Miley Cyrus and the 'kiddie porn' question

"Hannah Montana" star Miley Cyrus, 17, is "trying to upend her goody-two-shoes image to gain entrance into the adults-only VIP area of the pop culture club," says Tricia Romano in The Daily Beast, and gossip blogger Perez Hilton is helping out by publishing racy upskirt photos of her. But the photos of Cyrus' "nether regions" have caused a minor scandal, since the starlet is underage, and Hilton is now under fire for "pedophilia" and some commentators are urging that he be charged with distributing "kiddie porn." That's silly, argues Romano:

"The age of consent and the age of adulthood have long been arbitrary markers that have been moved up and down depending on the country and the winds of change. Remember the days when an unmarried 16 year old was considered an old maid? [...]

Of course, here, the question isn't just whether Miley is allowed to be a sexual being but whether she is allowed to be portrayed in a sexual way by the media. And no one is harder to defend in media than Perez Hilton...

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[But] Perez Hilton didn't put a skimpy outfit on Miley Cyrus. If Miley Cyrus provides bait, the media, and Perez specifically, are going to take it, record it, and post it. And all parties will profit from it."

Read the entire article at The Daily Beast.