The typical pop star reinvention cycle is something weve seen many times before. Madonnas done it, Lady Gagas done it, Britney Spears has done it the list goes on. Its a pattern thats existed for years: A performer, often a woman, sheds the persona that launched her career in favor of something totally different. Usually its a little sexier, more mature, maybe even raunchier.

Male pop stars go through these reinventions, too, but when their female counterparts do it, it seems the whole world is standing by, ready to criticize their every performance or clothing choice or paparazzi photo.

Its no secret society loves tearing women down . As Sady Doyle, author of Trainwreck, said in a 2016 interview with Heleo , I think that as long as women have been in public, there have been people very invested in policing the way theyre allowed to engage with the world.

In the case of pop music, thats no different. Lets look at Miley Cyrus . The former Hannah Montana star is going through a reinvention of her own right now, but instead of shedding the good-girl image she was known for at the beginning of her career for something more risqu shes been there, done that shes moving in the other direction.

The woman who once danced on Robin Thicke while violating a foam finger, gloated about smoking weed and swung naked on a wrecking ball, is once again embodying a wholesome persona. Cyrus, much like her hair, has seemingly grown out of the wild child phase. Shes gone back to her roots, literally and figuratively, and the only remnants of her short-lived past are her bleached-out ends. You might even say shes attempting to come full circle. However, much like the first time Cyrus tried her hand at a reinvention, shes not having an easy go at it. We, as part of a society interested in the rise and fall of our public figures, arent letting her live down her past shortcomings.