The press is in turmoil; parents of teenage girls are writing outraged letters to the papers as one more of Disney’s child stars shuns their good-girl image for the raunchy world of pop culture.  We saw it with Britney and Christina in the nineties and Vanessa Hudgens in the noughties: now Miley Cyrus has become the latest in line to spark controversy by showing flesh, twerking at the MTV Video Music Awards and sticking her tongue out like a rabid dog on heat: but why do we care?  She hasn’t actually shown her boobs, or released a sex tape (yet), or advocated drugs, or done anything illegal at all.  We’re getting worked up because a twenty year old girl with a little more money than sense did what every other twenty year old girl does when they go to university. She went to a party wearing daring clothing and danced with an attractive, confident guy who caught her attention.  The only obvious difference I can see is that Miley’s twerking antics are playing out on a larger stage, and with a lot more money and cameras involved.

There are a number of concerning factors, however.  Of course there’s the obvious: Miley has been a role-model for young girls for years, and where younger girls are watching and replicating her behaviour,  there are lines of indecency being crossed.  And then there’s the fact that a young white girl was leading a bunch of black women around the stage and slapping them on the behinds, like some kind of sex-slave trader. Perhaps most concerning of all is Robin Thicke – recently criticised for releasing a single about blurred lines of sexual consent – dancing provocatively with a girl significantly his junior, and letting her rub his genitals with a large foam hand.

For me, however, the most concerning thing is that Miley Cyrus did what she did for attention, and is getting it in spades.  We’re feeding her need to stay in the spotlight, and saying en masse that it’s okay to act trampy if you want to be famous.  No longer is talent or dignity a prerequisite for making a name for oneself.  Gratuitousness and obscenity is viewed as a desirable quality by millions, and music and the quality thereof has fallen by the wayside.  As one who has a vested interest in propagating great music, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to sift through the dung as the charts and clubs fill up with bedroom artists and has-beens with their tits out.

It’s a concerning reality that Adele is perhaps the only female artist in the last decade to have had major commercial success without going down the “sex sells” route.  Arguably Susan Boyle falls into that category, but she never had major pop chart success, and in any case, she made her name through the shock-and-awe reality TV culture which has spawned so much junk besides.  That Rage Against the Machine had a Christmas number one in protest against the ‘X-Factor effect’ shows that I’m not the only one who sees a problem here.

Furthermore, the creation of The Voice proves that our society acknowledges that something’s wrong with the balance of image over talent.  Unfortunately, I can’t name a single contestant from that show, so it isn’t really working!  Until we stop endorsing artists like Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke, giving them a platform at our music award ceremonies, and vindicating the culture that they typify, we will keep sliding down this slippery slope.  Talented female musicians like Lianne LaHavas, Imelda May and Regina Spektor continue to be sidelined, and sadly, their music hardly ever reaches the public consciousness. It may be because their music doesn’t lend itself to clubbing, and so it doesn’t get the airtime in the right places, but I wonder if they’d start to get more sales if they put their boobs on show in public.  I’m not saying that they should, mind; their music and styles are dignified and sexy to me anyway, but it saddens me to see their music going unappreciated by the masses because they don’t conform.

I see Miley Cyrus staring back at me from magazine racks, news headlines and search feeds, all claiming that nobody is more in touch with fashion right now.  There are websites devoted to “dressing like Miley.”  I don’t understand this.  Visit the artsy, urban, hip districts of London – Carnaby Street, Shoreditch, Notting Hill – and the girls I see are wearing vintage clothing, 50s A-Line dresses and Rockabilly style.  Why, then, don’t we see more of Lana Del Rey or Christina Hendricks on magazine covers?  When was the last time you saw a girl walking down the street in an open-chested, low-cut top, no bra and a pair of bikini bottoms?  If we’re to believe the Beyoncé, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus school of fashion, then apparently it’s the norm.

What happened to the world?  Do these girls (and women) feel empowered by their effect on society?  Does sexualising our youth make the industry bosses proud?  I just showed my brother-in-law a video on YouTube entitled “How To Twerk” (because he had no idea what Twerking is), which was preceded by an advertisement  for the Disney Channel.  If this isn’t indicative of our society slipping backwards, then I’m not sure what is.

This is an appeal, dear Auriopians.  Help us to share the work of decent, self-respecting artists who produce quality music.  Help us to change the face of fashion.  The digital revolution has the power to wake the world up.  Facebook has changed the face of Science, and we can do the same with music. Embrace the revolution.  Spread the word!