Miley Cyrus became a household name for families when her Disney Channel television show, "Hannah Montana," premiered in 2006. Cyrus, now 20, quickly rose to pop star fame and has been changing her appearance ever since. Here the singer attends a July 12 event in Los Angeles.
Editor's note: Peggy Drexler is the author of "Our Fathers, Ourselves: Daughters, Fathers, and the Changing American Family" and "Raising Boys Without Men." She is an assistant professor of psychology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and a former gender scholar at Stanford University. Join her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @drpeggydrexler.
(CNN) -- It's almost unfathomable to believe that Sinead O'Connor couldn't have seen this coming.
Earlier this week, in an open letter to Miley Cyrus, the Irish singer-songwriter offered the lately controversial pop star such tough-love advice as "you don't need to let the music business make a prostitute of you" and "They're there for the money..." and "Kindly fire any --- who hasn't expressed alarm, because they don't care about you."
Cyrus has certainly seemed to ask for such admonition -- and warning. In recent weeks, she's shocked the world with antics that have included a seamy, hypersexual awards show performance, a music video in which she swings around naked on demolition equipment and licks sledgehammers, and a Terry Richardson photo session in which she's depicted smoking blunts and violating herself with a red bodysuit.
She has officially, and unfortunately, ushered the word "twerking" into the vernacular. In return, she's been called "crude," "a hot mess," and a lot worse. She's also gotten immense attention, which is, of course, the point of all of this.
When in a recent Rolling Stone interview Cyrus said that O'Connor's 1990 video for "Nothing Compares 2 U" helped inspire her own video for her new single, "Wrecking Ball," O'Connor, it seems, saw an opening. She swiftly posted a 1,000-word letter to her website and Facebook page, issued, she claimed, "in the spirit of motherliness and love" and telling the younger musician why and how she should value her body, which is "for you and your boyfriend" and not the music honchos who "will be sunning themselves on their yachts in Antigua, which they bought by selling your body."
But by choosing to hand down her advice in such a public forum, O'Connor effectively proved that the aspiring yacht owners aren't the only ones out to get something from Cyrus. She easily could have sent Cyrus a private letter. Instead, O'Connor chose to initiate a very public shaming.
That, of course, provoked an aggressive response, igniting a woman-on-woman battle likely as damaging to young female onlookers as O'Connor's condemnation of Cyrus' self-exploitation. Once again, we have women beating down on other women.
Sinead O'Connor pens letter to Miley
Jerry O'Connell's kids to be like Miley?
A near-teenager under attack, Cyrus responded like any near-teenager under attack might: Instantly and cruelly. She compared O'Connor to troubled actress Amanda Bynes, tweeting a screen shot of messages O'Connor had posted to Twitter two years ago about her own emotional health. Then she said she was too busy to get into it with O'Connor, because she had a "Saturday Night Live" gig to prep for.
O'Connor's sympathy for Cyrus, a "victim" in her eyes only hours earlier, immediately turned far less understanding as she threatened legal action if Cyrus didn't apologize and remove the tweets. She then mocked Cyrus in an objectifying way that was particularly ironic given such missives in her original note as "you are worth more than your body or your sexual appeal" and "women are to be valued for so much more than their sexuality." She wrote that Cyrus "can take five minutes today between G-string (effing) changes to publicly apologize."
That's not to say O'Connor doesn't have a point -- or a good one. She has called for a public discussion of how male executives at record labels manage young female stars and whether their decisions are always or ever in a star's best interest. After all, who is looking out for Miley? Certainly not her parents and certainly not the men from her record company, who are making a ton of money off of her.
Larry Rudolph, best known for guiding the career of Britney Spears, is heading Team Cyrus, surely he must know there can be a price to pay when the act overshadows the talent. There is a shelf life on outrageous behavior, as so many young stars have found out who came before Miley.
So, one might give O'Connor the benefit of doubt.
She was concerned for Cyrus and thought, somehow, that insulting her in a public forum was the quickest and most direct way to reach her. But by assuming that Cyrus isn't in charge -- or, more poignantly, suggesting to Cyrus that she wasn't in charge -- and by inviting a global audience to sit in on the belittling, O'Connor was very carefully and specifically asking for a fight. And a fight she got.
The letter could have been the best and most honest advice Cyrus has ever received, but delivery -- and intention --matters. And O'Connor wasn't in it just for Cyrus, now was she?
For fans of Cyrus, the best bet is to focus on the music. Cyrus might not be role model material at the moment, but if you don't look to her for more than catchy tunes, there's less chance that she'll disappoint.
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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Peggy Drexler.
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The future pop star with her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, in October 1994 in Memphis, Tennessee.
The father and daughter team make a New York appearance for the Disney Channel in February 2006.
Cyrus performs during the Radio Disney Totally 10 Birthday Concert in July 2006 in Anaheim, California.
Cyrus chats with VJ Susie Castillo during an appearance on MTV's Total Request Live in February 2007 at MTV Studios in New York City.
Cyrus starred with Emily Osmand in an episode of "Hannah Montana" in June 2007.
Cyrus appears at the 2007 American Music Awards in Los Angeles.
The actress arrives at the Teen Vogue Young Hollywood Party at Vibiana in September 2007 in Los Angeles.
Cyrus arrives at a film premiere in Hollywood in January 2008.
Cyrus performs for ABC's "Good Morning America" at New York's Bryant Park in July 2008.
Cyrus appears at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in Westwood, California, in 2009.
Cyrus performs during her "Wonder World" tour at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in November 2009 in Uniondale, New York.
Cyrus and her mother, Tish Cyrus, at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards in January 2010 in Los Angeles.
Cyrus impersonates singer Justin Bieber in a Saturday Night Live skit with Vanessa Bayer in March 2011.
Cyrus performs at a music festival in June 2010 in Arganda del Rey, Spain.
Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth arrive at the 2012 People's Choice Awards at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in January 2012 in Los Angeles.
The singer arrives at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas in May 2012.
Cyrus poses on the red carpet for the MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles in September 2012.
The grown-up Cyrus performs during the "VH1 Divas" concert in Los Angeles in December 2012.
Cyrus attends the Costume Institute Gala for the "PUNK: Chaos to Couture" exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6 in New York City.
Cyrus winks during an interview at a radio station in Bad Vilbel near Frankfurt, Germany, on July 22.
Cyrus shows off her moves with Robin Thicke during the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards in Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday, August 25.
Cyrus is seen leaving her London hotel on September 11.
Cyrus performs onstage during the iHeart Radio Music Festival Village on September 21 in Las Vegas.
Taran Killam and Cyrus pose in a promo for her upcoming Saturday Night Live episode on October 5.
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