While we're at it, can we stop pretending she's at all original, creative, or in any way talented?
That'd be great.
Let's look at what Lady Gaga is: she's exploitative and opportunistic. I won't say she's not smart, but that's not a compliment - she's smart in that incredibly crafty, sneaky, very slimy way I'm pretty sure everyone at Disney is (a whole separate rant about manufacturing pop culture, that is). She knows how to capitalize on trends, and she especially knows how to make everything all about her. Lady Gaga, gay rights are not about you (I do not believe for a second that she is bisexual, and I think we can all agree that the rumours of her being intersexed have been greatly exaggerated and probably started by her).
Lady Gaga's aesthetic is a pastiche of other artists she can't compare to: Grace Jones, who had the metaphorical balls to back up her bizarre badassery; David Bowie who is infinitely more talented and had a point to his androgyny; Madonna, who was sex-positive in general and became a gay icon by accident as a natural extension of her sex-positivity, not as an obviously calculated move to attract the poor, disenfranchised ~gays.
The thing is, nothing about Lady Gaga is empowering to the LGBT community. For one thing, "Born This Way" kind of sort of excludes the "T," despite the throwaway line about "transgender life." Oh, you were born with your gender not matching your body? You were supposed to be according to Gaga, because "God makes no mistakes."
That song goes on to indulge some racism, because Lady Gaga only wants to appeal to the cute, flamboyant, white gays. "No matter black white or beige, chola or orient made" seems on the surface to be accepting of everyone, but that's only if you don't consider the rather concerning and derogatory histories of both "chola" and "orient." Oriental refers to objects of Asian origin, not people. It is rather discriminatory and dehumanizing to call a person "oriental." And chola, well that comes from an Aztec word meaning "dog," and is more commonly used to talk about Hispanic and Latin American people who are "gangsters," classless, or of a lower class. Charming and inclusive as always, Lady Gaga.
Oh, but being inclusive is not Lady Gaga's bag. First of all, I'm pretty sure if you're a lesbian you're entirely invisible in her worldview. Nothing she says or does has anything to do with lesbians; it's all flamboyant gays and drag queens, her "little monsters." If you're bisexual, you're just a marketing ploy for her to sell her crappy music, a la Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl." So that eliminates the L,B and T from the LGBT acronym. That leaves the gay men. Well, you only count to Gaga if you're a "freak" or a monster or whatever. "Don't be a drag, just be a queen." No, Lady Gaga, I won't be a queen, because I am masculine.
Lady Gaga doesn't represent gays. She has forced herself onto a very select population of gay men who flock to her for some inexplicable reason, and she wants us all to be exactly the same.
You cannot liberate through oppression and stereotypes. I want a gay icon who recognizes and celebrates the unique nature of the LGBT community, that we may share a handful of traits but we're all still unique people. That is what is important about us, not who we sleep with or what's between our legs.
There's a lot more I could say about why Lady Gaga bothers me so much, but I'm bored now.
