Now I ask you... how could any adult actually feel that the now infamous Miley Cyrus photo is OK? Is it artistic and lovely, if the subject were older? Yes. Is it appropriate that the subject is a 15-year-old? Fuck no. That's not being up tight, that's me thinking like a grown up who should be looking out for a kid. Where is her achy breaky father? How do you let that shit go?
I think Annie Leibovitz is a talented photographer, and it could be argued that she has shot some of the most memorable pop culture photographs of several generations, but come on, use some fucking common sense discretion. Pictures of a 15-year-old girl covered only by a sheet imply sexuality that a kid that age isn't mature enough to handle. Every teenage girl wants to be pretty and noticed, and I'm all for them being expressive, but at some point you start to draw attention from people who shouldn't be interested, and that would scare me as a father.
More to the point, it's manipulating a kid to sell magazines. She's already more product than person, and this takes it to an entirely new level. That's sad.
I think the one of her draped over her father is much more disturbing, on many levels. It's certainly more sexual than the sheet photo. The photo with the sheet could have been handled better. I think the make-up she's wearing makes it worse. Otherwise, it could have been a fairly innocent and harmless picture.