a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by dONK

While I was okay with the tone of the first letter, this second one really rubs me the wrong way. She's an old school feminist, no doubt, and it really shows how outdated some second-wave ideas are. What I'm mostly referring to is this absolute maligning of prostitutes. She constantly refers to how Miley should be faulted for "acting like a prostitute" and "showing young girls it's okay to act like a prostitute." My sex-positive, pro-sex-work leanings really find this so deeply problematic. Miley is not acting like a prostitute. A prostitute is one who performs sexual services for her clients in exchange for money. As far as I know, Miley has yet to do that.

Sure, it wasn't nice of Miley to respond in the way she did, but O'Connor should have really left it at that. She's far too old to be getting involved in public name-calling like this. It just all feels very childish.