An excellent article appeared on The Punch (and I don't generally say that) speaking about the sexualisation of children and the trends of Miley Cyrus.

Miley Cyrus: Beware the smiley siren
Daniela Elser, The Punch

"Beware of Miley Cyrus. She might look oh-so-sweet with those dewy kewpie doll eyes blinking as she tries to come off as just another all-American girl - but don’t be fooled. She might only be 18 years old, but Miley represents a threat.

In only a couple of years, Cyrus has gone from Disney star and global tween phenomenon to wannabe adult strumpet. It’s been an uncomfortable ride. She has clumsily whipped out every cliché in the starlet playbook: the muscle-bound boyfriend, a handful of tatts, the occasional bout of cage-dancing and the odd photo scandal, while much of the world politely averted its eyes.

She has crudely tried to shape a grown-up persona that involves barely-there pants, all the while mimicking the strutting and thrusting and occasional girl-pashing of the Britneys and Christinas of this world.

The problem with Cyrus is that she peddles to her fans the world over the garbled message that adulthood equals a black leather corset and the odd crotch grab. It’s a superficial rendering of adult sexuality that comes across as completely hollow and devoid of anything even bordering on the erotic (thank God).

In her blundering attempt to make herself over as an adult, Cyrus is a lesson writ large about the extent of the sexualisation of youth and the commercial machine that is inking greenbacks from the whole thing....."

Read the full article here.