These are interesting questions, ladyberd, but I am not writing or teaching about Miley-the-person. How Miley, Amazon Ashley, and other members of the dance crew that supports Miley during live performances feel may be important to them—but my research looks at representation, reception, and reaction, not at what…

Hmm. On one hand, this is not a class "just" about Miley. She provides rich case studies (her oeuvre over time), so whether you like, hate, don't care, or wharves, you can read those texts through the lens of theory. But Miley matters here. There's a lot to deconstruct, and I am ready, willing, and able to help my…

It's an interesting idea. I'll be do some other writing and lecturing about Miley, and wonder if that will make it online. If anything gets videotaped, I hope the tapers will let me know...

Cool. Feel free to post your questions.

Can't wait to see, actually. I don't think she'll do a Bieber. Her career's already been more complicated and interesting and moved through more phases. But I do wonder.

Can we also add SOCIOLOGISTS to that chart?

A little bit of both. I'm not policing Miley's identification as a feminist. I am interested in analyzing what it means for Miley to be a public feminist, in the context of reactions to her (the whole BAD FOR GIRLS/WOMEN/SOCIETY! GOOD FOR GIRLS/WOMEN/SOCIETY! polarization) and in terms of how contemporary feminisms…

Cultural appropriation is not an act of an ally. It's using aspects of other people's culture—especially marginalized people and marginalized acts of culture—for fun and profit. There's no self awareness or critique, just reinforcing of ugly stereotypes, and further drawing the divisions between those who have power…

Yes and yes. One good part of all the breathless, panicked media response to "Miley" is that it provides a great and useful case study for my students this summer, and for folks interested in critical media analysis more generally.

Dunno yet. Academic publishing takes a LONG TIME, but the article will likely be ready at the end of the summer or early fall. I will probably submit it to a journal looking at sociology and gender (Gender & Society). I'll present on the research and arguments at the Society for the Study of Social Problems…

This is important, the way that white tweens and teens go gaga for Miley. I am not arguing that Miley's appeal is entirely about "whiteness," but that's one of the things that most interests me—how is her "whiteness" understood, challenged, operationalized in mass media representation and response?

Absolutely. Both are true. It's how power and culture tend to work: we dismiss Rihanna, or ignore her, in favor of Miley in some ways. Miley has clearly been imitating Rihanna for years (haircut! poses! songs WRITTEN for Rih-Rih!), and profiting off of it in ways Rihanna is not. Miley reinforces and challenges…

Also, Lisa Carver's book on Yoko Ono, Reaching Out With No Hands: Reconsidering Yoko Ono, is an amazing book. Relevant in re: critique and analysis of a "female villain." Not exactly like Miley, but...

I think there is truth in that infographic. Thanks!

There are two useful books written for general audiences that I'd recommend: Orenstein's "Cinderella Ate My Daughter" and Bronson & Merryman's "NurtureShock."

Yes. I think absolutely yes. Especially with Billy Ray Cyrus's status as a COUNTRY musician: a genre which is seen as white and working-class (even if fans and stars are not necessarily either). Miley made a jump in terms of her own image, representation, and roots. And Billy Ray's been pretty invested in her…

It's a special topics course, and a summer course, and therefore likely to be a one-off (a course taught only once). It's also a conventional sociology course—social theory, thinking about soical organization/structure/representation—albeit with a unique focus. My colleagues and the administration so far have been…

The more, the merrier. Pop culture and entertainment are a valid sphere of our daily experience, even for those of us who "don't have a TV." I was just on a panel in a local class on "The Wire." While Wilson certainly faced raised eyebrows and some criticism for his pioneering class, he also had the credentials of…

Well, I'd start by saying this is another manifestation of the virgin/whore dichotomy: "purity" is a way to ostensibly "value" and "respect" but ultimately control and silence girls and women, especially their sexuality. Some perspectives here focus on history, race, and class—the ways in which "white women's virtue"…

If I were to teach an interdisciplinary course like some colleges offer their first year OR senior students, I'd like to look at Heroes and Villiains. The list is endless.