Shut Up About Miley Already!

     I didn’t watch the VMA’s, I am not even sure I knew that they were on. I saw a post from a friend saying “Miley has had too many Mollies”..whatever a “mollie” is. So I knew Miley was showing her ASSets again. Miley Cyrus has been a thorn in music lovers sides for a few years now…as well as a thorn in the side of every mother who has a daughter that loves Hannah Montana. So the next day, since it was all over my newsfeed, I ended up watching the readily available video on youtube. I had my moment of appall and disgust, I went on with my day. Later, it is still all over the newsfeed, and the top story everywhere I go. We are about to get into cahoots with Syria, and if that happens we are doomed, but all anybody wants to do is discuss the merits and repercussions of Miley Cyrus’s behavior. Since, days later this topic is STILL being discussed…(and when I say discussed, I mean like feminist arguments, race arguments and the like. I mean people are really taking this to heart) I shall offer my DISCUSSION on the matter.

    I am not even going to bother posting the video, it is not needed-everyone has seen it. It has most likely already lost it’s shock value. Miley Cyrus, looking like the obnoxious twenty year old that she is-comes out of a teddy bear, or something with her tongue hanging out like an idiot wanna be punk rocker. She sings her new stupid song and eventually takes off her Katy Perry copy of a costume, to reveal tan=skin colored hot pants and boob tube. Robin Thicke the smooth singer of pimp music comes from somewhere and is henceforth physically assualted by Miley. Many comments called her trash and Robin “class”. Well…I guess it depends on who you are. I like one single solitary song by Thicke and the one he was singing was not necessarily one of them. Miley twerks…omg…Miley was twerking. 

   Ok, here is my answer to some of the serious arguments about this VMA incident. What we saw was yet another failed attempt by Miley Cyrus to prove that she is a “grown up”, listen if you have to prove it-then you aren’t. She acts like exactly what she is…an immature, obnoxious idiot trying to find her place. Robin Thicke was not the show saver, he is well older than Miley and was singing about the “good girl that really wants it” well Miley keeps telling the masses that she is no good girl so that chemistry was non existent. Do we really need to get into feminist arguments about how we should not “slut shame” Miley. I don’t like slut shaming either, in context of what “slut shaming” truly is. This is the entertainment industry, and sooo many female entertainers go down this road of “I’m sexy, buy me” but Miley is not sexy, she is trashy. There is slut shaming, then there is saying “you look like that girl at the club that is gonna get dumped in a parking lot somewhere-get off the stage”. That is all I was thinking watching the performance…”GET OFF THE STAGE”. 

   Jezebel had an article that made me tired. Which is why I don’t like Jezebel, it is my right to not like Jezebel. Hey I am sure my writing has made lots of people tired. Oh well, it is what we do isn’t it? An entire article on the racial implications of Miley’s performance. The article implied that she was going for a black look, and a black sound and thus in her need to be sexual she was associating herself with black women…and thus further stereotyping black women.

   

Ok. Because …NONE of the mainstream black female performers are already doing that? Because all women of every culture are not sexualized? On music itself, it has long been established that most all music, rock, gospel etc has been born out of black roots. The white and black side of music has been merged all of my life. Are we trying to separate it yet again? Music aside…has anyone BEEN in a club? There was also a blog by a well meaning mother saying that this behavior will be emulated…no it wont-Miley was emulating what is already done. I have been in a club approximately three times since September of  2012. EVERYBODY is twerking (except me…I hid in the corner and waited on those line dance songs that I mess up). Several of the songs played in clubs-rap and R&B songs, call for “backing it up” and maybe that is where “twerking” was born. No one is ever gonna see me do it either. I mean-it is a position out of a sex manual set to motion. 

   Miley and her foam finger and her insistent grabbing of her nether regions, was classless. Tasteless and talentless. None of those words were slut shaming, it is just the fact. None of it served any purpose. There was no moment of message. I have come to learn, that all of Gaga’s shock value and antics have served some purpose-that chic can also sing and would probably still do well if she threw out her wigs and obvious costumes. Miley cant. She is floating on controversy and everyone is waiting on her to be the next Lindsey Lohan. I don’t know anyone that says “hey that new Miley C song is awesome”. Not one. It is embarrassing, but as she says “she is grown now” so lets treat her like a grown up and let her fall down. One day she will see that video and be hiding her face.

   As for Robin Thicke…he can sing, he is not bad looking ( I’ve seen better) but he can spin out some pretty heavily sexed songs. The song he was singing has been accused of being a “rape” song and so since he was on stage letting Miley rub all over him, he has also been called a pedophile. Well…Miley IS twenty, but in all seriousness. We live in a world where women are raving the praises of a fictional character named “Christan Grey”(for some ungodly reason…I’ll write a blog on THAT one day), and women also love Robin Thicke, so if he is singing about bringing out the primal desire in a “good girl” it doesn’t mean he is rapist, he is just catering to fans. The worst part of the song is done by a rapper, and if it were not for that one verse it may not have even gotten the heat that it did. He wasnt innocent here either, there was a rehearsal of the performance-it all comes down to publicity which equals money…for somebody. 

    If there is a point here, in entertainment, like in every part of our society, there is substance and then there is cotton candy. There are lyrics and then there is mindless idiocy. There are adults and then there are immature obnoxious twerkers. There is art and then there is mindless words. There is news…then there is Hollywood gossip and breakdown of the incident to divert you away from real life and real news. Miley Cyrus is not in reality, and we should be. Get over it.

In Thirteen days!!! RTR

The weather in Alabama this week has been impressive. The air is crisp and cool. It must mean that fall is actually going to come normally this year…or that it is gonna be an early and cold winter….or it could mean that SABAN IS COMING FOR YOU!!!

It is so cool that tonight I donned my Alabama sweats and “Keep Calm and Roll Tide” Shirt.

Feeling the moment, I went ahead and painted my nails red. In thirteen days, the holiday season for Alabama officially starts and I can wear red from now until Christmas! Yes, we love our Crimson Tide down here, we love the rivalry with the few aggravating fans that shout “WAR DAMN EAGLE” every time a debate starts. We love Nick Saban…or at least I love Nick Saban…

….I met him once..

I would have hugged him…but he was really tall. As I was saying though….

Everyone is building up and getting excited. Alabama updates on Facebook. The Bleacher Report keeps posting about the new lockers at Alabama, and filler information that everyone already knows. The run for Sabans’ autograph has happened. There is Tumblr page that is allot of fun called “Countdown to College    Football”http://collegefootballcountdown.tumblr.com/.

One of my managers, who is not from here, commented when she moved here from Michigan she was kind of shocked. “Roll Tide” is like a greeting” she said, you walk in a club and it is not “hey” or “hello” it’s “roll tide”. Yeah, that is how it is. We love our community, and the pride that goes with it…unless you are that neanderthal that poisoned the trees at Auburn, or the parents of that little girl who tried to insult me because I refused to pull for Oregon when they were against Auburn in the National Championship that The Tide didn’t make…hey little girl, I’m not pulling for a Duck, Auburn was just keeping the state’s place warm until the next year. There is loyalty and then there is just being obnoxious….which is another reason to love Alabama and their team 😉
I lived in Ohio for about two years. I was not really a fan when I moved up there. Football was just what existed every year to torture me for the entirety of every fall on winter. I loved football movies and the camaraderie and pride that was represented. It was much like watching war movies. I had a respect for the representation but it was not something that was not understood by me. All I understood was, that it cut into Holiday programming, a movie I wanted to watch and it put many grown men into bad moods and my dad slept by the sound of the games, yet we couldn’t turn the channel.  In fact, I was an Auburn fan if anyone actually asked, the colors were pretty and I liked eagles, and it irked my dad 🙂

Then I moved to Ohio…and witnessed the OSU fans…and the buck eyes everywhere. Candy buck eyes (peanut butter and chocolate balls) in all the malls. Buckeye toys. Buckeye coloring sheets. Co workers knew I was from Bama, and would ask who I pulled for. It became clear to me that NOBODY up there liked Alabama Tide football…but they sure liked the Tigers. Maybe because the Tide actually won?

The geographic pride that goes with each football team, be it college or the NFL is profound. When I came back home, I actually started paying more attention and WATCHING the games. Even if one has never paid attention and it looks like a foreign language in action, it is not that hard to catch on to what is going on. If nothing else-look up the rules. There is always an opportunity to learn new things, even if they are as old as football. Every college football season for the past four years has been more and more exciting. I have even had some friendly banter with my Auburn friends…all though it seems they never keep it friendly. My favorite story is from my brother, who listened to his friend retell the inspiring legend of the War Eagle and how every year it circles the stadium….etc etc etc. When he finally finished almost in tears my brother said “yes…but then the game starts and you lose”. Actions and reputation speak louder than words and legends. HA!
During the championship for 2013, I was on a Carnival Cruise and the game was aired on every tv, and it was theater style. The cruise took the advantage of putting a foot ball in the tourists hands and taking pictures, so that we could pay 20 bucks at the end of our trip and have the keepsake. I got it of course. During this trip I had to spend about twenty minutes with a drunk female Notre Dame fan, and in that moment I was so proud to be a southern woman who had a little bit of dignity. This chic was screaming at the TV…I sat silently thinking “woman we are so far ahead of you guys, do you think missing that one play really made that big of a difference?” but I said nothing.  Here is my motto…and one day when my budget allows I am so gonna get these shoes…

In thirteen days we start rolling in…stay classy Alabama. ❤

Transgender….Children….

   Don’t you love it when you go to youtube to watch that new video from Luke Bryan and in the side bar you see a title “Living a Transgender Childhood”. Because you know, childhood is a time of learning and exploring, so if you have “always known” you were actually born in the wrong body…you know, for the last EIGHT years of your life, then it should be chiseled in stone and you should therefore and henceforth be raised as your opposite peers.

   Now that I have that intro off my chest, let me say, that yes I have heard about this “phenomenon” for a couple of years now. When Chaz Bono, renamed herself both in name and in her gender identity (no longer living as a lesbian, she is now considered a straight man…she was simply born in the wrong body) there was a special on tv about transgender “children”…children. I heard about it, from a friend at work. Who are we to judge? Well…I wont judge a full blown adult who wants to shoot themselves up with hormones of either gender or who wants to severe parts of their body-that’s between you and your spouse and your eternal well being…(unless you are one of those people who feels you were “born” to live as a partially paralytic and you want to have your spinal cord clipped, cause I’m judging the hell out of you )

But if you are a child and your parents are choosing to raise you as you see fit..well I’m still not judging you I am judging the society that we live in. The one that removes a child from parents who smoked weed one night while the child was asleep..and the child died in foster care. The one that removes kids all the time and they die in foster care. The one that wont let kids pray in school and is less and less “tolerant” of religion at home but the same one that fosters pumping kids with synthetic drugs when they are three and telling them they have things like “gender identity disorder” at eight years ol

   This special was on nine year old “Josie” who was born as Joey. When Joey was three (let the age sink in) he was diagnosed as depressed and ADHD. He was put on fourteen different medications…fourteen…including PROZAC. A couple of years into this troubled child’s life his doctor noticed the way he was playing with some toys, he was playing as a girl would play. The doctor said he thought Joey had “gender identity disorder”. GID is a disorder among many identity disorders, however these disorders generally arise when points of life during growth are not met or developments are not made. I think this couple should have gotten another get go from the start of fourteen different depression medications. They were on a military base though, and there was limited options. Still. 

   They raised Joey as a girl and had his name changed legally to Josie. Josie came off medications, slept well at night and was happy. Now Josie is nine and she is eager to change completely. Sex change operations are illegal before the age of eighteen, but there can be blockers to slow puberty and certain specialists will inject her with estrogen so that she will “be like the other girls” as much as possible. This is irreversible and could render her (him) sterile, should he ever decide that he wants to be male again. The doctor in Tuscon who says that transgender children are not mentally ill, they are legitimate alignment issues between their body and their real self. However, it does take time to determine who is and who is not truly a transgender. It was too early to put poor Josie on estrogen…she is not even yet maturing as a boy. In other words, nature has not taken its course, so we cannot screw around with it.
 

  

   In response to arguments from other pediatric specialists who say that a nine-twelve year olds are not mature enough to make these medical decisions, the transgender specialists says “well they are making the decision to kill themselves, their suicide rate is rising, and we have to look at that”. The mother who has dressed her little girl and fought ridicule for her sons right to be a little girl, agrees. “Whatever it takes for her to have peace, I would rather have a healthy little girl than a dead son”. 

    Well….I have to sympathize, but the fact that this mother was absolutely surprised when Josie said “maybe I’m a boy on the inside and a girl on the outside”…”would you be OK with that mom”. Mom was shocked, and almost cried “of course honey, I’ll love you no matter who you are,only you know who you are”. She could not believe her child may alter their life in order to please her…..

     SHE/HE IS NOT EVEN TEN YEARS OLD!!!! ( and is biologically a SON so you know there is always that maternal/son bond going on underneath). After it all is said and done though, Josie still wants to be Josie. She wants to be beautiful and have all the pains of girlhood… and as long as she has peace that is what matters to her parents. She has a psychologist and doctors mostly on her side and there is a whole community of other transgender children for her support. Or its the parents of transgender children.

    You know, I come from a huge family. I am oldest of six, and four of those are boys. FOUR. I can attest that most children, if not all children play with the opposite genders’ toys. Some very macho men take issue with this, and make a huge deal, and giving their sons complexes before they even know what the word complex means. I had a lunch box full of matchbox metal cars. My brothers all played with my Barbies, much to my dads chagrin. After a point they are kidnapping Barbie and GI JOE has gotta save her. Then they start drawing on Barbie, what Mattel didn’t give her-and that’s when they are taken away. Every toddler wants their mom to paint their nails, but that ends pretty much at three. When I was a little girl we all played like we were getting married, and we married each other-because hey the boys weren’t gonna play that. We said things like “when I grow up and am a man I want to be a fire fighter”, but today, when kids say things like that the adults take them seriously and ask probing questions that they cannot understand and the answers CAN be led. If we make an issue out of these silly things, is it not imposing one or other extreme? Extreme #1″YOU ARE NOT A GIRL!!” so boy thinks something must be wrong with him and continues to think so if he grows up and doesn’t like sports. 

Extreme #2 “Oh honey, do you want to be a girl? OKAY, you are now a girl!”

And for issues like this there are all kids of yes men…

Like those idiot psychologist who stand behind “Body Integrity Disorder” (there is a blog on that for those who like to read my rants).

   I hope Josie lives a happy life and when she/he gets out into the world they continue to do so. I really do. It is not easy being a girl, baby doll-believe me.