Parents vote Miley Cyrus and Nicki Minaj as the worst role models for children

Every parent’s nightmare? Miley Cyrus (left) and Nicki Minaj. Rex/Getty Images Photograph: Rex/Getty Images

IT might come as little surprise to discover that British parents have voted Miley Cyrus as the female celebrity they would least like as a role model for their children. In a poll of 2,287 parents with at least one child under 10, 78 percent voted Cyrus the worst example, followed by Nicki Minaj and Kim Kardashian.

Meanwhile, the Duchess of Cambridge – who has, of course, made a career out of marrying a very famous and wealthy man – was ranked the best female role model for their kids. Would Cyrus, an inspiration to plenty of young women navigating their adolescence, sexuality and body hair, care? Probably not.

The 22-year-old, dubbed this week by the New York Times as “a performing tongue with a woman attached” hosted the MTV Video Music Awards last weekend. In an interview with that newspaper, Cyrus was asked about the “the Nicki Minaj controversy” and replied:

“People forget that the choices that they make and how they treat people in life affect you in a really big way. If you do things with an open heart and you come at things with love, you would be heard and I would respect your statement. But I don’t respect your statement because of the anger that came with it. And it’s not anger like, ‘Guys, I’m frustrated about some things that are a bigger issue.’ You made it about you. Not to sound like a bitch, but that’s like, ‘Eh, I didn’t get my VMA.’

“If you want to make it about race, there’s a way you could do that. But don’t make it just about yourself. Say: ‘This is the reason why I think it’s important to be nominated. There’s girls everywhere with this body type.’

“What I read sounded very Nicki Minaj, which, if you know Nicki Minaj is not too kind. It’s not very polite. I think there’s a way you speak to people with openness and love … I know you can make it seem like, Oh I just don’t understand because I’m a white pop star. I know the statistics. I know what’s going on in the world. But to be honest, I don’t think MTV did that on purpose.”

Rowan Blanchard, the 13-year-old Disney star of Girl Meets World, made waves across the internet this week when she took to Instagram to tackle the subject of “white feminism” for her 2.4m followers. In three posts taking in race, intersectionality, police brutality and gender equality, she wrote:

“‘White feminism’ forgets all about intersectional feminism. The way a black woman experiences sexism and inequality is different from the way a white woman experiences sexism and inequality. Likewise with trans-women and Hispanic women.”

Blanchard then went on to quote American academic Kimberlé Crenshaw, as if she were reciting lyrics from her favourite singer, Beyoncé.

“To only acknowledge feminism from a one sided view when the literal DEFINITION is the equality of the sexes is not feminism at all,” Blanchard’s lengthy post ends. “We need to be talking about this more. Discussion leads to change.”

“This is called ‘hitting the nail on the head’,” tweeted Emma Watson, actor and HeForShe campaigner. Guardian.com