Miley @ Teen Choice Awards

When I was 16 years old, I was stark-raving mad boy-crazy. Promiscuous, extremely provocative. My parents, my whole family, were fundamentally religious and I simply could. not. be. contained. I was hyper-sexual. However much my parents, my religion, my school pushed for purity and abstinence I resisted.

I wanted to attract. A mate. Boys. A boyfriend. I wanted to be hot. I was hot. I loved being hot. It was wildly exciting to attract boys. It was a total adrenaline rush to feel super . . . attractive  and sexual. It was extremely stimulating to dress in a way that made my mother shudder.

At 16 years old Miley Cyrus’s Teen Choice performance seems . . . On Time.

Inappropriate, to say the least, from my current parental perspective. Inappropriate for my seven-year-old daughter and three-year-old son for sure.

Which is why I did not sit down with my young children and partake of The Teen Choice Awards. My kids are not a teens and they are not ready for this. I’m not ready for this.

In case you think the world has just ended because Miley Cyrus danced provocatively in front of other stark-raving mad, hormonally charged teenagers  – just remember, girls generally come off this type of sex-crazed high once they get married and have children. Granted, this did not prove true for Britney Spears (yet). Still, most of us tend to come to our senses during motherhood.

I still love Madonna. A love born as a young teenager watching her be powerfully provocative and sexually experimental in the ’80s. Loved her then and love her now. How is this different? Like a Virgin, Papa Don’t Preach, anyone?

Just think of it as a Law of Attraction. It’s part of biological law that 16 year old girls are going to be intent on attracting attention to their sexuality. Once they’ve fulfilled their biological drive and reproduced they’ll see the whole mating-dance thing . . . as inappropriately as we do now.

What’s different about her sister Noah being photographed on a pole and her older sister Miley’s?

Noah is 9 years old.

Miley is 16 years old.

Seven years.