Bette Midler vs Ariana Grande. But Who Is Really To Blame?

Recently, Bette Midler took aim at Ariana Grande.  In a nutshell, she said "Trust your talent. You don't have to make a whore out of yourself to get ahead."  My first reaction was, that's a bit harsh, but, you go Bette!  It's true, maybe I'm getting old, or maybe it's because I'm a mom of two little girls, but I don't think our young pop idols need to be so sexualized. But, then I got to thinking.  Is it right to pick on Ariana?  I mean, I can't really blame her, she works in an industry where she is competing for stage time with people like Jennifer Lopez.   

Did you see Jennifer's performance at this year's American Music Awards?  That girl can dance!  She was up there with her oiled up legs, her tiny waste and her wind machine, rubbing booties with Iggy Azalea.  So, what else do we expect Ariana to do?  But, I can't really fault Jennifer.  She's just trying to compete with Kim Kardashian for media coverage. 

Ah yes.  Kim Kardashian.  I'm sure by now we've all seen her pictures in Paper magazine.  The outrage that she, a mother, would pose nude! But, I can't really fault her for doing it.  This is how Kim has always made her living.  It's not very realistic of us to expect her to put on a sweater set and get a job at a bank.  She's just trying to keep her ratings up. 

I don't think the blame should be placed on Ariana Grande, or Jennifer Lopez, or even Kim Kardashian.  The problem isn't that Ariana Grande is all sexed up on stage.  The problem is that millions of us tune in to watch it.   The problem isn't Jennifer Lopez singing a song with lyrics like "All the sexy girls in the party.  Go and grab a man, bring him to the dance floor.  Go on let them jeans touch you while you're dancing.  It's his birthday, give him what he ask for (Let me show you how to do it)."  The problem is that we put this song and it's performance on prime time TV.  The problem isn't that Kim Kardashian posed nude for Paper magazine.  The problem is that the photos are so easily accessed with a simple Google search.

The celebrities that we criticize for being too sexualized and setting a bad example for our young girls, are really just giving us what we want.  Guess we should be more careful with what we ask for.