Teen Sex and Super Heroes

We're on the cusp of Summer Blockbuster Season! Can't you just FEEL the excitement in the air?

No?

Yeah, me neither. I've never been a huge fan of blockbusters. Generally I'm big on sleepers, but whatever. I'm easily coerced into watching shoot-em-ups on occasion.

Luckily for me I've always been pretty avid reader of graphic novels. This is good because the suits in Hollywood have caught on that nerds like myself will pay to see their favorite mutants and super geniuses save the world time and time again.

So, I saw Iron Man. I'm sure you've all heard the praise for Robert Downey Jr., and I heartily agree. Really, if you're going to see this film you're probably going to agree that he is the best part. Go ahead and see the damn thing if only because everyone will think you're a loser if you don't.

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Have you seen this? Probably. This image has been shoved down my throat by the media all week and all I can think is... so? Haven't I seen this picture 5 1/2 BILLION fucking times?

I'm not EXACTLY saying that Annie Liebowitz is a modern-day Vermeer, but she IS just another artist in a very, very long tradition of depicting young women in provocative ways. Defamer has said it best (so far) with their assertion that teenagers can and DO have SEX. SHOCKING. So why is everyone so bent out of shape over a VERY MODEST picture of a young girl? Because she doesn't look so innocent? She's not. I may have been a virgin at 15 too, but I had access to MTV and movies. I'd been skinny dipping. I'd taken art classes. I'd read Lolita.
The uproar over Daniel Radcliffe's nude photographs was much more subdued, perhaps because he was 18 when they were taken... But shouldn't it be just as traumatizing to Harry Potter's junk as it is seeing Hannah Montana's half-naked body covered in a sheet (actually it is a "stole", but I'm not that fashion savvy)? Why is it OK for Daniel Radcliffe to be viewed as a sexual being at a young age, and not Miley Cyrus?
Look, I'm not saying that I approve of old lecherous farts like you guys gawking at young Ms. Cyrus, but I AM saying that at 15 she clearly knows what she's doing. She knows she can say "no". And Annie Liebowitz knew what she was doing too.

Everyone is so up in arms about this girls loss of innocence... but she already lost it as soon as she signed that Disney contract. For every girl that made it out of the Disney machine without going batshit (like Haley Mills, Christina Aguilera, Hilary Duff and Raven Simone) there are those who didn't (Britney, Lindsay). It is a GIANT cliche at this point, and certainly one I've written about before. I'm not saying that Miley is going to lose her shit. What I am saying is that we expect her to, don't we? We see that picture and we think "here we go again".