WHY DIDN'T HER PARENTS SAY 'NO'?

Help me out here. You're posing for photos. The photographer, famous or not, snaps a few then suggests you take your top off, wrap up in a sheet and let her get a last shot or two.

Who would be surprised when this photograph looks sexy?

This is the tale that Disney darling Miley Cyrus is telling. The photos published in Vanity Fair magazine depict tousle-haired Cyrus with a satin sheet draped across her bare back. Well, after the initial outcry, the PR spin corrected that she wasn't actually, truly, really topless. Anyone feel better about that?

What's wrong with us as a society that anyone thinks it's OK to take, publish or ogle photographs of a mere kid looking as if she's just tumbled out of bed? Cyrus, part of the Disney Channel's current stable of stars, blew out all of 15 candles on her last birthday cake. She should be thinking about a driver's license, her math class and maybe what she'll do after high school graduation.

As a parent, I'm sure there are lots of lessons I was too busy to teach in the crush of everyday life. I know I never said to my girls, "Make sure that you remain fully clothed when someone takes your photograph," because it just didn't cross my mind. I'm hoping that they would have hesitated if asked.

They're kids

But there's a reason that 15-year-olds can't legally sign contracts, get married, vote or run for president. We recognize that their young brains aren't mature enough to protect them from bad decisions. Most 15-year-olds routinely do things that leave adults shaking their heads.

So why do adults, who presumably have mature brains, do this to children? Aren't teenagers' parents supposed to step in from time to time and protect them? And shouldn't a photographer, even a world-renowned one, know that if you want to do an arty shot of a half-clothed woman, maybe you should photograph someone who has reached the age of consent.

Her handlers, her mother or her father -- singer Billy Ray Cyrus of Achy Breaky Heart fame -- supposedly remained at the photo shoot. They saw the digital photographs, The Associated Press reported, and "everyone thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait of Miley," according to a Vanity Fair representative.

The famed photographer, Annie Leibovitz, known for shooting celebrity photos, issued a statement reported by the AP. "I'm sorry that my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted. ... The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful."

Give me a break. I think it's sick and disgusting to rob a girl of her childhood.

Art vs. porn

Ross Teemant, a licensed clinical social worker with Harris Methodist Springwood Hospital, labeled it "borderline pornography."

"I think it's degrading of anyone of any age to be asked to pose in a picture like that," he said during an interview last week. "On the parents' end, I don't think it's good for parents to approve of that."

Also disturbing is the fact that the Disney Web site for Hannah Montana features interactive games. The site, obviously aimed at girls too young to drive themselves to the mall for nail polish, offers an activity, "Miley's Malibu Manicure," to paint the teen star's nails a rainbow of colors.

The teen star behind the sold-out concerts has adoring fans watching her, copying her. Because when you've set up a girl to be the idol of many preteens, won't the fans follow her lead?

"They'll think if it's OK for her, it's OK for us," Teemant said. "I think you'll see 15-year-olds follow suit."

It's desensitizing unhealthy behavior, he said. They may learn about sex from their parents or their peers, but that's not the same as acting on it.

"Emotionally, they're not ready physically, intellectually, cognitively for sex," he said.

It seems to me that there were plenty of other possible backdrops for a 15-year-old's photo shoot. The decisions made by parents, photographers and magazine publishers give me the kind of achy, breaky heart Miley's dad used to sing about.

A 15-year-old should be thinking about bubble-gum pink nail polish, riding her bike or making the volleyball team.

And the adults in a 15-year-old's life have a responsibility to limit her world to at least a PG-13 level.