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With all of the controversy over the Miley Cyrus’s bare back and shoulders being photographed I wonder if we ever stopped to think what we are doing to her as a kid? Yes, she is a superstar Disney hit worth half a billion and on track to be a billionaire by the end of the year, but she is still a fifteen year old girl.

I understand the brand issues at stake here. I use my own name on my blogs and when I comment elsewhere. I have to be careful what I say because it is out there for everyone to see. That is part of the problem for her. She is in fact two brands, Hannah Montana the wholesome Disney girl, Miley Cyrus, a budding starlet. On top of that she is a fifteen year old girl who like most fifteen year olds is trying to figure out who she is.

In a real business sense I understand her apology. Disney wants to promote little girls the five to twelve year old crowd not taking their clothes off. That is fine. However I think it should have been handled differently. How hard would it have been to say,

”I don’t go around all the time with my shirt off. I was trying to make an artsy photograph with a professional artist, I didn’t reveal my boobs or anything that people shouldn’t be seeing. I am sorry if think this is too much for your kids to handle. I made the decision to go through with this photograph, I thought it was artsy and cool, I still do. You as parents not me as Miley Cyrus the actress, singer, or celebrity need to decide if you like it or not and if it is right for your young kids to see.”

Instead saying the things Miley did at the interview then come out and saying “how embarrassed” she is now jerks away any credibility she has as a role model. She is made out to be a wishy washy bubble head with either no spine or a liar. Those are not lessons I would want to teach my daughter assuming the “New Pet” is one. Personally I would rather my daughter run around topless all the time in public, than to be a hypocrite or a liar.

Furthermore saying she is embarrassed by showing what under normal light would be a very healthy looking body also sends an image Disney probably didn’t think of when they insisted she apologize. (I don’t doubt the rumors of that at all) If Miley Cyrus is apologizing for her body, what message does it send to girls, teens and women who might not have as nice of a body? I personally think she should now have to do a big ad campaign to counteract that snafu.

When it comes right down to it no matter how you look at it whether she is Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus the performer, Miley the little rich girl, Miley the daughter of a performer, she is still just Miley, a fifteen year old girl who should be cut enough slack to act like a fifteen year old girl and make all the mistakes and snafus other fifteen year olds get to make. It is part of growing up and we should let her do it. You only get one childhood, no matter who you are.