Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Tell your kids to stop reading Vanity Fair.

First and foremost, many thanks to momma's tantrum for leaving me a comment. Since you were my only entrant, I will be sending YOU that 15. Old Navy gift card. Seriously, thanks for not making me sit all alone at the lunch table.

On another note, was watching the today show this morning as they were broadcasting from Amsterdam. My brother was just there a couple weeks ago, after he ran the Rotterdam marathon. My brother, almost thirty six, was the ninetieth man to cross the finish line. Not too shabby, considering there were over seven thousand entrants. So anyway, was interested in seeing Amsterdam, if only through the eyes of Matt Lauer, on my twenty inch t.v. screen.

On the New York side of the today show, Meredith announced what they would be discussing coming up in the next hour. One of the topics on today, "How to talk to your kids about Miley Cirus' photo shoot in Vanity Fair magazine."

Sadly, I was unable to watch, because God knows this is utterly important information. Right up there with how to teach your children to drive to the only store in town that sells avant-garde, over-priced magazines, full of soft porn pictures of kids, like Vanity Fair.

I mean, maybe I'm alone here on this, but what is the average age of Hannah Montana fan? My oldest daughter, Sierra, is 13 and certainly beyond the Disney channel shows, although she and her father do both have the song with the lyric "she's just being Miley", sorry I don't know the title, on their ipods. However, she is far from the stage where she idolizes or emulates this girl.

My boys, who are six and ten, have no interest in Hannah Montana. Our biggest fan is our five year old daughter, Isabelle. She does love Hannah Montana. She has a purple hair piece, a guitar, and the Hannah Montana tour bus. What she doesn't have, at least to my knowledge, is a subscription to Vanity Fair magazine. Her favorite reads are the Olivia book series, she loves pigs, and the Little Bear anthology.

I'm not sure how people come up with these topics for Today, or how the hosts can announce them with a straight face. Really, if it were not discussed in the media, how many people would read the Vanity Fair spread of Miley Cyrus that were under age? I do agree that these pictures are exploitative and in bad taste. If my child would happen to see them, which would likely happen due to some other media outlet's coverage of this story, and not because she happened to page through a copy of Vanity Fair, I'm pretty sure that I would know what to say to her. I mean, I am not a complete idiot. This is not nuclear physics people- this is Hannah Montana wrapped in a blanket, sans shirt. You can come up with something to say...

2 comments:

Nauntie Lush said...

I had a subscription to this trash heap back in the day. (The day of no kids, and all of that nonsense.) It was as crummy then as it is now. But at least it didn't sexualize little kids.

My four year old would probably only ask why that lady is naked. Which I am assuming is what your daughter would also ask. They don't recognize her without her "Miley" makeup on.

And honestly neither did I.

Kaybeejae said...

Just bounced over from Mommastantrum. You absolutely hit the nail on the head. Even in NZ this has hit the headlines and its just stupid, I don't even know if its possible to get Vanity Fair here!! My daughter loves Hannah Montana but if it hadn't been for the news (had to watch it because she doing a project!)she would never have known the photo even existed!