“I came in like a wrecking balllll!” were the lyrics that caught my attention. My first impression, was, “Why Justin Beiber swinging on a wrecking ball half naked?!” Then the video transitions to a close up of a female with ghastly red lips. “Oh, its Miley Cyrus, Chups!” I said in angst, “She need to eat a sandwich!”. The video continued and I could barely hold my lunch plus I was still devastated from her 2013 VMA fiasco of a performance.

The video was released on the 9th September 2013 (Ref 1) and has reached 115MM views on youtube and rising. With 24MM views coming in the first day alone. Surely, the song is not that great O_o , there must be more to this plot. The plot thickens as Miley promised her fans via Twitter that when the video reaches 150MM views, she would release the Director’s Cut. The director’s cut means that we will more than likely get to see Miley Cyrus fully NAKED!

Miley fully naked?…I’ll pass on that!

But what are the social implications of this publicity stunt?

Miley Cyrus rose to fame as the Disney Character, Hannah Montana. Hannah Montana has 10MM (Ref 2) fans on Facebook. Her target audience consist manly of teenaged girls and they no doubt comprise the 28MM (Ref 3) fans, she has as Miley Cyrus.

What impression is Miley Cyrus leaving for the girls who idolized her as Hannah Montana?

Is it a standard to be naked or to devalue oneself to gain acceptance?

How will they feel when they see social media, television and other print media glorifying her “toned” body and they look in the mirror and they don’t have that body shape?

I decided to dig a little deeper. I concluded that this was just another example of pop culture glorifying ridiculously skinny, unappealing girls as sexy!

Over 63MM women worldwide suffer with an eating disorder. (Ref 4) The main disorders being

1) Anorexia (immoderate food restriction and irrational fear of gaining weight) (Ref 5)
2) Bulimia (binge eating or purging typically by vomiting, taking laxatives, diuretics or weight loss stimulants). (Ref 6)

The Caribbean woman has not been spared by these new ideals. Slowly but surely these ideals have been trust upon young ladies all across the Caribbean

Long known for her voluptuous curves, small waist and considerable assets, she now benchmarks herself against the stick thin image portrayed by celebrities and high fashion. I personally have seen this phenomenon play out.

You have too!

Recall that girl/woman at the gym, perfectly healthy looking and toned working assiduously , going spin class and is mortified at the site of a slice of bread. She works so hard that she loses the butt, then hips and before you can say “Ah! she going to work on the muscle tone now!” she continues to slave away till she reaches her stick figure goal.

Scientist have coined this phenomenon as Body Dysmorphic Disease or BDD (Ref 7). BDD is a mental disease that predominantly affects women. These women are obsessed with their body image and its flaws. They even see flaws that are not there!

So take it from a man, be at peace with yourself

There is nothing more sexy than a woman, who is comfortable in her own skin.

God made us all beautifully different so that we could revel in each other’s uniqueness.
Men appreciate you in whatever size or shape you come in.

As my mom (Ref 8) always said, “EVERY BREAD HAS ITS BUTTER!”