Sinead O'Connor took to her own website yesterday to clarify and elaborate on a statement she made regarding Justin Bieber and young musicians being "sexualized."
O'Connor was speaking about various young musicians who were exploited in the music industry, referring not just to Britney Spears
"I think that people focus an awful lot on the female aspect to this, but it is also the males. The very young male artists who are practically children or look like children are also being sexualized," O'Connor said in an interview with Magic FM. "Justin Bieber is a great example. When he came along he was only 16 years of age. Obviously he was extraordinarily talented, so I'm not trying to negate that, but he was very much being sold on his sexuality."
On Sunday, Aug. 10, O'Connor wrote a post entitled "Concerning Justin Bieber showing a photo of a younger, far-less tattooed Bieber exposing his midriff.
"Certain media have deliberately distorted remarks I made on Magic FM and elsewhere, regarding the sexualization of minors via the entertainment industry," said O'Connor, who made news last year for a public dispute with Miley Cyrus over her sexualized image. "At no stage did I either launch 'an attack' on Justin Bieber, or 'offer him advice', or mention what the media call his 'bad boy image'.
"As part of the culture which tacitly supports the sexualization of minors by the entertainment industry, the media distort the words and voices of those who draw attention to the matter. To focus on Justin, is to deliberately obscure what was actually discussed. This is the same culture which at the BBC, prevented people from addressing the Jimmy Saville matter. Let's make everyone frightened to talk, seems to be the order of the day. Lets make it pointless to talk."
(O'Connor is referring to Jimmy Saville, a BBC television personality who died in 2011 but was alleged to have sexually assaulted and sexually abused hundreds of people including children dating back to the '70s.)
"What was discussed was the fact there are elements within the entertainment industry engaged in the conscious sexualization of minors," O'Connor continued. "I do not suggest that these are artists. Having said that, there are artists who do not consider such things as simulating masturbation onstage when a quarter of the audience are children, to be questionable. Artists who do not make clear beforehand, that their show is not for minors. Equally newspapers do not sit on top shelves, where children won't be exposed to the close-up, technicolor horrors these papers print."
O'Connor concluded by stating the media "do not warn that minors ought not to be exposed" to violence. "It ought therefore not to be a surprise they choose to ignore and obscure the actual and vital substance of the discussion which was had on Magic FM and elsewhere, concerning child-protection," she wrote.
Bieber has made no comment on O'Connor's statement.
