Why I am now a fan of Miley Cyrus

Earlier this week, Miley Cyrus appeared on the late night talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, doing what she does best—displaying her assets on screen. Wearing an embellished skirt and a matching cape with nothing but heart-shaped pasties underneath, she made Jimmy Kimmel blush and cover his face with embarrassment at one point.

I have never been a huge Miley Cyrus fan but I have also never been a hater. Even when she shook the world with her VMA performance in 2013, I still thought don’t average women do the same things—in fact, more inappropriate things—in bars and clubs? So what makes her worse than an average woman? Vanessa Hudgens twerked on David Letterman and was hardly noticed by anyone. Katy Perry wears revealing clothes all the time and somehow that’s OK, but when Miley does something similar or perhaps a little worse, it seems to enrage everyone.

So why the double standard?

Since the 2013 VMA, I sort of started considering myself a Miley supporter, but only in certain situations. It’s not that I support public nudity, or commend her on, what many would call, crazy marketing tactics. I guess I never fully understood the motives behind her excessive “openness.” I am also not necessarily comfortable with her dressing and the kind of behavior she exhibits in public. If I ever see her in front of me with nothing on but nipple pasties, I would be just as uncomfortable as anyone else. But at the same time—given my conservative background—I would also be uncomfortable if I see someone in a bikini. To me, Miley’s “dressing” and a bikini are not too far off.

However, I think we should never tell someone how to dress or what to wear. Isn’t that what we are taught in this country—that we should be ourselves?

On his show earlier this week, Jimmy Kimmel asked Miley what her dad thinks of her when he turns on the TV and she said “…he’d rather me have my tits out and be a good person than have a shirt on and be a bitch.”

I was sold when I heard this.

We come across so many people who are fake, rude, mean, and ungenuine. As a society, we are more OK, with assholes than nudists. Thinking about several of my life experiences, I thought wouldn’t I prefer to have a person like her in my life than have fake, rude or disloyal people? When I found the answer to this question, I officially declared myself a member of the Miley club!