Miley Cyrus is a poor role model to girls and gives them mixed messages, says headmistress

Leading headmistress hits out at role models such as Miley Cyrus, saying pop stars and reality TV celebrities should rein in their raunchy behaviour

Miley Cyrus is a poor role model to girls, a leading headmistress has said. 

Celebrity role models such as Miley Cyrus are leaving schoolgirls "manipulated and confused" by sending out mixed messages, a headmistress has warned.

Stars risk leading children astray by launching themselves with clean-cut images before reinventing themselves as controversial and raunchy performers, it was claimed.

Jo Heywood, head of all-girl Heathfield School in Ascot, said that it was hoped that the Olympics would provide teenage girls with a new generation of role models "recognised for their achievements rather than their looks".

But a year on from the London Games, she insisted that little had changed and the majority of young women still looked up to the same narrow band of pop stars and reality TV celebrities.

She singled out Cyrus, who began her career playing Disney's Hannah Montana, but has recently attracted criticism for a series of provocative performances including one at MTV's Video Music Awards in the United States in August.

It comes just days after Jim Gamble, former head of the government's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, said that "sexualised" popstars such as Cyrus were more of a threat to children on the internet than hardcore pornography.
Writing on the Independent School Parent website, Mrs Heywood said: "For a moment back in 2012, there was talk that today's generation of young women had some worthy female role models."
The achievements of Olympians such as Jessica Ennis, Nicola Adams, Katherine Grainger and Victoria Pendleton made it seem that "finally women were being recognised for their achievements rather than their looks, which reality show they were on or which celebrity they were dating".
She added: "As head of an all-girls school, I have long been yearning for more appropriate female role models for today's young women to look up to.
"We knew what these sportswomen stood for - hard work, sacrifice and achievement. They were clear-cut role models for young women to look up to and they did so.
"Now, a year on, I am not so sure that anything has really changed. I am more than a little concerned that some of the so-called role models young girls may look up to are giving them confusing mixed messages."
In her article, Mrs Heywood said: "Fast forward to the end of the summer and another example of how young women are being manipulated and confused by potential role models.
"Many young girls have probably grown up as fans of Disney's Hannah Montana. Hannah, played by petite and pretty Miley Cyrus, was the archetypal all-American teenager: a girl to look up to and for parents to probably not be too concerned about.
"A few years later and we find Cyrus giving a headline-grabbing and controversial performance at the MTV Video Music Awards.
"Worryingly, Miley has apparently said she does not know what all the fuss is about. However, I think there is plenty to be concerned about, especially when these once clean-cut role models steer another course so publicly."
It is the latest in a series of attacks made by leading girls' school headmistresses towards celebrity role models.
Last year, Helen Wright, former president of the Girls' Schools Association, branded the model Kim Kardashian as "almost everything that is wrong with Western society".
Heathfield is one of Britain's leading girls' schools. It lists royalty including the Queen's cousin, Princess Alexandra, and her daughter Marina Ogilvy, among its alumni.
It is also the former school of Tiggy Legge-Bourke, former nanny to the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, as well as Amber Le Bon, Sienna Miller and entrepreneur Tamara Mellon.