The following is a cross post from Electric Emily over at Jukebox Heroines – be sure to check out all the other great music-based info she’s got at her blog!  If you are interested in cross posting or guest posting at feministhemes.com, please send your ideas to ms.wizzle@feministhemes.com.

Lady Gaga was on Larry King on June 1st, 2010. I just watched it, and once again, female artists have to defend themselves for their art, presentation, and politics.

Larry King asked if Gaga was a feminist, she said:

“Yes. Yes I am. I am a feminist. Does this settle the ongoing debate once and for all?”

Why is it so hard for people to believe that Gaga is a feminist? I have a few thoughts on the matter.

Is it because she is a pop-star, and somehow we have obscured pop music/stardom with instant sell-out status, misogyny, and manufactured faux empowerment?

That isn’t to say that there is some of that in music, and that pop music, like every other music genre has issues with gender, race, class, looks, etc, but presuming this of pop music limits one from experiencing some amazing talent. Just because you can dance to is, and it is accessible to the majority of people don’t make it lesser than. Pop music has a long-standing tradition of being seen as feminine, and as “of the body,” which is seen as less artistically sound and worthy than the masculine, “of the mind” rock or indie music scenes.

Is it because Lady Gaga is an attractive woman and hence, could never be a feminist, because you know, feminists are ugly, fat, hairy, bra-burners!

Ha, you know that one. All the myths associated with feminism, I’ve heard them all before! They never seem to go away. Let’s run them down: feminists are only women, they are not attractive (ugly), hate men (perhaps because their ugliness denies them a suitable mate), hate children, are lesbians, angry, don’t wear make-up, witches, choose career over family, cock-blockers, want to rule over men….did I get them all?  These myths serve in separating women from each other, and deter women from joining a movement that is about social, political and economic equality for not just women, but all.There is nothing wrong with that, except that it challenges a system of inequality in our culture that continues to keep women in a second class status. Challenging that is dangerous. Therefore these myths exist to maintain the status quo and silence any opposition.  And why would a beautiful woman want to get involved with any of that? She apparently has everything right? Oh, how wrong that assumption is, and Lady Gaga isn’t fooled by those myths. She smashes them with a sequined, flame-engulfed hammer.

You could say Gaga even makes fun of the whole bra-burner myth via her fabulous spark-bra. Read the rest of this entry »

Lady Gaga expresses her hopes for the end of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, bans on gay blood donors, and restrictions and discrimination faced by teens in the American education system.  (She’s not super well-spoken, but she has some inspiring points – it’d be great to hear more of this type of thing from public figures in pop culture who, whether they like it or not and whether they admit it or not, are role models for many youth and adolescents.)

“There are so many archaic things floating around in the the government right now that are so misinformed and so wrong and it’s very confusing.  It’s very confusing for young people, especially, you know, 14 year-olds in high school that are getting sent home because they have t-shirts that say ‘gay’ on it, as if gay is a curse word or somehow inappropriate.  I just think that, in terms of education – sexual education, political education, and social education in schools – I think that it’s important to be specific about civil rights and a person’s worth.  No person’s worth any less than another human being based on their sexual orientation.”

You can check out more moments of Lady Gaga’s Larry King interview over at Jezebel.

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve always loved Alice in Wonderland, so of course I was excited to finally get to the theater and see Tim Burton’s new adaptation.  I was a little hesitant – Tim Burton has become rather cliche and tends to just remix his Hot Topic costumes and “eccentric” casts.  However, I was really impressed with the film, an pleasantly so.

The story complements the original well without retelling a familiar tale too redundantly, nor taking artistic license overboard.  Alice fluctuates between her initial childlike-obedience (eating what says “eat me,” drinking what says “drink me,” and following the directions of a vast array of curious creatures) and taking ownership of her behavior (“it’s my dream after all”).  She bravely and cleverly dupes the Red Queen into thinking her a friend, allowing her to rescue her friend and find an important sword that will allow her to fulfill her destiny – Alice is not just a girl on an adventure, she’s a woman champion come to save Underland from the Red Queen’s rule and defeat the dreaded Jabberwocky.

Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter was the least enjoyable part of the film.  Depp remixed all of his other “eccentric” characters and put on a funny wig for this part.  What was even more disturbing was the deep, emotional connection alluded to between the Hatter and Alice.  First of all, it will be hard to top SyFy’s take on that dynamic, and secondly, Depp’s Hatter is too old, too mad, and too creepy for some sort of… whatever with a nineteen year old girl.  Creepy and irritating.

At the very least, however, this film portrays strong female leads, protagonists, and antagonists with little to no emphasis on romance as a plot device.  Alice is clever, strong, and charismatic and rises to the occasion, allowing her newfound courage to launch her into an adventurous career rather than a miserable marriage.  Plus, it was fun, and it looks cool – although maybe not quite as cool as this:

You can read some other great perspectives on the film at Adventures of a Young Feminist, Autostraddle, and Gender Across Borders.

The video has been out for less than a week, bloggers are still trying to make sense of it, and I am ravenously reading the multitude of conversations that offer various interpretations, reviews, and critiques.  Here are some more posts on the Telephone video:

Deconstructing Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” Video [the atlantic]

Saying she is “always trying to convolute the idea of what a pop music video should be,” Gaga told E! that she wanted to take “the idea that America is full of young people that are inundated with information and technology and turn it into something that was more of a commentary on the kind of country that we are.”

They go on:

We shouldn’t just assume that a woman who cares so much about aesthetic and artistic value would just spew out a string of seemingly random images and product placements. To give Gaga a fair and fighting chance, we’ve deconstructed her pièce de résistance—and were rather surprised with what we came up with.

Why Lady Gaga is a Feminist – Part 3 – Telephone [jukebox heroines]

This is perhaps my favorite part of the video, Lady Gaga wrapped in crime scene tape. The symbolic messages of that are truly amazing. For one, women’s bodies as crime scenes are frighteningly true in our culture. Women are raped, abused, and sexually assaulted, literally making their bodies “crime scenes.” Their bodies are battlegrounds and this is where power and control are literally enacted upon. Gaga’s body is also a “crime scene” when it comes to crimes of sexual transgression. Her power as a woman has called into question her sexuality and gender identity, making her body and personhood a literal “crime again heteronormativity.”

Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” Video: Even Gayer Than Actual Dance Clubs [autostraddle]

Before now I’ve never really gushed over Gaga, but in terms of concept, art and film direction, costumes – this is one of the best music videos I’ve seen in a long time. And I don’t even really like the song. What she’s done here has left absolutely no doubt in my mind that Gaga will continue pushing us outside our comfort zone and challenge and change pop music and pop culture as we know it. I’m ready for it.

Heather Cassils: Lady Gaga’s Prison Yard Girlfriend [out.com] via [jezebel]

Gaga came out, and she just kind of instantly called me over, and it just happened like that. She called me over and asked me to portray her girlfriend and said, “OK, you’re going to be my prison girlfriend, and you’re going to come to me, and I’d like you to touch me inappropriately.” [Laughs] We just kind of went from there.

Also, lest we forget how weird and not-really-mainstream Gaga is, check out this video from when she performed for the Queen of England.  Apparently the woman has no fear of combining heights and grand pianos.  (Also, this song just makes me think of Elton John now.)

Lady Gaga’s new video for Telephone has set of quite the firestorm online.  Gaga appeared (pantsless) on my radar about a year ago as I noticed her being ripped apart by women-targeted fashion and gossip blogs, and the occasional feminist blog.  Over time, things seemed to improve: she developed a reputation for being subversive, outspoken, gay-friendly, and arguably feminist.  Her latest video has put a lot of us back at square one, wondering if we were kidding ourselves, if she’s messing with our heads, if this was just a fluke, if she jumped the shark, or (!!!) if it’s just a (NSFW) music video.

It appears as though this is Gaga’s (first) attempt at a Michael Jackson-esque mini-movie music video.  Other videos of hers (Paparazzi, Bad Romance) have had semblances of story lines, occasional dialogue, and extended cuts, but this one is clearly a step beyond anything that she’s done before (or yet).  My attempts to make sense of these ten minutes after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m going to put it right out there – I don’t care about sports. When they (okay, more like their cultural followings) aren’t irritating and enraging me, they are just plain boring me. I didn’t watch a minute of the Olympics (but, like my qualms about the SuperBowl, my qualms about the Olympics are fodder for another post). However, the interwebs inform me that I have been missing out on Johnny Weir, a fantastic, controversial, sh*t stirring figure skater who is threatening the masculinity of male professional athletes, commentators, and spectators everywhere. Also, he reminds people of Lady Gaga (another recent pop figure to make everyone feel uncomfortable about sexuality). Apparently that’s funny.

Of course, Johnny Weir is actually friends with Lady Gaga, so he’s probably not too offended here.  He also has a sweet exhibition routine to Poker Face.  But I wouldn’t expect these late night talk show guys to know much of anything about figure skating outside of the Olympics, Lady Gaga, or what is cool anyway.

From Feministing:

You can understand why Johnny Weir makes commentators, even figure skating commentators, so very uncomfortable. He’s an especially elegant skater who wears formfitting and sparkly costumes (yes, even more formfitting and more sparkly than one usually sees in figure skating) and who really emotes on the ice.

How sad is it that this is undeniably true?  Johnny is clearly comfortable with his sexuality, stating “I don’t feel the need to express my sexual being because it’s not part of my sport and it’s private. I can sleep with whomever I choose and it doesn’t affect what I’m doing on the ice, so speculation is speculation.”  The fact that he is not a typical heterosexual male and that he won’t give nervous and bigoted people the excuse to write him off as gay means that he can’t be neatly compartmentalized, and that means he might be like them – or worse, they might be like him.

From Bitch:

In response to two Quebecois commentators who spoke derogatorily of Weir and said he should take a gender test, Weir responded by issuing an awesome statement that touched on identity, free speech, life in the public eye, and the changing acceptance of gender.

You can find the whole clip of Weir’s statement at the Bitch post.  Some highlights from his response: “I’m not somebody to cry about something or to feel weak about something. I felt very defiant when I saw these comments. I felt that it wasn’t… these two men criticizing my skating, it wasn’t them criticizing my… anything. It was them criticizing me as a person. And that was something that really frankly pissed me off more than anything. So I felt like I had to make a comment and statement that I hope more kids cans grow up the same way that I did. That more kids feel the freedom that I feel to be themselves and to express themselves.”

Also, this:  “I think masculinity is what you believe it to be. To me, masculinity…it’s all my perception. And I think I think masculinity and femininity is something that’s very old fashioned. There’s a whole new generation of people that aren’t defined by their sex or their race or who they like to sleep with. I think as a person you know what your values are and what you believe in and that’s the most important things.”

Right on, dude.  We need more Weirs and Gagas in the world.  Maybe 25 years from now gender roles will be nostalgic and obsolete, and we can see all people for who they are instead of where they fall on the masculinity/femininity spectrum and how well that does or does not align with their physiology and sexuality.  I think Weir and Gaga are just ahead of the times.

As you can probably tell by the increase in quotes and links lately, the life of a graduate student has been catching up to me this week.  Hopefully I’ll become a more productive contributor to the blogosphere again soon, but until then, check out some of these other recent posts on my girl Gaga.  Some are celebratory, some are critical, and that’s just the way I like it – after all, if we can’t be thoughtful about things, what’s the point?

Lady GaGa Condoms, For When Your Junk Just Has To Look Insane [Celebuzz]

The “Bad Romance” singer is promoting a line of prophylactics created by fashion designer Jeremy Scott in an effort to keep your carnal liaisons safe and, just as importantly, fashionable. The condoms, available through the Proper Attire condom company, will be available in electric-orange, green and pink animal prints (because what could be sexier?), and will come in studded, ribbed and sheer varieties.

It’s like Lady Gaga is doing something new and fabulous every time I turn my computer on.  I love it.

“Everyone has that… phone call of, “Oh my gosh, you won’t believe what I did last night. I was so stupid I didn’t use a condom,” and there’s all this laughter on the phone… I’ve gotten those phone calls, and it’s our job as friends to one another to say, “I don’t know why you’re laughing because it’s very serious. I really don’t feel there’s enough women who are educated about AIDS, how quickly it’s spreading, how dangerous it really is, how many people really have it, and we want to do good jobs as women who represent a sexual community and a strong independent group.”

For reals.  Too.  Cool.  I love how she’s using her fame to get important social messages across, and how she’s blowing everyone away in the process.  It’s like people thought pop stars couldn’t use their brains on their own.  Let’s shake it up!

More on their campaign at MAC Cosmetics, and additional coverage from Jezebel.

Lady Gaga fascinates me.  She makes me think.  I often find myself wanting to defend her, to whom I’m not sure.  I think she puts me on edge, makes me wonder why she does what she does, and I always come up with a self-satisfying answer.  Take her fashion statements for example.  They’re often… weird, to say the least.  They are revealing, bizarre, and often unattractive or even kind of hideous.  She does not dress like we typically expect our pop star/sex icons to dress.  And in an avant-garde, art club/theater kid misfit kind of way, that’s cool.  But I think it’s more than an angsty rebellion.  Lady Gaga’s fashion choices often make statements about how our society dictates female beauty.

Lady Gaga is thin, white, blonde, hairless…  She’s got the body of the pop star/sex icons of the last decade (Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, P!NK, Fergie, Mandy Moore, Jessica Simpson, Gwen Stefani… you know the mold), so she’s not scoring major points by presenting us with a new body type.  But what she does with that body is unusual.

Exhibit A: Body Shape

Despite having that “perfect” bod, Lady Gaga frequently distorts the way we see her body, using sharp angles, increasingly large shoulderpads, and poufs or wings to accentuate her hips.  Each of these things in moderation have been considered attractive/fashionable at one point or another, but the extremes to which she takes them have a distracting effect, creating a mismatched, unnatural body shape.

Read the rest of this entry »

Not much of a contribution of my own today, but check out these cool recent posts from other bloggers (props to Laura at Adventures of a Young Feminist for the formatting inspiration):

An analysis of Purity Balls at Jezebel:

Why is the focus solely on getting girls to protect their “purity” and so little on preventing boys from violating it? After all, I think the term “purity balls” would be much more appropriate for Christian males who pledge to remain virgins. But aside from that, there’s a laundry list of reasons why I think purity balls are not only ridiculous, but harmful to the females who are pressured into participating in them.

Part 2 of Jukebox Heroines’ defense of my girl Gaga:

Now, I know there will be some Gaga haters out there, and still others who think her and feminism are like oil and water. They never mix. Nope, sorry, they do. Those who will chid her feminism based on how she looks or the style of music she writes are guilty of the same sexism they propose to be fighting. Judge not by the outfits one wears, but by the content of their character!

A list of the top 10 best films for women in 2009 from Stiletto Revolt:

2009 has provided a lot of opportunities for female filmmakers and has brought some breakout female performances in unlikely places. A variety of films addressed women’s issues with depth, clarity, and honesty this year. After watching marathons of movies, both poignant and compelling, a compilation of the best was born.

What else have you been reading?