How Miley Cyrus' 'Preference' Remarks Show Underlying Transphobia

Miley Cyrus is making waves with new comments about her sexuality. In a new interview, she not only says that she prefers women to men, but also attempts to explain why.

"Girls are way hotter. We know this," the 28-year-old bisexual said in an interview with Sirius XM's Barstool Radio. "Everyone I think can agree that from ancient times d*cks makes wonderful sculptures. Other than that, I'm not as interested. I like d*cks as art pieces. And sculptural, I love the shape, I think it looks really good on a table."

The singer continued: "It's good if it can just get in and go away, because I don't want it eyeing me up. That's how I truly feel. I felt really good about saying that."

She dug in even deeper, adding, "everyone knows that tits are prettier than balls... That's what ended up making female relationships make more sense to me."

I wish I could say this news makes me excited and proud to be a woman and a lesbian, but Cyrus' quote is littered with transphobia. This kind of gender essentialism was left behind by most of the queer community years ago. Genitals do not equal gender, and Miley should know this.

In an age where TERFS are more vocal than they've ever been, comments like these reinforce some very dangerous ideas about bodies and gender. Having a gender preference, or even genitalia preference, in who you sleep with is obviously not a problem, but to reduce dicks and balls to "men's bodies" contributes to dangerous beliefs about trans women.

Because so many people, like Miley, believe that genitals determine gender, trans women and girls are often considered to be men in public spaces. Trans women are kicked out of women's restrooms, locker rooms and school sports, not allowed in women's shelters, put in prison with men, and murdered all because they have "male genitalia."

This isn't the first time she's gotten in hot water for her opinions about gender and sexuality. Back in 2019, many fans were left with a bad taste in their mouths when she seemed to imply that being gay is a choice. "I always thought I had to be gay because I thought that all guys were evil, but it's not true," she said, "there are good people out there that just happen to have dicks." She later apologized.

I don't think Miley meant to traffic in TERF talking points, but the fact is that she did -- and she should know better. The stakes are too high for someone with as big of a spotlight as her to be accidentally spreading this sort of rhetoric. Miley I love you, but I'm going to need you to make this right.

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