THE Miley Cyrus concert at Burswood Dome will be remembered for its show of flesh by both the Hannah Montana star and many of her young fans.
A Perth child health expert says parents who allowed their young daughters to wear high heels and mini skirts at last night's Miley Cyrus concert were exposing their kids to dangerous situations.
Some concert-goers contacted PerthNow to say they were shocked at how young many of the fans were - given the raunchiness of the show - and how little clothes many of them were wearing.
Associate Professor Helen Street, a psychologist who lectures in the School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience at the University of WA, says allowing young children to dress in such a way in public is “totally inappropriate''.
She says parents who dress their kids up in a sexualised manner are exposing them to dangerous situations.
“I personally think that (children) dressing in such a provocative and sexualised way is totally inappropriate,” Assoc Prof Street said.
“Beyond that I think it is potentially dangerous, emotionally and socially.
“To dress up at home or experiment with mum’s make-up is one thing but to actually put on make-up and sexually revealing clothes to go out in is totally inappropriate.”
Cyrus - famous for the sweet schoolgirl persona of Hannah Montana - cut a totally different figure on stage at Burswood on Saturday night, dressed in tiny leather hot pants, a sparkling bra and boot-suspenders attached to her shorts.
Cyrus's dance moves, complete with crotch-grabbing and sexy hair-flicking, surprised some, given the age of many of the 18-year-old's singer's fans. But to many others, it's all part of the pop-culture spectacle - something fans look up to and even emulate.
Assoc Prof Street said girls of primary school age who were allowed to wear revealing clothes were being given mixed and confused messages by their parents.
“In the sense that they are learning behaviours that they don’t really have an understanding of in terms of the impacts of those behaviours,” she said.
“Once they do understand the impacts of those behaviours than they are learning of inappropriate ways to get attention by using sexuality as a means to be popular and socialise…which is unhealthy.”
Assoc Prof Street said it was easy for parents to fall into the trap of doing what other parents did and follow their lead.
“I think it’s very easy for parents to get caught up in thinking well so and so’s mum does that so I am going to do it too,” she said.
“I’d say don’t be drawn into looking at what other parents are doing, think very carefully where your own values lie.”
Assoc Prof Street said more information should be made available to parents on what sort of impact dressing children in a sexualised manner can have on their kids health and well-being. She said more educational programs could be offered to students in schools addressing the issue.
One concertgoer said on PerthNow today that such raunchiness should have been kept to to the stage.
“Some parents should be ashamed of letting their daughters go out in what they were wearing last night... horrified would be one term used,” the reader said.
TOO MUCH, TOO SOONFan NANCY MCDONALD explains why she was shocked to see so many scantily-clad tweens at the Burswood show.
GONE are the days when teenage girls could look to popstars like the Spice Girls for "girl power" in admiration. Sitting in the crowd of Miley Cyrus's concert at the Burswood Dome I was overwhelmed and saddened at what tweens have to look up to as their role models.
Grabbing her crotch repeatedly in leather hot-pants that left nothing to the imagination, with knee high boots and a jewelled bustier, Cyrus was trying too hard to shake her once wholesome Disney image. Where had Hannah Montana gone? The bright-eyed positive reflection of youth? Where along the way was it okay for a teen hero to sell sex?
As I left the performance I turned to a girlfriend, who is 21 years old, and said: "When I have a daughter, can you remind me she is never allowed to go to a concert like this or dress like that''.
On stage Cyrus's sexualised performance was disturbing - as girls as young as five sitting in front of me sung along to every word despite the fact she ignored them, not once speaking about Australia or her Australian fans.
What was worse was what her fans turned up to the concert wearing. It was a freezing night yet little girls barely of primary-school age, were in heels, mini skirts, midriff tops, knee high boots, stacks of make-up and hardly anyone had a jacket.
I'm not a prude nor out of touch with pop culture, but I was shocked and disappointed at the new generation of pop fans and their idea of what is acceptable.
Maybe I have my own mother to thank for teaching me the lyrics to Van Morrison's Brown-Eyed Girl rather than how to whip my hair back and forth like Miley.
Does it come back to these girls' own mothers - some dressed like their daughters - who allow their children to watch and idolise such sexualised images or does the blame lie with Cyrus herself?
Miley Cyrus has left little to the imagination--again--stepping out without a bra and flashing some serious side cleavage (and her dream catcher tattoo). What's worse is she selected a flimsy white tank for ultimate exposure, as she grabbed a hot dog at a food truck in Culver City.
