Wonder Woman Wednesday

Every Wednesday I will be sharing a story of an inspirational woman, who has either changed the world for women or is just simply a credit to womankind,  in a piece called ‘Wonder Woman Wednesday’.

In January of this year 7 year old Charlotte Benjamin walked down the Lego aisle of a toy store. What she saw prompted her to write this letter to the Danish based Lego company;

“Dear Lego company:

My name is Charlotte. I am 7 years old and I love legos but I don’t like that there are more lego boy people and barely any lego girls.

Today I went to a store and saw legos in two sections the pink girls and the blue boys. All the girls did was sit at home, go to the beach, and shop, and they had no jobs but the boys went on adventures, worked, saved people, and had jobs, even swam with sharks.

I want you to make more Lego girl people and let them go on adventures and have fun ok!?!

Thank you.

From Charlotte.”

The letter quickly attracted social media attention after being released by Charlotte’s Dad, being retweeted almost 2,000 times. Not surprising then that it caught the attention of Lego themselves, who issued a statement assuring Charlotte that they were working on their gender balance issues within Lego land.

Teefury

While they stated that in Lego history their toys always seemed to appeal more to boys than girls, in the last few years they have seen a dramatic increase in girls ‘choosing to build’. They promised they were working on a set of brand new female characters.

Last week the company launched ‘The Research Institute Play Set’, the brain child of Swedish geophysicist Ellen Kooijman. Kooijman submitted her idea on the crowd sourcing design platform ‘Lego Ideas’, beating out six other potential ideas after receiving over 10,000 community votes!

Kooijman stated that; “As a female scientist I had noticed two things about the available Lego sets: a skewed male/female mini-figure ratio and a rather stereotypical representation of the available female figures.”

Kooijman at the Lego offices. [Legoideas.com]

The inspiring new series will include a female astronomer,  a female palaeontologist, and a female chemist in a lab. With not a drop of pink in site!

Kooijman added that she hoped these figurines would ‘help make our Lego city communities more diverse’. She has designed 12 female figurines in total, 3 of which appear in this set with the rest hopefully being taken on board by the company also.

The research set quickly sold out, but not to worry, Lego has assured us more will be available by months end!

Everything is awesome!

You Ain’t Never Had A Friend Like Me

 

RIP Sir, thank you for the laughs, tears, and everything in between.

Women Against Feminism

Internet crazes are often irritating but, for the most part easily ignored (except when people keep virtually throwing make-up remover wipes in your direction that is!).

This I couldn’t ignore. My irritation has been building since I first came across this latest ‘movement’ last week. Birthed on Tumblr and quickly sweeping its way through our social media hangouts, Women Against Feminism calls for it’s participant to stand in front of a camera holding a refill pad sheet with all the reasons they ‘don’t need feminism’.

‘I don’t need feminism because I am not afraid of men’ , ‘I don’t need feminism because I am not a victim’, ‘I don’t need feminism because I do not hate men’…you get the gist. There was also a hell of a lot of posts that listed ‘because I like to look nice and don’t need to explain why’ as a reason.

This puzzled me… I like to look nice, hell, I even like when a man pays me a compliment. Does this mean I don’t need feminism? no. Does this mean I need you to explain yourself to me? no. This unhealthy view that a feminist is some stuck up sheet wearing bra burning judging prude is a little stereotypical, no?

Let’s define feminism shall we, ‘The advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes’ (Oxford Dictionary). You are missing one simple point protesters, anyone can be a feminist…man, woman, child.  The whole nature of modern feminism is it’s openness. Also, tell me, since when did equality and feminism become mutually exclusive?

I certainly don’t teach women to be victims. I certainly do not hate men. I’m not afraid of men, nor do I believe they are all rapists like a number of you have frightfully suggested. So who are you talking to? …extremists perhaps?

One sign stated, ‘I don’t need feminism because I am not oppressed’ … is this ignorance or just selfishness, I’m not sure?

Your boyfriend may ‘treat you right’, excellent, mine too! You may feel that feminism is an obsolete issue but you try tell that to the one in three girls in developing countries who are forced into marriage by the age of 18. Or to today’s Libyan woman who remembers being handed over as ‘spoils of war’ if she stood up for her rights during 2011’s Civil War, or to the women in Saudi Arabia who aren’t even allowed to drive a car.

No one is saying times haven’t changed and no one is saying to keep looking to the past as a way forward but why waste time and energy on throwing out a belief system rooted in an over 100 year struggle for female equality just because you have never felt the effects of female oppression.

#WomenForFeminism

‘The Internet Is For Porn’ … and blog posts

The wonderfully talented cast of Avenue Q

First appearing on Broadway in July of 2003, Avenue Q has won three Tony Awards, enjoyed national and international touring success, and has been ranked 23rd on the list of longest running shows in Broadway history.

The wacky American musical, written by Jeff Whitty with music conceived by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, has landed in Dublin for a short 5 night run. Being dubbed ‘Sesame Street for grown-ups’ (seriously, they do not lie), the brutally honest coming of age story is one to catch!

Puppets, monsters, puppeteers, and actors, it’s got it all. I knew I’d love it as soon as the first song started, ‘What Do You Do With a B.A. in English? / It Sucks to Be Me’. Well, I’m a sucker for a puppet wallowing with me in my pain so I sang along joyfully to the lyrics ‘four years of college and plenty of knowledge have earned me this useless degree.’ So, maybe if your an optimistic Arts major skip the first act!

I am of course joking, the job market is crying out for people who can critically analyse the third act of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, you’ll be fine…

Those of you who are still reading and haven’t left to frantically research conversion courses, go check out this musical while it’s running. From songs like ‘Everyone’s a little bit Racist’ to ‘The Internet is For Porn’ there’s a little bit of truth to be found for everyone.

Not going to lie, by the end I was definitely emotionally attached to some of the puppets.

Running until 9th of August in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre

Wonder Woman Wednesday

Every Wednesday I will be sharing a story of an inspirational woman, who has either changed the world for women or is just simply a credit to womankind,  in a piece called ‘Wonder Woman Wednesday’.

Aspiring female journalists need look no further for their role model than risk taking investigative journalist Nellie Bly.

Pen name for American born Elizabeth Jane Cochrane, Bly’s work was both ground breaking and record breaking. From going undercover to expose neglect at a women’s asylum, to travelling around the globe in 72 days, and even covering World War I, this lady reads as a definite force to be reckoned with.

Born into a modest labouring family in 1864, the importance of hard work and determination was instilled in Elizabeth from a young age. Education was brief, attending boarding school for just one term, being forced to drop out due to lack of funds. Life started to change for Elizabeth when in 1880, she moved with her family to Pittsburgh.

The fiery 16 year old noticed an article in the local Pittsburgh Dispatch entitled ‘What Girls are Good For’. The article is exactly as it sounds, implying that women are only suited for raising families and keeping a nice clean home.

Instead of begrudgingly accepting this misogynistic view she decided to fight back on behalf of her sex, writing a response to the papers editor, signed ‘Lonely Orphan Girl’. The passionate outcry caught the attention of the editor George Madden, who ran an advert calling for the writer to identify herself.

Madden offered her a job at the newspaper, constraints for women at the time meant she must take a pen name. Writing under her new name Nellie Bly, she began to write investigative pieces on the plight of women in the workplace and their rights in the increasingly industrialised society.

Bly was outspoken and honest, a trait that didn’t lie well with some of the times leading businessmen. After advertisers threatened to withdraw their business from the newspaper, Bly was time-outed to the fashion and beauty pages, I guess women were good for that too!

Not one to do what she was told, Bly decided to up sticks and travel to Mexico where she would write about the corruption and
poverty that was occurring under the rule of dictator Porfirio Diaz. Threatened with arrest for her protest, she fled back to the United States and headed straight for New York, the epicentre of world news.

Landing a job in New York World, Bly was about to take on her biggest investigative story yet. Taking the initiative to go undercover for ten days as a patient in the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island in New York to expose the much rumoured neglect and brutality of its patients. She published her findings in a book called ‘Ten Days in a Mad-House’. Her findings revealed that patients were not only being held in horrific conditions but most were locked away with physical illnesses, not mental, or by family members for various unrelated reasons.

Her revelations shamed the authorities into no longer ignoring the situation and a grand jury was set up to put actions into place that would ensure only clinically insane were detained and to change the conditions in asylums for years to come.

Deserving a well earned holiday, Nellie decided to take a trip around the world, after being inspired by Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days. On November 14th 1889 Nellie set off from New York city, updating over 1 million New York World readers with daily articles recounting her adventures. Returning to New York to immense fanfare 72 days later after breaking the record, Nellie published her story in her book ‘Around the World in Seventy-Two Days’ … ok so the title wasn’t very inspired but it did grant her worldwide notoriety.

After all this, you wouldn’t blame Nellie if she retired to some small island with her rich husband never to be heard of again. But as you can probably guess, Nellie wasn’t one for the relaxing, instead she went on to run an iron manufacturing company with her husband where she turned her hand at inventing, taking the US patent of the simple milk can all dairy farmers know and love today!

After her husbands death in 1904 she took over sole responsibility for the company, introducing improved employee benefits, she also brought in recreation centres and libraries for her factory workers, unheard of at the time. She fast became one of the worlds leading industrialists, not bad for a woman of the early 1900s! However, her employees paid her good deeds back by embezzlement and the company trailed into bankruptcy.

Nellie sailed away from her financial woes to England in 1914, the outbreak of World War One didn’t scare Nellie back home. Instead she stayed in Europe until after the war, reporting for the New York Evening Journal as a war correspondent. Producing headlines such as, ‘Suffragists Are Men’s Superiors’. What a title!

In 1919 she returned to New York and continued to write for the paper on subjects such as poverty and women’s right to vote. She became a confidant for women who had fell on hard times, helping them find work and raising money, as well as helping local orphanages.

Nellie Bly passed away in 1922, aged 57, the next day the Evening Journal posted a tribute entitled, ‘The Best Reporter in America’ where they called her a pioneer in the field of investigative journalism.

Nellie Bly’s legacy stands strong, she has even inspired a Broadway musical and in 2002 she was one of four women journalists honoured with a U.S postage stamp. She continues to inspire exhibitions, plays, and on screen characters years later. She is a true example of standing up for what you believe in, fighting until the end, and never forgetting about your fellow woman.

Truly a Wonder Woman!

 

Wonder Woman Wednesday

Every Wednesday I will be sharing a story of an inspirational woman, who has either changed the world for women or is just simply a credit to womankind,  in a piece called ‘Wonder Woman Wednesday’. To set the scene…

In 1940 William Moulton Marston, an American psychologist, inventor, and comic book writer approached All-American Publications, later to become DC Comics, with his idea for a new kind of superhero.

Marston wanted to create a new era of superhero, which would open the medium of comic book writing to a new wave of educational potential. He dreamt of a character who would triumph not with fists or fire-power, but with love. ”Fine” said his wife Elizabeth, ”But make her a woman”.

And so came into being the super-heroine that is Wonder Woman. At a time when comic book pages were dominated with powerful male figures such as Superman and Batman, Wonder Woman stepped on the scene in her red go-go boots set to shake the comic book world up forever. An Amazonian warrior princess who could steal any man’s heart, but also kick their ass!

Marston, working with his wife Elizabeth, wanted Wonder Woman to represent the eras unconventional, liberated woman. He stated, “Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world”.

The creator of systolic-blood-pressure-measuring apparatus (in later incarnations we know it as the lie detector test), Marston’s experience showed him that women were altogether more honest and reliable than men. He wanted his heroine to show this, to have the loving and caring characteristics of a woman mixed with all the power and might of Superman. Believing that women’s strong characters had become diluted with weakness, he wanted to show the comic book reader a heroine who possessed both strength and emotion.

Sure Wonder Woman had her mishaps, like that time in the 60s when she surrendered her powers in order to remain in ‘Man’s World’ and opens a mod boutique under her alias of Diana Prince. But hey, it was the swinging 60s and a girl can’t be blamed for wanting a little fun, she already had the go-go boots after all!

Thankfully, she returned to her superhero roots in the 70s and after a few outfit changes she began to once again, rise to the role which her creator had intended. Paving the way for female superheroes, up to modern day she continues to represent the powerful female force in a male dominated world.

 

New French Anti-Bullying Advert Asks Vital Question

This new French anti-bullying advert is amazing, it may be the most powerful advert you have ever seen concerning the issue of bullying.

The premise behind the advert is that we wouldn’t tolerate the same kind of bullying in a workplace that many kids deal with daily in school. It aims to raise awareness of school bullying to adults by placing them in the shoes of the victim. The result is a genuinely heartbreaking and thought provoking watch.

Written and directed by Vincent Lobelle of Les Telecreateurs and is actually a promo video for an upcoming documentary on school harassment.

School bullying is a widespread problem in France. According to figures released by the Ministry of National Education, 1.4 million of France’s 12 million pupils encounter harassment in school, that works out at more than one in ten students.

Here in Ireland, a study carried out by Trinity College found that 31% of primary and 16% of secondary students have been bullied at some time.

Bullying is a hard subject to face, it’s difficult to think about and to discuss. The reality is, it’s happening every day, and with the ever expanded social media era its becoming more and more dangerous. Awareness and conversation is the key to fighting it.

At the end of the advert a message flashes across the screen: “A day at work does not look like this. And a day at school?”

Anti-Rape Underwear – Now A Thing

A.R Wear, a new line of Anti-Rape underwear dreamt up and brought to us by two young women based in New York is on its way to becoming an actual reality.

The founders, Ruth and Yuval, have launched a campaign on popular business crowd fundraising site, Indiegogo. The project has already raised $42,500 of its requested $50,000 budget, with 14 days left of seed funding to go.

Yep, this is a thing … the modern day chastity belt. While I do hope these women are only coming from a place of good, they state their aims are to give women back control and allow them to feel safe in potentially dangerous situations, it doesn’t make it any less horrifying. Is this really necessary?

The underwear works by locking the wearer in using an actual lock system, which is then opened by remembering a sequence of clock hand positions. They are cut-proof and pull resistant, basically these tough knickers are as hard to get into as Late/Late Toy Show audience. However, they also sound as hard to get out of as the Bermuda triangle.

In the product promotion video, which you can find below, it is suggested that wearing these pants will deter an attacker, by sheer frustration I’m guessing? They will seemingly be more successful in avoiding rape than using violence against your attacker, time to stop that self defence class so. I don’t know about you but I feel it would be hard not to defend yourself physically. The advert says it’s okay though, have full faith in your pants … no matter how hard your attacker is coming at you with a knife (or scissors).

Places you should wear these bad boys as suggested in the video; out on a first date, clubbing, an evening run and basically, anywhere. We are assured of our preserved comfort while wearing our AR Wear. LBD ladies? No problem you’ll have no VPL …despite the metal clasps on the thighs and top band!? I really doubt slipping on these guys will make you feel as sexy as your latest lacy Ann Summers purchase but the girl in the video looks pretty pleased.

I’m thinking, after one or two glasses of wine on a night out and nature comes a knocking I can barely work my way out of normal underwear let alone ones with locking systems, maybe I could  store the combination code in my iPhone beside my PIN number?

The AR Wear website admits that;

‘Only by raising awareness and education, as well as bringing rapists to justice, can we all hope to eventually accomplish the goal of eliminating rape as a threat to both women and men.’

Thank god for that! Oh wait …

 ‘Meanwhile, as long as sexual predators continue to populate our world, AR Wear would like to provide products to women and girls that will offer better protection against some attempted rapes while the work of changing society’s rape culture moves forward.’

Yes, products, AR Wear are currently working on a line of jogging leggings as well as travel shorts. So at least you have more of a variety on what to wear for your first date.

Website The Daily Dot summed it up perfectly for me when they wrote,

‘These ideas for anti-rape clothing never go anywhere, and that’s because preventing rape has nothing to do with what a woman is wearing, or not wearing, and everything to do with the rapist and a culture of victim-blaming. Are panties with thigh locks really making us safer, or is every woman’s fear simply being exploited for profit?’

One last thought, I really do hope it was just an initial oversight that all the models used in the advert view like a runway show at Paris fashion week and it’s not that they really think the only women who need worry about rape are the young, skinny and beautiful.Funding ends in 2 weeks, will you be sponsoring?

Sexbox : Women and Porn

Credit: Channel4

Sexbox is part of Channel 4’s ‘Campaign for Real Sex’ season. Mariella Frostrup presents, joined by a panel of experts, Dan Savage, Tracey Cox, and Philip Hodson. The show invites couples to have sex in the ‘Sexbox’ and directly after, discuss their feelings and experiences with the experts.

On initially hearing the concept and the claim that the makers wanted to ‘reclaim sex from porn’ , I was very skeptical. You’re putting them in a damn box for god sake, how is that reclaiming anything!? Still, I planned to watch because, a) I’m nosey and b) I’m watching everything else in this sex season. So I changed into my comfy PJs, made myself a hot chocolate and, with twitter open and ready, settled in for a night of ‘watching’ other people have sex!

I was blown away by how much I enjoyed and learnt from the show. Thinking I was going to be in for a gimmicky program, made for the sole purpose of getting ratings, what I actually got was an enlightening and honest look at the value and variety of sex in peoples relationships. Throughout the show we met various couples of different age, sexual orientation, race, size, shape, physical capabilities, you name it! The insights from the show were immense, one that stuck me the most came from panelist Dan Savage, when asked about the stereotypical views of gay sex, ‘straight people project onto gay sex a problem with heterosexual sex’. Ignorance breeds negative stereotyping. The show is a definite recommendation from me, you can still watch it on 4oD. For now, I want to write a bit about one main issue that came up during the show, pornography.

We met a young couple in their 20s who talked about how their sex life is very healthy and adventurous, integrating porn on occasion. Discussing how much they enjoy and trust each other, they explained how they used porn as an extension of their sex life, not a crutch. Porn is there because they are both happy and comfortable enough with each other to enjoy and use it together. This brought up the idea to me of the negativity surrounding women admitting to viewing and enjoying porn, in particular, to other women.

Safe and legal porn used in a healthy way (stop reading now if you’re easily shocked) I think, is a great idea and why should there be any shame in it? So why can most women not admit to other women they watch porn? Maybe it’s the certain look of horror one gets, as if immediately being labelled as the town pervert. More and more studies are being conducted on the subject of women and porn, like the one conducted by the University of Sydney, showing that 30% of women admitted to viewing porn, either with their partners or solo. So maybe we are just too shy here in Ireland?

Many people have the view that porn is degrading and by default viewing it must mean you are a bit sleazy and weird. However, looking at findings from the Journal of Sex Research, women who work in the adult entertainment industry were shown to have higher self esteem and more comfortable in themselves. Now I’m not saying we should run and take our clothes off before the nearest camera but it definitely defuncts that argument. I can’t speak for other women (mainly because I can’t find any who will talk about it) but I admire women in the porn industry for their positive body image and their security in their sexuality. So once the people involved are doing it because they want to, is porn, used in the right way, by a woman for some cheeky kicks really such a bad thing?

I have a feeling if we took the lesson from Sexbox to be more honest and less judgemental about others viewing porn we could stop being so frightened by it and use it for the fun educational tool it can be. Women shouldn’t attack other women for exploring their own sexuality and enjoying themselves while doing so. As Tracey Cox said, ‘cultural restraints are what inhibit female libido’, and, to me, anything that stops a woman enjoying her own sexuality harmful!

Maybe we can never reclaim sex from porn, but I don’t know if we really need to because, if we use it selectively and educate ourselves about it then maybe we can live openly in harmony with it.

If you would like to share your thoughts and vote below please do! Non judgemental of course 😉

Adeline x

@addyminchin

Regardless Miley is still Twerking

Credit: Eonline

I love twitter! As anyone who follows me will know, I love it most for commenting on current showbiz stories, like the latest Kanye West outburst and other life changing events. Twice I have written tweets about the ‘Miley Cyrus vs Sinead O’Connor’ fiasco, however, to my despair my ramblings were just too long for Twitters 140 character limit. So, I decided to properly wade into the argument and write a blog post about it.

OK so, quick synopsis…Miley Cyrus said in a Rolling Stone interview that her video for ‘Wrecking Ball’ was loosely based on Sinead O’Connor’s ‘Nothing Compares 2U’. Sinead decided to, rather than take this as a compliment and move on, send a public lengthy letter to Miley outlining the dangers of the road she is going down. Some not so friendly responses on Twitter were made and so ensued a steady flow of letters from Sinead and a hell of a lot of media spotlight.

Four Letters!!! …four long letters Sinead has openly written since this all began, for the love of god send the girls agent an email at this stage, it’s not that hard. One I could cope with, I even found interesting, but by the fourth I really don’t think I’m the only one who is willing her to stop bashing the keyboard!

Firstly, let me point out that from reading the Rolling Stone article I think Sinead may have read too much into it. I don’t think at any point does Miley say that Sinead is ‘role model’ to her. Sinead, however, taking on this self assigned role, wrote to advise Miley how she feels the music industry is ‘prostituting’ her, she’s worried she has no one looking out for her, and that Miley has to be careful because she is a role model to young girls (and it’s all just ‘not cool’ !!)

When this first letter came out there were multiple posts on my Facebook newsfeed by people saying how great it was, I’m sure I saw one or two likes on a freshly created ‘fair play to ya Sinead’ page. I don’t know if I was the only one but after reading the first letter I thought, even if it was meant with the best intentions, was very condescending and slightly insulting in places. So I wasn’t really surprised when the response by Miley was a bit shotgun like and defensive. Sinead’s words were a bit too harsh and ungrounded it seemed to me, laced with the occasional ‘your records are great’ compliment.

I watched the MTV documentary ‘Miley: The Movement‘, and throughout I was thinking no wonder she got so defensive by the letter. She seems to have a very supportive family and a strong, intelligent circle of management, mentors and friends around her. She also came across very independent and confident in herself and her own decisions. Wouldn’t you then get offended if someone publicly wrote to you saying that you’re being ‘prostituted’ by the people around you and you don’t even realise it? That you have grown up in the music industry, your dad is Billy Ray Cyrus but I still think you and your family are stupid and naive enough to let you get used and ogled at just to sell a few records? Not to mention that in her second letter Sinead went on to call Miley ‘anti-female’ and ‘f–king stupid’ and in her third telling Miley to take five minutes ‘between g-string f–kin changes’ to apologise. I really don’t think Sinead is the all innocent party here.

There is no denying that Miley’s response to the letters have been pretty ill-judged and childish, tweeting screen grabs of a line of distressed tweets Sinead posted over two years ago and referring to the struggling Amanda Bynes. It is apparent that the closed minded attitude Miley has towards mental illness needs to be addressed as I fear it lies somewhere in the 1980s. Lets just remember though, that she’s 20 and when we were 20 we all said some stupid, ignorant things. Sinead O’Connor wasn’t exactly the height of PC when she was 20. Miley should definitely apologise but threatening her with legal action, bombarding her with letters, suggesting her words may be the reason people kill themselves tonight, that she is ruining her kids’ lives, really Sinead? You’re 46, she’s 20, time to leave it be I think.

Maybe these letters wouldn’t have even existed if Sinead had watched the documentary first because to me it seemed Miley is very much in control and aware of exactly what she is doing and why she is doing it. Sinead worries Miley is ‘prostituting’ herself by getting naked in a music video and dancing provocatively at the VMAs but didn’t Madonna do a whole book full of provocative pictures in the 90s and it’s not exactly the first time I’ve seen a female artist grinding on some guy on stage. These things surely don’t make me think they are any less of a person and it certainly doesn’t make me think they don’t care about themselves (another Sinead insight).

Obviously Miley has fans who look up to her as a role model. Hopefully, these fans are old enough to know just because Miley is getting naked and licking sledgehammers doesn’t mean they have to. If they aren’t old enough hopefully they have sensible parents to tell them they are too young to act or dress in a certain way or to tell them ‘hey, what Miley said was a bit stupid and insensitive, that’s not nice, don’t copy that’. Jesus, if every celebrity was to scrutinise every single thing their fans might copy they would never do anything, they take risks and make mistakes just like the rest of us.

I don’t think the music industry is prostituting Miley because she got naked in her latest video. I think she possibly feels great about her body, felt it would hold some artistic reference, and wanted to get naked. Isn’t it great to not be ashamed and celebrate a world where the oppression of female sexuality is not the norm any more, Miley Cyrus is a product of this new world. As I said in a tweet the day the first letter came out, sometimes it’s empowering to get naked. No matter what women do there will probably be someone out there ogling her and/or thinking she’s a bit smutty but that can’t be helped, have the Miley attitude and do what you want! Be confident in who you are and strong in the decisions you make, isn’t that a great lesson to her fans!?

The music industry has changed massively since the days of ‘Nothing Compares 2U’ and yes its highly sexualised but that doesn’t mean that the women in the industry are in any way stupid or naive to this. The music industry is a consumer market, we are not stupid, we pick and choose what we want to hear and see, we know when we are being fooled. If Miley wants to ‘Twerk’ and dance suggestively with a teddy bear while singing her latest song then go for it Miley, it ain’t upsetting me!

Adeline x

@addyminchin