Miley Cyrus: A Good Influence on Feminism?

I like Miley Cyrus. Actually I barely know her. I’ve seen a couple of episodes of Hannah Montana and I think I once heard Wrecking Ball on the car radio. But she’s just become one of my favourite young people, because unlike many of her peers she has loudly and proudly called herself a feminist. In an interview with the BBC this week, she said:

I feel like I’m one of the biggest feminists in the world because I tell women to not be scared of anything…I don’t actually walk around all day twerking with my tongue out dressed as a teddy bear

God bless her, she’s probably not ‘one of the biggest feminists in the world’ (I’m not sure how you’d measure that; I suspect feminism is more of an is or is not proposition) but she’s certainly one of the most famous. While others are coy about the word itself (sometimes with good reason), and others still quietly act feminist without identifying as such, Miley comes right out and stakes her claim.

I’m not interested in getting into a discussion about whether Miley’s style of presentation and performance is feminist. Honestly I don’t care and I’m pretty sure you’re all smart enough to know that talking about women’s clothes and hair and sexuality is a distraction from the real business of feminism, addressing structural inequalities which mean that women are disproportionately affected by poverty and violence.

From the time they can talk, most girls are taught to be nice, keep the peace, and not stick their neck out. Feminism, and feminists, say fuck off to that bullshit. All niceness, quiet and non-confrontation ever got women was a few thousand years of subjugation. So when a 20 year old pop star tells her peers (and the tweens and teens that look up to her) not to be afraid of being themselves, that’s a good thing. When she happily takes on the highly unfashionable title of feminist, I want to buy her a beer.

I’m not sure Miley has ever read bell hooks or Gloria Steinem. Recent cultural appropriation suggests she doesn’t understand intersectionality. But to be fair I hadn’t heard of those when I was 20, either. Many of the most badass feminists I know haven’t heard of them at 50. But they know what matters, which is the need for women and girls to be allowed to realise their full humanity, to express themselves, to have fun and to pursue their goals without fear. If she convinces just one of her fans to stand up for herself and stop blindly conforming to the status quo it will be a victory. If she convinces thousands of them, she’ll start a revolution. How could we criticise that?