Sunday, September 1, 2013

Hannah and Montana

(aka Twerking and Shirking)


A judge in Montana sentenced 49 year old high school teacher Stacey Rambold for the rape of his 14 year old student.  You can read the entire story here.  Though sentencing the rapist to 15 years, the judge suspended all but 30 days, meaning that this man will do 30 days in jail for having sex with a 14 year old girl.  The judge explained that the teen girl was "older than her chronological age" and "as much in control of the situation" as the male teacher.

Last week at the VMA awards, Miley Cyrus shocked everyone with her hypersexualized performance.  The entire nation began clucking like chickens, wondering how this could happen to Hannah Montana.  

You might wonder how Miley Cyrus’ performance on a VMA stage could be related to a sentencing case in Montana.  I’m not sure they are, but bear with me.

The case in Montana may seem to be isolated to a remote jurisdiction.  It is not.  I recently had a statutory rape case in which the defense attorney (yeah, yeah…doing her job) repeatedly referred to the 12 year old victim as a “mature minor”.  Even in his apology/explanation, Montana judge G. Todd Baugh reiterated that the victim really was “older than her age” when it came to sexual matters. 

How did we get here?  How is it that the hyper-sexualization of a child has moved from disaster to defense?

The answer in part is culture.  Using the terms loosely, life often imitates art.  Our children are bombarded with programming like the VMA awards.  It’s not just MTV, though they aim products like “16 and Pregnant” and “Teen Mom” squarely at our young people.  Statutory Rape is now commercial rather than criminal.  Lifetime has a series featuring a single mom who turns to escorting (read prostitution), Victoria’s Secret and Viagra advertise during primetime.  We adults then sit casually back and wonder how our fourteen year olds became so sexually mature.  How did they learn to talk like that?  Where did they learn THAT?  I also wonder if the presentation of children in this way doesn’t embolden perverts like Mr. Rambold by allowing them to feel that their desires just really aren’t that out of line.

Against that backdrop, is it any wonder that our young people fall victim to predators telling them that sexual behavior is “normal” for kids their age.  “What is age anyway?” they say, knowing it to be the siren song of every teen convinced of their own maturity.  Make no mistake, the Stacey Rambold’s are out there in our communities.

Statutory rape laws are there for a reason.  There are a lot of “adult” activities that children could do, but aren’t allowed because they don’t yet possess the cognitive or social ability to deal with the consequences.  They can’t drive.  They can’t vote.  They can’t drink alcohol.  They aren’t supposed to see R rated movies alone.  They also can’t consent to sex.  Not because they aren’t equipped, but because they can’t yet process the import of that decision. 

Mr. Rambold’s victim couldn’t.  This “mature minor” tragically chose to take her own life before the case came to trial.


Our job as adults should be more than picking up the pieces.  As adult consumers, we should expect more of the adult producers, agents, actors and marketers when it comes to our young people.  Culture has consequences.  Miley Cyrus (Hannah) isn’t responsible for what happened in Montana…but the culture that gave us primetime twerking might also have contributed to judicial shirking. 

3 comments:

  1. It is a sad was world then what happened in Montana is justice. There is the case of Kaitlyn Hunt, who at 18, had a lesbian relationship with a 14 year old fellow high school student. Kaitlyn faces up the 15 years in prison and being labeled as a child sexual predator.
    There are arguments that the VMAs were labeled as "TV 14" and parents of young kids should not have let their kids watch. Whether that is the case or not, I watched part of the VMAs and as an adult, I was embarrassed and sickened at what I say Miley do.
    There is no real justice when the teacher, a college education mature adult receives not punishment for the destruction of a young life and probably lead to her death. There is no justice at all.

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  2. The other answer, in part, is parents. Why is it that parents either allow their 5th grade or younger children to watch a "performance" such as Miley's or tell them about it in the first place? Why do they feel the need to tell these same aged kids about a 12 year old girl that was abducted, raped and killed. I see no reason to expose my young girls to such graphic real life atrocities (I include Miley's "performance" in that wording). There's no need for my 5th grade girl to know Miley Cyrus got on stage and and used a giant foam finger, well, you know. And I believe we can get the point across to our younger children they need to be aware and concerned of strangers without such brutal detail that takes away their innocence. But unfortunately as soon as they come home from elementary school they let me know their peers have shared with them these awful things. Maybe the culture has washed away parents' boundary lines.

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  3. It could be argued that the school bus is worse than the VMA awards! I happened to read articles about both the VMAs and this case at the same time and saw a possible correlation. Culture matters. Both stories make me very angry and heartbroken for both these girls.

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