Dorothy Progosh

Netflix has to work around exclusivity deals with networks and other issues of rights ownership and distribution. That’s why Canadians’ use of VPNs to circumvent digital barriers and gain access to US Netflix is such an issue. Right now traditional media companies continue to dictate a lot of what can be shown and where (legally). Mass media conglomerates still have strong, expansive roots in the market- I don’t see television going extinct anytime soon.

They’re just different people making different artistic choices. I completely agree with @ynaed. There really doesn’t seem to be a “right” way to be a dominant female in the industry. As they say, haters are gonna hate. That being said, people need to be cognizant of media manipulation and the disingenuous nature of the industry as a whole. Celebrities donate to charity and give back to their fans in their own way all the time. What Taylor Swift did during Christmas time when she delivered presents to her fans was indisputably nice, but it might be a little easier to swallow if she abstained from filming the process and distributing the footage to media outlets. Nothing is happenstance and she’s profiting one-hundred fold from the good press. Miley on the other hand, does things that she must know will be met with back-lash or negative press. Sensationalism? Absolutely. Is there any less validity to her artistic expression or the way she interacts with her fans? Absolutely not. Nothing is done by accident when it comes to artists under such public scrutiny and with such large fan bases/ earning power. Of course sex sells, but alternatively so does being the generous, down-to-earth “good-girl”. One look at the “Style” lyrics will tell you that Taylor is well aware of her own brand. So maybe instead of contrasting sex and virtue, we can contrast marketing and business strategies. The approaches these two pop-princesses are taking aren’t really as dissimilar as they may appear.

Brings to mind the “essay” recently penned by Arianna Grande as well as Libby Anne Bruce’s blog post regarding feminism (the one reblogged by Mark Ruffalo on Tumblr). The fact that it is still necessary to have some of these discussions- treatment of women in rap, anyone?- over and over again is disheartening. That being said, inequality is still rampant and society’s increasingly open dialogue when it comes to feminism and feminist issues is definitely encouraging.