of life. The
third wave has been important for the analysis of the relationship between the lived
experiences of people and the oppressive reign of patriarchy (Heywood 2003, 3). This
analytical method can be employed in the media, political and economic sphere, and even the
private sphere as third wave feminism is important in examining complex issues of gender
inequality, sexuality, and the lived experience of women. Heywood argues, “we are all third
wave feminists, bringing the specificity of our historical situation to our widely variable
definitions of that term” (Heywood 2003, 4). Therefore, subjectivity became the trademark
concept of third-wave feminism.
Furthermore, third-wave feminism repositions the concept of expert knowledge. Rather
than privileging the voices of the Friedanian-type feminist subjects, third wave feminism took
cues from women-of-color feminism to situate the expert in terms of subjectivity and
intersectionality. In rejecting the canonization of feminism by affluent white women, third
wave feminism creates the platform to listen to the voices of those who had been previously
silenced. Heywood argues that whereas “essential subjectivity has historically been used to
oppress women,” (Heywood 2003, 157) third wave feminists have worked to engage with
dominant ideologies that are complicit in the continual subjugation of peoples. As noted by
theorist Nancy Fraser, feminism was able to reimagine itself as a theoretical framework that
seeks to explore “all struggles for recognition” (Fraser 2003, 88). Feminism evolved to be
understood as a framework for a critique of knowledge.
16
Feminism incorporates the diverse subjectivities that are rendered subordinate in the
patriarchal paradigm. Heywood addresses the importance of this epistemological critique by
arguing, “subjectivity is shaped by language, that subjectivity is always already split or
fragmented” (Heywood 2003, 166). To engage with the multi-vocality of the world that we live
in, third-wave feminist valuation of the subjective voice is essential. This intersectionality
showcases “the enormous range of women’s’ experiences” (Heywood 2003, 236) concerning
feminist thought:
The process of perpetually redefining identity categories is self-defeating for
the act of self-definition depends on exclusion and thus on the construction of
an ‘other,’ that which one must exclude and indeed reject in order to
constitute oneself as a subject. (Heywood, 2003, 157)
Implicit in third wave feminism is its “refusal of a singular liberal-humanist subjectivity,”
(Heywood 2003, 124) that allows for the meaningful and critical engagement with processes of
subjectivity. The inclusive and intersectional nature of third-wave feminism gave subjugated
populations the platform for political engagement.
However, third-wave feminism appears to be in crisis. As discussed by Angela
McRobbie, there has been a shift away from third-wave engagement with epistemological
critique towards “the current post-feminist climate” (McRobbie, 2009, 127). Postfeminism is
understood as “a set of assumptions, widely disseminated within popular media, having to do
with the ‘pastness’ of feminism” (Negra and Tasker 2007, 1). Tasker and Negra examine the
concept of the postfeminist subject in that “postfeminist culture works in part to incorporate,
assume, or naturalize aspects of feminism; it also works to commodify feminism via the figure
of woman as an empowered consumer” (Negra and Tasker 2007, 2). From a postfeminist
perspective, women have finally become fully emancipated and equal to men and there is no
longer any need for critical and subjective feminist engagement (Negra and Tasker 2007, 2). In
17
many ways, postfeminism harkens back to the Friedanian understanding of second wave
feminism. To become and equally valuable member of society in Friedan’s perspective,
women must engage with patriarchal structures of capitalism through “the right to honorable
competition and contribution” (Friedan 2013, 453). Friedan argues that consumption,
competition, and contribution to the economy are what will ultimately liberate the suburban
housewife. Similarly, postfeminism is “thoroughly integrated with the economic discourse of
aspirational, niche-market Western societies,” where women are constructed as “both subjects
and consumers” (Negra and Tasker 2007, 7-8). Postfeminism, similar to second-wave,
constructs subjectivity around consumption.
In third wave feminism, race is crucial to interrogate because of the systemic
inequalities that are prevalent in society (hooks 2000, 16). However, in postfeminism, the
reliance on market-based capitalism is dependent on the reproduction of race and gender
identities for the oppression and exploitation of certain others for profit. In her work Between
Feminism and Materialism, Gillian Howie argues, “in fact, racism and sexism function so well
in capitalist society because they work to the advantage of some members” (Howie 2010, 29).
Howie continues her analysis of race in the context of postfeminism, in that material feminism
reveres “the cogency of equality versus difference arguments that [have] produced an
increasingly paralyzing anxiety over falling into essentialism” (Howie 2010, 88). Capitalism
exploits the social constructs of gender and race in order to create a subjugated class of
differential consumers. Women and racialized groups are meant to buy into their own identity
under the guise of empowerment: “[they] can be given the sense of identity, purpose, creativity,
[…] by the buying of things” (Friedan 2013, 245).
18
Race and class situate those who have access to postfeminist emancipation. If you are a
white, affluent, well-educated female, then you are less likely to believe that you are oppressed.
McRobbie discusses the classist and racialized bias by drawing upon the idea of the ideal “TV
blonde,” who is touted as ambitious, strong, intelligent, and beautiful (McRobbie 2007, 31).
These individualized bodies of the ideal have come to be understood, through the global
proliferation of hegemonic Western mass media, as no longer “exclusive to the countries of the
affluent West” (McRobbie 2007, 31). This ideal Western female has become the archetypical
postfeminist subject: she is a well-off, powerful, ambitious, and restlessly consuming products
to signify her femininity. This independent, do it yourself-er, is seen on TV and in movies so
regularly, that the image becomes normalized. Cameron Diaz, Hayden Panettiere, and Charlize
Theron are all examples of this postfeminist subject: their fame and massive pop culture
following deem them “subjects par excellence, and also subjects of excellence” (McRobbie
2007, 30). Postfeminist subjectivity is dependent on preconceived understandings of what it
means to be feminine, therefore creating a subjectivity based on exclusivity. So long as women
continue to fabricate their corporeal feminine identity through the consumption of products,
and the modification their bodies, postfeminist subjectivity reigns.
In today’s popular culture, feminism has become tainted to the extent that women no
longer feel the need to continue to fight for equality and respect of the different sexes. As
articulated by McRobbie “feminism is taken into account but only to be shown to be no longer
necessary. Why? Because it now seems that there is no exploitation here” (McRobbie 2007,
33). So long as it appears that women are acting with their own volition, there must be nothing
to critique; feminism must no longer be needed. Women are finally free, are they not? No, they
are not. The crisis facing feminism today is that it is no longer taken seriously.
19
Feminism is nothing new to the realm of politics and popular culture. Feminist
thought has maintained a social, cultural, and political agenda that has significant roots in
the late 19th
century with the suffragists’ battle for the right to vote. However,
conversations pertaining to feminism have changed while still maintaining the foundation
of gender equality and critique of patriarchy. Feminist theorists such as bell hooks (2000),
Angela McRobbie (2009), and Elizabeth Grosz (2011) have served to challenge feminism
and create new spaces for feminist thought. In this sense, the problem facing feminism is
not necessarily structural; it is fundamentally ontological. It is insufficient to talk about
feminism in terms of women being equal to men, or to refer to the pastness of feminist
critique. Feminism challenges us to think of things differently and to become different
than how we are constructed (Grosz 2011, 51). This notion will be further examined in
the following chapters. However, in order to address the problem at hand—the feminism
of pop-rebel Cyrus—the following chapter will provide a critical analysis of the
performance art and subsequent literature that surrounds the 22-year-old.
20
Chapter 2: Cyrus and her “Hot Model Bitches”
In this chapter I examine the particular brand of feminism presented by Miley Cyrus in her
2013 album Bangerz. I will highlight her tendency to misappropriate her privilege as a signifier
of universal freedom from patriarchy. I argue that Cyrus epitomizes the postfeminist subject
developed in chapter one. Through this analysis of interviews, music video releases, and
televised performances, I will examine the limitations of contemporary feminist arguments as
they pertain to Cyrus. The feminism presented by Cyrus will inform a rearticulation of
feminism through the work of theorist Elizabeth Grosz.
A celebrity’s stance on feminism has become a contested debate in popular
culture. While some have rejected the term, or have been hesitant, Cyrus has embraced it
enthusiastically (Izundu 2013). While this may seem like great news for feminism, it is
necessary to further interrogate this claim. The particular brand of feminism that Cyrus
presents through her performance art, interviews, and social media must be examined in
order to understand whether or not there is any force behind these words, or if this self-
proclamation is apolitical lifestyle feminism that bell hooks warned us about.
In her article “My two cents on feminism and Miley Cyrus”, Lisa Wade argues
that Cyrus’ performance art is “exploitation, [that] will be distinctly gendered because
sexism is part of the very fabric of the music industry” (Wade 2013). Although there is no
way to understand the psychosocial processes that have gone into the creation of Cyrus’
feminism, I am exploring the way popular culture makes use of Cyrus’ performances.
Through this analysis, I will not make the distinction between intentional and
unintentional political moments. Rather, I will contextualize Cyrus’ performance art as a
means of investigating the manner in which mainstream feminist thought understands
21
Cyrus. In terms of this project, I will situate mainstream feminism as the feminist
conversations that are presented and discussed through the mass media.
There have been numerous controversial public appearances by the 22-year-old
female pop singer, from smoking marijuana on stage during a concert in Miami (The
Associated Press 2014), to her nude photo shoot in the August 2014 issue of V Magazine
(Thomas 2015). However, this project will focus on her performance at the 2013 VMAs
and the lyrics from her hit song “We Can’t Stop,” in order to examine Cyrus’
controversial actions and performances.
After the October 2013 release of her album Bangerz, Cyrus began touring the
world with her new sound and “I don’t give a fuck” attitude (Gevinson 2014).
Controversy began to surround Cyrus after her 2013 performance at the VMAs, in which
she and Robin Thicke treated the awe-struck audience to a mash-up collaboration of their
hit singles “We Can’t Stop” and “Blurred Lines”. According to Rolling Stone, Cyrus’
performance was nothing more than a visual orgy of “dancing teddy bears, an overused
foam finger [simulating masturbation], an unflattering flesh-colored bikini […] and
twerking – lots and lots of twerking” (Kroll 2014). Twerking, as articulated by popular
culture theorist and journalist Joe Lynch, is a popular form of dance that “was born out of
New Orleans’ bounce music scene,” (Lynch 2013) in the 1990’s. Twerking usually
features a female dancer squatting in front of and gyrating against her partner’s pelvis. In
the case of the VMA performance, Cyrus’ partner happened to be pop-artist Robin Thicke,
a married man who is 15 years her senior (figure 1). While controversial performances
are not unheard of at the VMAs, Cyrus and Thicke’s spectacle drew much criticism.
22
Issues of consent, rape culture, and the misappropriation of black culture were discussed
online.
Thicke has been subject to numerous critiques of the blatant maltreatment of
women and general disregard for sexual consent since the 2013 release of his hit song
“Blurred Lines” (Kroll 2013, Makarechi 2013). According to Katy Kroll, “Blurred Lines”
can be characterized as a “rapey song” that highlights problematic social anxieties
pertaining to consent, sexual violence, and rape culture (Kroll 2014). By marrying
Thicke’s song with the rebellious “I don’t give a fuck” anthem of Cyrus’ hit single “We
Can’t Stop,” pop culture critics and fans alike began engaging with and criticizing the
power dynamics in the duos VMA performance. Thicke is accused of exploiting Cyrus’
sexuality by articulating the idea of consent as “blurred lines,” and repeatedly
antagonizing his female object (Cyrus) by chanting “I know you want it” (Thicke 2013).
Simply put, by positing that the male authority figure understands the sexual desires of
the young woman without asking, Thicke is perpetuating a patriarchal norm that situates
the female as a voiceless, thoughtless, object whose sole purpose is to fulfill the sexual
desires of the male.
However, the incorporation of Cyrus’ song “We Can’t Stop,” may serve to
critique Thicke’s “rapey” anthem. Cyrus’ song highlights a nihilist attitude about youth
culture and sexuality: “it’s our party we can love who we want, we can kiss who we want,
we can live how we want” (Cyrus 2013). The combination of these songs complicate
preconceived, heteronormative ideas of gender and sexuality. By placing these two songs
in conversation with each other, I argue that Cyrus may not be blindly submitting to the
authority and dominance of the male singer. Cyrus is a young woman who is trying to
23
articulate a sexual liberation anthem that rejects the ideas of traditional gender roles,
which situate a passive, innocent, virginal female character. This reading of Cyrus reflects
contemporary social anxieties concerning rape culture, consent and sexual objectification
of the female body (Kroll 2014). It is not so much the intent of Cyrus, but rather the
manner in which her performance art is taken up by feminism, that warrants analysis.
Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” has been central to many conversations on the topics of
rape, consent, and the objectification of female bodies. The controversial VMA
performance serves to critique the power structure that facilitates these patriarchal
narratives. Thicke has since been scrutinized for his role in the perpetuation of rape
culture through the problematic lyrics and the video for his song that pictures naked
women being treated as objects and/or animals (figure 2). Though Cyrus was involved in
the presentation of this sexual dynamic, she was able to use her performance to
problematize the idea of the female victim. Cyrus and Thicke enraged and scandalized
their audience by entangling these two narratives of power and sexuality that forced
spectators, fans, and critics alike to discuss the patriarchal dynamics that situate the male
as the offender, and the female as the victim of sexual violence.
Figure 2: “Blurred Lines”
woman as a table
Source: Blurred Lines.
Performed by Robin Thicke,
Pharrell Williams, T.I.
United States: Star Trek
Records, 2012. Music Video.
Victim may seem
a strong word to attribute to Cyrus whose behavior at the VMAs bordered on the
24
pornographic, yet many feminist bloggers and celebrities alike have come to Cyrus’
defense. Journalist Tamara Kagel notes that instead of situating Cyrus as a victim, it
should be understood that “[Cyrus] is pushing the envelope to an extreme, but she should
be allowed to” (Kagel 2013). However, victim is a term that is present in the lexicon of
Irish folk artist Sinnead O’Connor, who scripted a cautionary letter to Cyrus in the wake
of her performance with Thicke. O’Connor, among others, has claimed that Cyrus’
unsavory wardrobe and distasteful performance during the VMAs only function to
undermine her autonomy. She posits that Cyrus is merely a pawn for the “music business
to make a prostitute out of” (O’Connor 2013). While these criticisms are not invalid, they
also reveal a troubling social tendency to criticize the sexualization of women by
undermining their agency in their particular subject position.
The criticism penned by O’Connor in her “Open Letter to Miley Cyrus”
simultaneously condemns the patriarchal notions of gender within the music industry,
while situating Cyrus as a puppet at the mercy of the music industry elite (O’Connor
2013). O’Connor’s letter displays the slut-shaming narrative that positions the woman as
the master of her own subjectification, and places blame on Cyrus for not being more
modest and respectable. Slut-shaming is a dominant cultural narrative that blames the
woman for situating herself as a victim and that women ought to “avoid dressing [and
acting] like sluts in order not to be victimized” (Ringrose 2012, 333). Through this
narrative of slut-shaming, it becomes clear that there is a blatant tone of condemnation
within the rhetoric deployed by O’Connor. Cyrus must recognize and reject her sexual
exploitation and stop “prostituting” herself by keeping her clothes on and acting more
respectable (O’Connor 2013).
25
O’Connor’s criticism of Cyrus sparked responses from feminist advocates around
the world, including Cyrus herself. In response to O’Connor, Cyrus openly mocked
O’Connor through a Twitter post in October 2013. Cyrus’ post depicted O’Connor in a
state of mental distress, therefore undermining her authority by situating O’Connor as a
neurotic and unstable individual whose opinion has therefore lost validity due to her
psychosis (figure 3).
Figure 3: Tweet from October 3rd
, 2013. Source: Cyrus, Miley. Twitter post,
October 3, 2013, 8:53 a.m.,
While Cyrus engages in the shameful conduct of trivializing O’Connor’s struggles with
mental illness, she ultimately disregards the slut-shaming narrative by responding with
what could be considered an equally outrageous accusation. In this dialogue, Cyrus’
sexuality is just as much to blame for patriarchal objectification of female bodies as
O’Connor’s mental illness is to blame for her own experience as a “prostitute” of the
26
music business. Cyrus’ “refusal of slut as a signifier of shame” (Ringrose 2012, 336),
calls into question the moralizing discourse of shame, modesty, and gender excpetations.
There have been many celebrities and prominent feminists who have criticized
Cyrus’ presentation of sexual emancipation as simply a product of gender normativity in
the music industry (O’Connor 2013, Kroll 2013, Makarechi 2013). However, Cyrus
anticipated this reaction and revels in the criticism (Gevinson 2014). By ensuring that her
sexuality is “goofy and inaccessible, intended for her own pleasure,” (Gevinson 2014)
Cyrus problematizes her subject position as the object on display for male consumers.
Her androgynous appearance and boyish frame mock conventional understandings of
what is sexy and slutty. Cyrus’ feminism is one that ridicules traditional understandings
of woman through binarized gender constructs.
Cyrus’ personal attire is not the only feature of her post-Bangerz persona that has
been under intense scrutiny. Featured in the performance was a group of black female
dancers adorned with abnormally large teddy bear backpacks and giant sunglasses (figure
4). Backup dancers are predominantly understood to enhance the aesthetic experience of
the audience by providing a more grand visual articulation of the performance. However,
the manner in which these particular dancers were positioned and used by Cyrus during
her performance is problematic in the sense that these women were not dancers so much
as they were props. Kia Makarechi of The Huffington Post addressed this in her article
“Miley Cyrus brings her race problem to the VMAs” that was published shortly after the
infamous spectacle. Makarechi points out that during the performance “black people
[were] used as props,” (Makarechi 2013) intended by Cyrus to portray her post-Bangerz
edgy and urban pop persona. By “having voluptuous, black backup dancers figure as
27
meat for slapping,” (Makarechi 2013) Cyrus quickly sparked heated discussion
concerning the treatment of gender, race, and class in contemporary popular culture.
Figure 4:
VMA
Backup
Dancers
Source: “Miley Cyrus ‘didn’t think about’ VMAs performance, simply wanted to ‘make history’”.
Huffington Post. September 3, 2013. Accessed: February 15, 2015.
Cyrus has not cowered from discussing these issues of gender and race in
interviews after the performance—in fact, she claims to have anticipated this reaction and
eagerly speaks to any concern that has been raised (Gevinson 2014). As Cyrus addresses
the issue of the specifically chosen black female dance-team, she explains that “the
reason [she] hired those girls for the VMAs is because they’re not white, skinny girls—
they’re healthy-looking girls” (Gevinson 2014). It is difficult not to be swept up in the
body positivity that appears to be the central focus of Cyrus’ choices concerning the
physicality of her backup dancers. However, it becomes clear that there are more
menacing and subtle forces at work. By positing that there is a “healthy-looking” girl,
28
Cyrus’ feminism begins to focus on notions of culturally informed ideas of healthy bodies,
valuable bodies, and female bodies.
Angela Chaplin posits that this conversation about the racial overtones in the
VMA performance is insufficient if the voices of the black backup dancers are not
incorporated into the discussion. Chaplin argues, “maybe Miley’s backup dancers did feel
objectified. But maybe they also felt great” (Chaplin 2015). The lived experience of these
backup dancers is not something that should be taken lightly because their voices and
opinions about the experience matter (Chaplin 2015). Furthermore, Cyrus responds to
these claims by arguing that she made a conscious decision to choose a group of black
female backup dancers because “[they] have danced together since they were like six
years old,” (Gevinson 2014) and they worked well together. Cyrus points to her
experience on the Disney Channel where it was crucial to actively incorporate difference:
“you need to make sure there’s, like, an Asian girl and a black girl and a Puerto Rican girl
in every scene. And that isn’t life” (Gevinson 2014). Reading Cyrus’ use of black backup
dancers speaks to the objectification and racialization of certain female bodies. However,
she is simultaneously creating a platform for the discussion of female bodies and sexual
difference.
It is here that I begin to locate Cyrus’ feminism. Cyrus is making the claim that
she will not compromise her performance to accommodate a facade of political
correctness that “isn’t real life,” and therefore unabashedly incorporates the black backup
dancers who perform well together (Gevinson 2014). Without sacrificing the overall
aesthetic quality of her performance, Cyrus presents her fans and critics with an
interesting and unconventional rearticulation of femininity, gender identity, and sexuality
29
facilitated by her privileged celebrity status. While recognizing that her privilege plays an
important role in the way we can understand problems of race and class, it is insufficient
to dismiss Cyrus as another “reincarnation [that] is ex-child star protocol” (Gevinson
2014). Social and cultural theorist Alan Hunt argues that the controversy surrounding her
performances is a sign of the discomfort and tension that has been enabled by the moral
economy of contemporary society (Hunt 2011). Cyrus expresses the problematic
tendency to constrain and define female identity to the corporeal and calls her fans and
critics to start thinking about these things.
Cyrus objectifies the “healthy” bodies of her female dancers, thus validating the
ontological paradigm concerned with defining and valuing the specific corporeal
manifestation of women through her “instantly polarizing smorgasbord of wannabe
twerking and (black) ass slapping” (Makarechi 2013). Cyrus’ feminine subjectivity is one
that fixates on problematizing normalized ideas of the feminine. Though it may seem that
Cyrus is moving towards a more body-positive and inclusive feminism, the paradox lies
in the fact that this is simply a reimagining of corporeality within the same ontological
paradigm that fixates on socially constructed ideas of gender. However, Cyrus critically
engages with material fabrications of gender in that there are a wider variety of bodies
one display in Cyrus’ performance. During the VMAs, her performance featured “thick
black women”, little people, and Cyrus herself (Makarechi 2013). I argue that Cyrus’
feminism is still dependent on the understanding that these different bodies are all still
constrained by the term woman, but Cyrus has used her status as a highly recognizable
public figure in contemporary popular culture to facilitate conversations concerning
feminism, gender, and race.
30
Furthermore, Gevinson challenges Cyrus’ incorporation and fetishization of
ratchet culture into her Bangerz tour. According to gender and race theorist L.H. Stallings,
ratchet culture is a concept that initially appeared in African American culture in
reference to “the failure to be respectable, uplifting, and a credit to the race” (Stallings
2013, 136). Feminist blogger Sesali B. examines this “ratchet” appropriation by arguing
that the term has “become the umbrella term for all things associated with the linguistic,
stylistic, and cultural practices… of poor people; specifically poor women of color” (B.
2014). By borrowing the term ratchet to describe her Bangerz tour, Cyrus is drawing
upon the cultural capital of African American culture to legitimize herself by gaining
status that is typically associated with hip-hop culture. Julie Sweetland argues that Cyrus
aligns herself with black hip-hop culture by utilizing the “distinctive linguistic features
associated with African American Vernacular English” (Sweetland 2002, 514). By
incorporating culturally marked language, Cyrus is able to authenticate her hip-hop
persona.
Cyrus incorporates this term into her lexicon and performance art with the intent
to accumulate hip-hop credibility. Although Cyrus has been criticized for this
misappropriation of black culture, she argues that:
For [me], it was meant to describe an aesthetic, like ratchet nails or ratchet
whatever. I’m not, like, making fun of culture. You just do it ‘cause that’s just
a weird title… That was just a word that was popular last year. I don’t even
love it when girls call each other slut, like, “hey slut” or whatever, but it’s
your intention and the way you say it [that matter]. (Gevinson 2014)
According to Cyrus, it is not about race at all. In fact, she does not seem to think that race
plays a serious role her performance, stating that “[she] could never be like, ‘Hey I’ve got
to break you up ‘cause it’s politically correct to throw a white bitch in here’” (Gevinson
31
2014). Misappropriating ratchet culture into her performance enables Cyrus to engage
with post-racial ideology that negates the idea that racism is still a systematic narrative in
the United States. Cyrus is playing with a term that is deeply rooted in the socio-
economic exploitation of African American women in order to connect directly with
contemporary youth culture by engaging with a particularly trendy discourse (Gevinson
2014).
While drawing upon a lexicon that was developed as a mechanism for African
Americans to navigate the socio-political landscape of post-slavery United States, Cyrus
was far from the first individual to misuse this term. Cultural commentator John Ortved
notes that while the term “ratchet” has origins in the discourse pertaining to working-
class African Americans, there has been a shift in the meaning over time (Ortved 2013).
Celebrities such as Beyoncé, Tyra Banks, and Lady Gaga have reclaimed the word and
used it in such a way that gives it power. Ratchet has been removed from its negative
connotations in “an attempt to de-pathologize it and to celebrate both its edginess and its
roots in the southern working class” (Ortved 2013). Through celebrity endorsement,
ratchet has become a term that is “not necessarily negative […], you could say ‘I’m
ratchet’ to say ‘I’m real. I’m ghetto. I am what I am’” (Ortved 2013). It is within this
transformation that one may begin to redeem the oft-critiqued cultural borrowing that is
evident throughout the performance art and lyricism of post-Bangerz Cyrus.
This critique of cultural misappropriation is not invalid. However, it is insufficient
to dismiss Cyrus as simply another controversial starlet going through her transformation
from child-star to sexual woman. There is more at stake in the Cyrus conversation than
the simple and predictable transition from the virgin to the whore. Cyrus confronts the
32
ontological practices that are embedded in contemporary cultural discourse by
challenging the limitations of political correctness, gender, and sexuality. While Cyrus is
incredibly controversial, she points to the hypocrisy that allows “guy rappers grab their
crotch all fucking day and have hoes around them,” (Gevinson 2014) but if women do the
same, they are being degrading. This paradox situates Cyrus, and other women in
positions of power, as villainous rather than emancipated. There is a reason that we love
to hate Cyrus.
While she is correct in positing the obvious gender division in the music business
concerning the treatment of women, Cyrus is simultaneously demanding that she should
be afforded the same privilege as men: the objectification of the sexualized female body.
Cyrus draws attention to the problem of inequality by insisting that she, as a woman,
should be able to exhibit the same behavior as her male counter-parts. This call for
equality seems to be progressive. However, it still renders the female body subject to the
pleasure, manipulation, and objectification of others. Cyrus’ feminism removes the
agency from said “hot model bitches,” and places control in the hands of the privileged
subject position of the celebrity. The problem with Cyrus’ feminism is that while she calls
into question the gender norms and subordinate subject position of the female in
contemporary popular culture, she is not offering a critique of the patriarchy. While these
explanations seem probable, it would be too easy to dismiss her call for equality as a
publicity stunt or camouflage under which she can defend her own exploitation of the
female body for profit.
Cyrus has expressed her feminism in new ways that deviate from the traditional
notions of gender and race equality. By situating herself in the position traditionally
33
associated with the male, Cyrus ruptures the manner in which we understand gender
hierarchies. While she is not offering a critique of patriarchy, Cyrus is challenging her
fans and critics to engage. There are numerous problematic qualities inherent in the
performance art of Cyrus, and there are many reasons why critics might claim that she is
in fact quite harmful to feminism. Upon critical reflection however, Cyrus might be doing
something more subtle, but with greater implications. Cyrus calls for us to engage with
and challenge our preconceived notions of feminism.
In the next chapter, I will engage with these questions and begin to interrogate the
more serious social and political implications of the politicization of pop culture. Through
this discussion, I argue that there is more at stake in popular culture than coming to terms
with female sexuality and that there may be something more formidable at play
concerning Cyrus. Whether we want to admit it or not, there is something important
happening with Cyrus, and it would be naïve to ignore the fact that what she is doing
resonates so well with contemporary youth culture.
34
Chapter 3: Resonance
In this chapter I examine what it is that Cyrus is telling us about contemporary feminism,
and why it is that we must not ignore her. The reason for Cyrus’ fame is one that deserves
an entire project to itself, however it is necessary to engage with the understanding of
celebrity culture posited by popular culture theorists Charles Kurzman and Chris Rojek,
in order to contextualize her celebrity status and the reason that she resonates with
contemporary youth popular culture.
The subject-position of the celebrity is the direct product of capitalism. Kurzman
explains that “celebrities are creatures of capitalism: they involve the commodification of
reputation […] and the construction of audiences” (Kurzman 2007, 353). The celebrity is
not an autonomous being devoid of structural constraints, but one that is necessarily
indebted to the cultivation and maintenance of social and cultural ideas and anxieties:
“[celebrity] was born out of capitalism and mass media, and its dynamics reflected the
conditions of the modern era” (Kurzman 2007, 353). Cyrus’ celebrity status and fame is a
product of the times and is reflective of contemporary social, cultural and political
conditions.
By tracing the development of celebrity culture in the United States over the past
two centuries, Rojek presents an analysis of the tensions between moral anxieties and
celebrity notoriety. Rojek explains that, “the celebrity bears no moral connection with
moral elevation… Notoriety is an equivalent source of public fascination” (Rojek 2001,
61). Fame situates the celebrity in a unique subject position in which she/he has the
recognizability to be seen, and the celebrity influence to express ideas (Rojek 2001, 61).
35
The controversial celebrity simultaneously embodies and expresses social anxieties
concerning morality:
To some extent, this form of ecstasy can be explained as a function, per se, of
transgression – that is, conscious desire and behavior that breaks moral and
social conventions. Transgression is a universal characteristic of human
culture. It is a source of anxiety and curiosity, prohibition and pleasure.
(Rojek 2001, 54)
This ecstasy emerges from religious ideology in which “the celebrity replaced the
monarchy as the symbol of recognition and belonging […], celebrities have become
immortal” (Rojek 2001, 14). The celebrity performance offers observational access to the
realms of pleasure and desire and is therefore coveted by the masses (Rojek 2001, 14).
Regardless of their behavior, the celebrity has now replaced the existence of monarchs,
deities, or God in the sense that “celebrity culture is now ubiquitous, and establishes the
main scripts, presentational props, conversational codes and other source materials
through which cultural relations are constructed” (Rojek 2001, 57). Cyrus is therefore
positioned as desirable and idolized by many.
This morality-driven idolization of celebrities can be seen while examining the
immense amount of controversy and subsequent moral discussion surrounding the actions
and behaviors of the young star (Kroll 2014; Lumpkin 2013; Wade 2013). Her celebrity
status has engaged masses in a similar way that religion unites and dichotomizes masses
(Rojek 2001, 14). Sue Homes supports this understanding of the idolized celebrity in the
context of capitalist society:
It is in a cultural universe made out of simulacra that the relationships which
emerge between star/celebrity and fan/consumer fill the world with
productive, surplus emotionality that cannot be easily channeled or ‘sucked
up’ by capitalism, and which offers people transgressive models of identity.
(Holmes 2006, 23)
36
Evident through this reading is that the celebrity has been constructed as the body to be
coveted and emulated; their behavior and fabricated identities serve to reinvent
understandings of what is acceptable and what is right (Holmes 2006, 23). The
recognizability of the celebrity is important in articulating and authenticating the new
normal—the new morality.
Celebrities are beings of the flesh in that they must articulate their art through
aesthetics: “stars and celebrities communicate through their flesh […] and fans idolize
and decry the famous on the basis of the perfect or imperfect body they display” (Holmes
2006, 15). The notorious celebrity speaks to social anxiety in that they are the ones who
have the platform and the recognizability to problematize social moral codifications.
Rojek argues that:
… The figure of notoriety possesses color, instant cachet, and may even, in
some circles, be invested with heroism for daring to release the emotions of
blocked aggression and sexuality that civilized society seeks to repress.
(Rojek 2001, 15)
Through this articulation of the relationship between notoriety and socio-political
anxieties, it is clear that the emergence of moral-based discussion pertaining to Cyrus is
reflective of the contemporary political milieu. Cyrus can be conceived as a symbol of
newness and the embodiment of the growing frustrations pertaining to established ideas
concerning acceptable treatment of gender, race, and class (Rojek 2001, 15).
Cyrus embodies a set of contradictions that are not easily reconcilable. Her post-
racial attitude is critiqued by her use of race in her performances. Her gender—while
decidedly female—is undermined by her newfound androgynous appearance. Cyrus’
sexually explicit lyrics and music videos are problematized by their unconventionality
and her rejection of dominant ideas concerning how one should behave as a gendered and
37
raced individual. McRobbie examines this societal tension in that the youth of today are
overwhelmed by a culture of prohibition and restraint. McRobbie argues that today’s
hyper-securitized and socio-politically demanding cultural landscape, youth culture
produces “a subcultural aesthetic that asks its fans to ‘shut up and dance’” (McRobbie
1994, 167). Cyrus resonates with this aesthetic through her nihilistic attitude concerning
political issues such as the treatment of race, class, and gender.
Popular culture is a valuable indicator for the social and political atmosphere, and
therefore should be taken seriously. The anxieties that are felt by youth are expressed in
the work of contemporary pop and hip-hop musicians (McRobbie 1994, 166). Cyrus’
performances are ripe with dissatisfaction and the rejection of social expectations that
have been placed on contemporary youth (Gevinson 2014). Cyrus has presented a way of
being that escapes the social problems facing today’s youth culture by crying out “this is
our house, this is our rules. And we can’t stop, and we won’t stop” (Cyrus 2013). The
mere fact that Cyrus has sparked heated discussions concerning race and gender suggests
that there are certain social anxieties inherent in contemporary political culture
(O’Connor 2013, Kagel 2013, Makarechi 2013).
Alan Hunt argues that it is important to interrogate and understand the socio-
cultural tensions that define contemporary society:
Lurking in every discussion of moralization – whether framed by panic or
regulation framework – is the troubling concept of anxiety. In its simplest
form, accounts of moral politics always seem to depend on the explanatory
power of motivational anxieties… Moral panics owe their appeal to their
ability to ‘find points of resonance with wider anxieties’. (Hunt 2011, 67)
There is a reason that these discussions of race and gender are dominating social media,
celebrity culture, and news media. Youth are expected to navigate the growing
38
complexity of a social paradigm that necessitates political awareness of these difficult
issues (Hunt 2011, 66). According to feminist theorist Jessica Ringrose, the moralizing
discussions concerning post-Bangerz Cyrus are associated with her blatant racialization
and sexualization of female bodies (Ringrose 2012, 336). However, there are some who
defend her actions, claiming that she is challenging social expectations placed on the
contemporary youth (Gevinson 2014).
Cyrus resonates because she calls into question our dependence on a discourse
that necessitates identities that are both exclusionary and binary: virgin/whore,
male/female, black/white. The exacerbation of this binary narrative results in social and
moral panic. Melanie Kennedy argues, “recent work within the social sciences and
girlhood studies recognizes the contradictory contemporary anxieties and panic that
understand girls as both sexualized and innocent” (Kennedy 2014, 239). While Cyrus’
sexuality departs from the Disney years as the virginal Hannah Montana character, her
androgynous appearance problematizes the male/female dichotomy, and her appropriation
of black culture positions her in conversation with racial identity.
Cyrus presents her identity as one that cannot be articulated through a binary
discourse. She is a creature of contradictions, one that is relatable in her confusion
(Kennedy 2014, 238). Drawing upon the works of feminist philosopher Luce Irigaray,
Rosemarie Tong argues, “self-contradiction is a form of rebellion against the logical
consistency required by phallocentrism” (Tong 1997, 229). This self-contradiction is
central to Tong’s understanding of feminist thought as a mechanism of challenging the
phallocentric nature of patriarchal discourse. Cyrus is the self-contradictory creature of
39
feminism that does not necessarily reject the capitalist paradigms that facilitate her fame,
but one that utilizes her subject-position to challenge social norms.
Whether she is seen simulating masturbation on stage, smoking marijuana on tour
in Miami, or objectifying her black female back-up dancers, Cyrus is starting
conversations (The Associated Press 2014). Cyrus is making people mad while
simultaneously pleasing herself and campaigning for the freedom of sexual expression of
her fans (Gevinson 2014). Feminist blogger and pornographer Jincey Lumpkin argues
that Cyrus’ feminism is just as valid as other feminisms in that “Miley owns Miley’s
body, and she can do with it what she pleases” (Lumpkin 2013). Lumpkin argues that we
must “stop the witch hunt [and] acknowledge that female sexuality is loud, proud and
here to stay” (Lumpkin 2013). Cyrus is eliciting such reactions because she is presenting
us with a new sexuality that situates a young female in a subject position of authority.
Through this chapter, I have situated the notorious post-Bangerz Cyrus as one
who is idolized and emulated in order to inform reimaginings or morality and normalcy in
contemporary society. Cyrus embodies moral panics concerning the sexualization and
racialization of the female body within the context of capitalism. The polarizing moral
discussions that have resulted from the 22-year-old’s Bangerz performance art support
the argument that Cyrus is a political actor. By facilitating discussions concerning race,
gender, and sexuality, Cyrus creates a critical reflective space in which socio-political
anxieties can be articulated. Cyrus’ celebrity status serves to support the theory that her
notoriety necessitates the perpetual oscillation between glorification and criticism.
40
Chapter Four: Cyrus is Art
Miley Cyrus is a problem. She is a problem because we do not know quite what to make
of her. Her actions and performances present a particularly sexualized and racialized
female identity, while she simultaneously challenges the same patriarchal culture that
situates her as such. Cyrus is a new generation of feminist, one who does not seem to
“give a fuck” about the socially constructed expectations of feminist subjectivity
(Gevinson 2014). Cyrus’ feminism is about using her performance art to problematize
convention and instigate conversations pertaining to sex, gender, and race. However, this
is just one particular way of mobilizing Cyrus to talk about feminism. Drawing on the
concepts of art, reterritorialization, and becoming, I engage with feminist philosopher
Elizabeth Grosz in order to present a feminist rereading of Cyrus as art, rather than Cyrus
as the creator of feminist art.
In her work Becoming Undone, feminist philosopher Elizabeth Grosz engages
with the work of Charles Darwin in order to offer a philosophical rereading of sexual
selection and its implications for feminist thought (Grosz 2011, 86). Grosz contemplates
the dynamic relationship between feminist theory and the genesis of new concepts and
ontological practices (Grosz 2011, 77). With this understanding of the generative
qualities inherent in philosophical feminist thought, I will move forward with the
reframing of Cyrus as a controversial female celebrity—but more importantly—as art
generating newness. This genesis of the new builds from Grosz’s concept of becoming:
Becoming means that nothing is the same as itself over time, and dispersion
means that nothing is contained in the same space in this becoming…
Difference means that the constraints of coherence and consistency in
subjects, and in the identity of things or events, is less significant than the
capacity or potential for chance, for being other. (Grosz 2011, 97)
41
Becoming negotiates this newness through the understanding that the material body is
constituted of “the past to its present forms, [and] through the continuous growth and
accumulation of the past, through [ones] inherent immersion in virtuality” (Grosz 2011,
32). The body represents the culmination of one’s being into the physical, tangible, and
malleable now. As such, becoming can be seen as the rupture of this continuum of
perpetual being, into the realm of newness: “life erupts from (and transforms) the material
conditions that enable matter to “remember”” (Grosz 2011, 32) what it previously was.
The memory of what has been does not disappear; it rather acts as a means of revealing,
or unfolding, onto the becoming.
Central to this discussion of becoming is Grosz’s philosophically charged concept
of art. For Grosz, art challenges and engages with the new insofar as “art explodes with
colors, forms, narratives, both public and secret, but also and above all, with affects”
(Grosz 2011, 188). Through her articulation of art, it is understood that “life brings art to
matter and art brings matter to life” (Grosz 2011, 38):
Art here is not to be understood as fabrication or techné, the subordination of
matter to conscious purpose or taste, but as intensification. Life magnifies and
extends matter and matter in turn intensifies and transforms life. Art is
engendered through the excess of matter that life utilizes for its own sake, and
through that excess of life that directs it beyond itself and into the elaboration
of materiality. (Grosz 2011, 38)
For Grosz, art is more so a method of transcending the real—imagining the
unimaginable—than it is a mode of revealing. Art plays an important role in the
formulation of newness and becoming in Grosz’s feminist framework, and therefore
equally crucial in the rearticulation of Cyrus as art.
Cyrus’ feminism is complicated and controversial. From her performance at the
2013 VMAs to her provocative worldwide Bangerz tour, Cyrus is all about causing
42
trouble and sparking debate. To further complicate Cyrus’ feminism, Huffington Post
reported that Cyrus has recently released the short pornographic film entitled “Tongue
Tied,” directed by Quentin Jones. “Tongue Tied” depicts Cyrus in various bondage
scenes, “smearing herself with black oil as she writhes to the music” (Marcus 2015). This
short film became popular once it was announced that Cyrus would submit it to the first
annual New York City Porn Festival in February 2015. While “Tongue Tied” was not
presented during the festival (Marcus 2015), the short clip has been much discussed in
social and news media. “Tongue Tied,” as articulated by Simon Leahy, the founder of the
NYC Porn Festival, is a thoughtful effort to “become more of a contemporary artist”
(Carballo 2015). Rather than speaking of Cyrus as a performance artist, this short film has
facilitated her transition from the producer of art to the body depicting art; therefore
becoming other than what she was.
Grosz examines the idea of the morphing of subjectivity as an art of sorts.
Throughout her work, Grosz engages with the concept of subjectivity as it pertains to the
knowing subject, “whether the subject is understood as a desiring subject, a speaking
subject, or as a decentered subject” (Grosz 2011, 84). By complicating the concept of
subjectivity, Grosz is able to mark a shift between Cyrus as the generator of feminist art
to the decentered art form in herself. Cyrus is removed from the position of the celebrity
body on the stage and transformed into the bound body of art in “Tongue Tied”. This
shift facilitates a feminist rearticulation of Cyrus as one who is now “beyond the subject,
bigger than the subject, outside the subject’s control or possibly even comprehension”
(Grosz 2011, 84). Through her performance in “Tongue Tied,” Cyrus is illustrating the
tensions of expectation and desire. Cyrus’ struggle with the bondage constraints in the
43
short film is reflective of her struggle to articulate her own complex identity that is
confined and codified by celebrity culture and feminist critique.
The subject does not make itself; the subject does not know itself. The subject
seeks to be known and to be recognized, but only through its reliance on
others, including the very others who function to collectively subjugate the
subject. (Grosz 2011, 84)
Cyrus is engaging with her audience in an entirely different manner that sees the removal
of herself as the knower, or the producer of new knowledge. Her body is now presented
as the vulnerable corporeal form in that she embodies art: “art has come to have a new
life, for it [becomes] unchained from the representation of us, subjects, and our petty
interests and fantasies to come invested with the forces of the world” (Grosz 2011, 189).
Cyrus paints her body and adorns herself with bondage-themed garments as a
representation of the struggle that she faces as a young woman. She is expected to restrain
her sexuality, so she exposes herself. She is expected to embody freedom and power, so
she choreographs her struggle with rope, tape, and masks. The complicated contemporary
milieu is a precondition for art in that, “one lives one’s identities, whatever they may be,
however complex their intricacies, within a sexed body” (Grosz 2011, 109). Cyrus is
allowing herself to engage creatively, and therefore challenge her audience to navigate
the tensions and complexities of constraint, bondage, and art.
The body remains the focal point for Cyrus’ feminism. However it is the process
of “becoming feminist” (Grosz 2011) through her body that must be addressed. Grosz
argues that, “the material world is that which is capable of unrolling or unfolding what
has been already rolled or folded” (Grosz 2011, 29). New concepts and ontologies are
revealed through critical engagement with art. The art presented in the short film comes
44
in the form of Cyrus’ body. Cyrus, who has been revered for her powerful sexuality, is
now situated as the submissive and vulnerable subject. This film facilitates “the inevitable
unwinding or unfurling, the relaxation, of what has been cocked and set, dilated, in a
pregiven trajectory” (Grosz 2011, 29). Cyrus’ body has not become something that is new
and tangible. Rather, she is submitting to the process of becoming: “indeed there is no
subject of becoming or a thing that is the result of becoming—but only something in
objects and subjects that transforms them and makes them other than what they used to be”
(Grosz 2011, 51). Cyrus’ corporeality is the canvas of her own art.
The body of Cyrus has been examined, scrutinized, critiqued, and contemplated.
Her body, one that has been territorialized by the music industry, feminists, popular
culture scholars, and even myself, “has no fixed boundaries and is maintained only
through regular use” (Grosz 2011, 184). “Tongue Tied” facilitates her reclamation of the
territory that is her body, and positions Cyrus in such a way that she acknowledges her
constraints and playfully engages with a new subjectivity. The film depicts the coupling
of illustrative graphics, segmented body parts, and bondage, thus focusing on the
corporeal fabrication of the body (figure 5, 6). Her disjointed performance is reflective of
the idea that “life emerges from the chaos of materiality through chance, through the
protraction of the past into the present” (Grosz 2011, 77). Cyrus’ appearance in the film is
not dramatically different than what has been presented during her Bangerz tour.
However, her art is now fundamentally different. Cyrus is using her body in a new way
that renders her subjectivity external to herself—she has been made “unrecognizable”
(Grosz 2011, 87). Black paint masks her porcelain complexion. Her flesh is constrained
and bound by thick bands of black plastic material. Rather than outlandishly expressing
45
her sexuality, Cyrus illustrates the antagonistic relationship between social pressure and
identity.
Figure 5: “Tongue Tied” 1
Source: "Tongue Tied – Miley Cyrus." Ampersand. May 6, 2014.
Figure 6: “Tongue Tied” 2
Source: "Tongue Tied – Miley Cyrus." Ampersand. May 6, 2014.
46
The concept of becoming is integral in this Groszian articulation of Cyrus as a
work of art. According to Grosz, art is the capacity to engage with subjectivity in new and
creative ways, therefore revealing and seducing new becomings:
Art is that ability to take a property or quality and make it resonate with
bodies to the extent that this quality take bodies away from their real
immersion in a particular habitat and orients them to a virtual world of
attraction and seduction, a world promised or possible but never given in the
real. (Grosz 2011, 172)
The sexually drenched film is art in intricate, complex, and interconnected ways. Cyrus’
body, that holds the collective imagined memory of the performed sexual art “[is not] the
same subject in each repetition, for [it carries] all earlier repetitions within [it] as memory”
(Grosz 2011, 32). Her body holds the memories of the body that once twerked against
Robin Thicke during the VMAs, just as her body holds the memories of the virginal
protagonist of Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana. Her body holds a multitude of private,
lost, ephemeral moments from biological conception to the present. Cyrus’ art “is thus
both added to the material forces of the world to give them a new kind of resonance and
also what is extracted from the material forces and made to function in a different way”
(Grosz 2011, 192). Cyrus embodies the chaos and complexity of becoming in a world that
constrains and inscribes meaning on bodies.
The socially inscribed body of Cyrus is important in this Groszian reimagining of
the body. As Grosz articulates, “race, class, and religion are divisions imposed by
cultures on sexed bodies, bodies which are differentiated from each other and in each
generation through the implications of sexual reproduction” (Grosz 2011, 106). The
female body has long been marked and signified as subordinate through its binary
association with its male counterpart because “the world or the real is readily divisible
47
into binary pairs” (Grosz 2011, 50). However, the art presented in “Tongue Tied” situates
the female body as submissive, vulnerable, and bound. Cyrus is confronting the
contemporary milieu that would condemn this self-subjugation, in order to revel in the
“secret depth or complication [of the body]” (Grosz 2011, 51). The bound body of Cyrus
reveals the ever-present constraints that are placed on the female body. Her body
becomes her art in that she uses “the resources (aesthetic cinematography) for the artistic
transformation of [her] own body” (Grosz 2011, 185). This aesthetic recaptures the body
of Cyrus and rearticulates it in such a way that reveals itself in the process of becoming:
“this is an art that brings new forces into existence by elaborating natural and social
forces themselves” (Grosz 2011, 201). Drawing upon her reality, Cyrus performs her
internal struggle.
Cyrus is art in that she presents her struggle with becoming other than what she is
expected to be. Through the short film “Tongue Tied,” Cyrus exceeds the realm of the
real—the realm of static being—through the process of reterritorializing her body as a
location of identities, inscriptions, memories, meanings, and subjectivities. Grosz argues
that it is art that “creates boundless new forms, provocative and arresting colors, vibrating
forces that tell of a new way of seeing and living in the world” (Grosz 2011, 192).
Grosz’s creative philosophical framework enables one to “[acknowledge] the real’s
capacity to be otherwise, its ability to become more and other” (Grosz 2011, 51). By
taking this approach, Cyrus is no longer a subject to be discussed in terms of gender, race,
class, and patriarchal hegemony. Rather, Cyrus becomes a particular locus for the
explosive forces of becoming: “art is a virtual leap into new worlds to come, it is the way
48
that the present most directly welcomes the future” (Grosz 2011, 191). Cyrus’ art,
therefore, is located in her complex subjectivity.
Cyrus is widely criticized for her avant-garde behavior and reckless abandon of
conventional political correctness. She causes discomfort because she is challenging
standardized understandings of identity politics, heteronormativity, and racial divisions.
The release of “Tongue Tied” has facilitated an entirely different reimagining of feminist
theory in terms of subjectivity, becoming, and art. By setting these concepts in
conversation with each other, Grosz offers a philosophically charged feminism; one that
addresses the real but is “directed to the future, […] to making a new kind of real” (Grosz
2011, 201). Feminist theory becomes the ontological paradigm through which we may
begin to reimagine bodies, art, and becomings. Cyrus is but one in a constellation of
becomings that embody the ability become unrecognizable. However, “it is the
positioning of these qualities elsewhere that enables them to generate sensations, enliven
and transform bodies, and add new dimensions to objects,” (Grosz 2011, 187) that one
may transcend new becomings.
Through Grosz’s understanding of life as “the continuous reframing of every
internal perspective with another equally valid perspective,” I constitute the body of
Cyrus as “nothing but a vast teeming multiplicity of […] perspectives” (Grosz 2011, 119).
Groszian thought generates a space within which one may situate Cyrus as a complex,
unrecognizable subject who embodies the concept of becoming feminist.
In the film “Tongue Tied,” Cyrus submits to an unseen, unrepresented, intangible
dominator. Her body is bound and she is displaced from her pristinely manicured
corporeality as she is smothered with thick black oil. Her body resembles that which it
49
was before; she maintains her androgynous haircut, her body is similarly adorned in
revealing, shiny garments. However, there is something distinctly different about this
film that distinguishes it from her performance art during her Bangerz tour. Rather than
presenting particular ideas about gender, agency, sexuality, race, and class, Cyrus is
embracing the accumulation of her present complexities and laying bare her
vulnerabilities. While the feminism within this short bondage clip may not be obvious,
feminist theory is essential in this rereading of Cyrus, “not as a plan or anticipation of
action to come, but as the addition of ideality, incorporeality, to the horrifying materiality,
the weighty reality, of the present” (Grosz 2011, 81). Cyrus explodes forth from the
materiality of her reality and becomes something new.
“Tongue Tied” presents a distorted image of Cyrus. This new image is one that is
complex in its simplicity. Cyrus has been transformed from the producer of art to art
itself. Grosz states, “art is the excess of matter that is extracted from [matter] to resonate
for living beings,” (Grosz 2011, 189) and it can therefore be understood that Cyrus
embodies that which is beyond the threshold of her corporeal being. Cyrus presents us
with a unique opportunity to engage with art as a disruptive force, one that “erupts from
within a natural order,” and “devours life through intensity, force, pleasure, and pain as
no natural or given forces can” (Grosz 2011, 189). Though “Tongue Tied” is merely one
instance of this eruption of creative conceptual genesis, Grosz challenges us to use this
philosophical feminist thought to engage with the world around us. Cyrus is just one of
many—but she is an important work of art.
50
Conclusion
Miley Cyrus is political. Though there are people who would argue that Cyrus is
incredibly problematic because of her treatment of gender, sexuality, race, and class
(O’Connor 2013, Goodin-Smith 2014, Gould 2014), I argue that Cyrus’ politics resides in
her ability to instigate political discussions. Throughout this project, I have explored the
way in which feminism has situated Cyrus as a political problem. The historical
indebtedness that feminism has to corporeal understandings of subjectivity has facilitated
a moral discourse that surrounds the controversial performer. Her performance art verges
on the pornographic because of her incorporation of objectified and racialized bodies,
explicit simulation of sexual acts, and her nearly naked appearance (Gevinson 2014).
Cyrus is criticized because she appears to reject convention and engage with a
style of performance art that ridicules social anxieties pertaining to gender, race, and
sexuality. Her status as a celebrity allows for the emergence of a multiplicity of
conversations concerning feminism. In the second chapter of this project, I presented a
feminist reading of Cyrus in order to show the problematic dependency that feminism has
on a moralizing discourse (O’Connor 2013, Makarechi 2013, Gay 2014). By examining
the limiting narrative through which mainstream feminism understands Cyrus, I have
argued that Cyrus is a political actor worthy of analysis. Cyrus’ political implications
emerge in that she resonates with contemporary society because her performance art
embodies uncomfortable complexities of contemporary politics (Rojek 2001, 54).
Through tracing a brief history of feminism in the United States over the past two
centuries, I have shown the development of a moralizing narrative. The discussion of
feminism through the first chapter also situated feminism as a critical ontological
51
framework through which we may read and engage with contemporary social, political,
and cultural issues. The issue under examination in this project is not actually Cyrus.
Rather, her post-Bangerz persona served as an event through which feminist discourse
could be analyzed. Through this project, I have mobilized Cyrus’ post-Bangerz persona in
order to situate contemporary feminist theory and posit a philosophical reimagining of
feminism as a critical ontological process of becoming.
The world in which we live is full of anxiety and uncertainty. Though our world is
complex, it is also ripe with the potential for newness and creativity: “this is what life is,
the continuous reframing of every internal perspective with another equally valid
perspective” (Grosz 2011, 119). With this project, I have used feminism as a framework
through which we may learn to navigate the complexities of our world. Solace may be
found in the ability to reimagine life as a process of becoming other than what we were:
I am not the same subject in each repetition, for I carry all earlier repetitions
within me as a memory. Memory is not so much added to each perception as
each perception inheres in an order of the virtual that expands and elaborates
it through its difference from, and thus in its addiction to, each earlier
repetition. (Grosz 2011, 32)
Rather than accepting the expected outcome of mainstream feminism, that would situate
Cyrus as a postfeminist subject, I challenge the reader to think critically and reflexively
about subjectivity in the contemporary political milieu.
This project is not about Cyrus. I argue that a philosophical reframing of
subjectivity can be used to creatively mobilize political, social, and cultural anxieties.
Political philosophy and feminist theory facilitate the emergence of new subjectivities—
new ways of understanding ourselves as becoming that which is new. By recognizing that
“the material world is that which is capable of unrolling or unfolding what has been
52
already rolled and folded,” (Grosz 2011, 29) this discussion offers an alternative
framework through which we may navigate the intricacies and anxieties of the now.
53
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