Miley Cyrus and the 'kiddie porn' question

Is 17 too young to have racy, revealing photos published of you? asks Tricia Romano in The Daily Beast. Probably not, if you're a crossing-over starlet

"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? [...]

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up