Miley Cyrus is under fire. She had Annie Leibovitz, a world renowned and respected photographer, take her photograph. Some have said it is pornography. Well then maybe they've never seen a porno. While I would probably be unhappy if my daughter had the pictures available to the public, they definitely do not deserve the publicity they are given. The worse thing I have seen come out of this are women attacking a 15-year-old young woman.

I have often said that women are our own worse enemy. Growing up boys were the best friends I have ever had. So much, in fact, I am still friends with them and even married one. Women can be so critical of other women, but rarely realize how harsh their words can be. We have yet to plateau in the world of equality, but drag fellow women down whenever we can. I thought of this while visiting blogs that had placed Miley on the burning stake. Some even compared her to Lindsey Lohan, another young woman women love to hate. It makes me laugh because with all the horror in the world, these are the issues we focus our attention.

Young women are extremely critical of themselves. A few months back Miley was talking about how fat she thought she looked. The slim girl was beginning to drift into the black hole of Hollywood body image, much to her father's dismay. When the photos came out, I initially thought of how she would feel about her body being under attack. After all, we are a breast obsessed country who allows female scantily bared chests for beer commercials but have breast feeding moms arrested. Miley is showing very little compared to what you would see at the local swimming pool.

We tell girls to love their bodies but they are surrounded with criticism. If you do not agree with the photographs, then raise your daughter accordingly. If you don't want to look at them then turn off the T.V., shut down the computer, or close the tabloid and go spend quality time with your child. As a teacher, counselor and mother I am pained by those who pander to the tabloid media and focus on the waste of stories we are calling news. Attacking young women is not news, it is a vulgar act of violence.

My daughter listens to Miley and saw the photographs. At five, she thought nothing of them. We raise her to believe that the human body is beautiful, but private as well. She said that Hannah Montana was hiding her privacy. Truth from a child is the best dose of reality. Let's focus on some real issues and leave the wholesome Disney girl alone. Her music is the only music I can allow my daughter to listen to without worrying about the effect it will have on her self esteem. Maybe Miley's critics should listen to the lyrics and learn.