By Tomika Anderson, Special to CNN
(CNN) — When the topic turned to sex on a recent episode of Lifetime’s “The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet,” Miley Cyrus wasn’t bashful.
“[It used to be] if you’re a woman you do not sing about sex, and now, if that’s not what you’re singing about, if that’s not your entire image, you won’t get played,” she told de Cadenet, adding that she’s seen what she calls society’s judgmental stance on women and sexuality firsthand.
“The last season of [‘Hannah Montana’] I put out ‘Can’t Be Tamed’ – which, even just the title of that, for a woman to say that she can’t be tamed, and of all people in the world, my face saying I can’t be tamed, when that’s all people really wanted to do – that I think proves how sexist people still really are and judgmental,” she said. “It’s the whole thing of saying ‘be sexy, but our way.”
Mixed messages are trickling down to girls her age, and 19-year-old Cyrus lameneted that some young women are equating having sex with their personal value.
“The girls that really base how much they’re worth on the sexual favors they can do for somebody, that makes me really sad,” Cyrus said. “It’s the only way we create, and it’s the only way that the world keeps going. So it’s ignorant not to talk to your kids about it or [not] make it seem as magical or cool as it actually is.”
The teen singer/actress places the blame with those parents who are tight-lipped about the birds and the bees.
“[Kids] have a TV, so they know what sex is,” she explained. “So educate them and let them know that they wouldn’t be here without it, and that it’s a beautiful thing, and it is magic, and it’s when you connect with somebody. And it isn’t how much you’re worth. Your worth isn’t based on that, your worth is based on how you feel about yourself.”
