Miley Cyrus: formerly the cheery, perfect Disney star who had her own show, “Hannah Montana,” is now a girl who chopped off most of her hair and had a very “interesting” performance on the VMAs, twerking on stage and grinding against Robin Thicke’s groin.

I personally didn’t watch the VMAs that night, but after hearing the chatter on Facebook about the performance, my curiosity got the best of me. And I must say, I was certainly shocked by what I saw. The beginning didn’t really surprise me as I know celebrities love to do their crazy things, though I feel her attempt at twerking was sad.

What stunned me, as I’m sure stunned many other people, was when she stripped to this nude-colored vinyl bra and underwear and later began grinding on Thicke while he sang “Blurred Lines,” sticking her tongue out with this semi-crazy look gleaming in her eyes.

Yes, raunchy is the first thing that popped in my head, but honestly, I think I was more shocked because of the flip in her personality. I remember the old Cyrus, the good girl who I never thought would stoop down to this. I suppose she was on a descent at some point, but to look at who she is now is a huge shock.

Naturally, several articles have come out about her performance, and I have read a few. One that really caught my eye was titled “A sexologist’s 2 cents on the 2013 MTV VMAs.” In summary, the brief article questions how we can label Cyrus as raunchy, dirty, slutty, etc. when Thicke is singing a song about blurring the lines between consensual sex and rape. And that got me thinking.

As previously mentioned, raunchy is the first thing that popped into my head when I saw Cyrus. Hearing “Blurred Lines,” not so much. On one hand, it could be seen in the manner that the sexologist sees it. On the other hand, the male in the song wants to get laid, and these “blurred lines” are the crossing of lines between a good girl and a bad one in the bedroom. This does all matter on a person’s perspective.

But let’s take the sexologist’s view into account and assume the lines between consensual sex and rape are being blurred. Why is Cyrus viewed as the slutty girl while Thicke’s song is merely pushed to the side?

In my opinion, this is still more about how things are perceived, and this is a long-standing stereotype. Men are allowed to sleep around, talk about how many times they’ve had sex and describe said sexual encounters without being judged; women don’t have that luxury. If a woman was to prance around in a skimpy outfit, such as Cyrus did, she is instantly hit with labels of being trashy and “asking for it.” If she shares her sexual encounters, even among her girl friends, she will be judged for opening her legs.

Sexual talk between the genders has always been a double standard, and that’s because it’s what we’ve been taught for years. Talking about sex and dressing in shorter clothing isn’t lady-like or proper, and that’s a difficult perception to change. Unfortunately, it probably won’t change for many years. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t try to destroy the stereotype by understanding that men and women are both human beings with sexual needs and often have the desire to express such needs. Women do not need to be condemned for voicing these things.

So where does this leave the VMAs performance? Yes, it was raunchy, and it was a shock to see Cyrus acting in that manner. Should Thicke be criticized for the dirtiness of his song? That all depends on how you perceive what his song means.