Lady Gaga

Last June, NPR reported that the "end of gender" was near, citing everything from gender-neutral prom courts to clothing ads to suggest that perhaps people aren’t so hung up on the male/female gender binary anymore. But despite the growing trend of gender neutrality, the response to disappearing gender constructs in politics and in popular culture isn't always positive.

Lady Gaga sang that she was as free as her hair, and she has been spotted in a dress that appears to have been made from her leftover wigs. It’s certainly a talking point, especially in light of her song lyrics which associate freedom with the choice of how you wear your locks. She’s not the first person to use hair as a form of artistic self-expression, as I’ve found four women who beat her to it. Let's take a look at our hairstory...

Yesterday, Republican Presidential hopeful Herman Cain clashed with Piers Morgan about whether or not people are born gay. Here's the video:

The important thing to know is that Cain sets out saying that "homosexuality is a sin" because of his "Biblical beliefs," but Morgan quickly steers the conversation into "born this way" territory, outraged that Cain won't concede his point. Cain's response: "What does science show? You show me evidence other than opinion, and you might cause me to reconsider that... Where's the evidence?"

Like many others (if Twitter is to be believed), I sat through two-plus hours of VMAs last night. There were highlights (I don't care how you feel about Beyoncé—her performance, which concluded in a mic-dropping-baby-bump-reveal move was the brightest of bright spots), lowlights (Chris Brown, who flew above the audience looking like a royal jackass—as if any amount of highwire bullshit could make up for his misogyny and abuse), and, well, there was Jo Calderone.

Last month Saturday Night Live released aired a video by the television skit/musical act The Lonely Island called "3-Way." It starred Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg from such other digital shorts "Dick in a Box," "Jizz in My Pants," and "Mother Lover." The two men play flashy, ridiculous men who consider themselves sexual dynamos and most of their songs revolve around their sex lives. In this new video, the pair are seen leaving each other’s houses, having the night before slept with each other’s mothers, Susan Sarandon and Patricia Clarkson. They run through their plans for the day while wearing matching day-glo jumpsuits and decide to each go visit the lady they’ve had their eye on.

Time for a blog roundup!

• Former Bitch intern Katie Presley reviews Anuradha Roy’s novel, An Atlas of Impossible Longing, on the Ms. blog.
• Bitch contributor Chally writes on representing representations of feminism, saying, "when feminism becomes about defending the identity rather than doing the work, that’s when we have a big problem."
• The Crunk Feminist Collective shares their post-Mother's Day musings.
• Bad Reputation compares retellings of The Little Mermaid.
• HuffPo reports on a pro-QUILTBAG church ad... and the "progressive" group that refuses to run it.
• Bitch contributor Sady Doyle discusses H.R. 3 and so-called pro-life Democrats at Global Comment.
• In better news, Mother Jones relates that the Navy will now perform same-sex marriages!
• Bitch contributor Jaclyn Friedman spoke at the Boston SlutWalk; check out the video and transcript of her speech!
• ColorLines praises the web series "The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl and Friends."
• Feministe's Clarisse Thorn names her "Central Sex-Positive Feminist Ideas."
• At Gay YA, Bitch contributor Everett Maroon talks about his goals as a trans writer. On his personal blog, he writes of Chaz Bono and the simplistic ways in which people talk about gender.
• AfterEllen takes on a subject near and dear to the hearts of many queer web addicts: lesbian shipping wars!
• Feminist polygamy? Katherine Butler explores the concept on AlterNet.
• xkcd had a recent win with an edition about female scientists. Feministing reprints the "Marie Curie" comic and talks about why it's right on target.
• Community star Ken Jeong is excerpted on Racialicious regarding Mother's Day and his wife's battle with breast cancer.
• The new Topside Press is looking for short fiction by and/or about transgender people! Read more at their homepage.
• Original Plumbing debuts the trailer for Nick Krieger's memoir, Nina Here Nor There: My Journey Beyond Gender.
• Garland unpacks Lady Gaga's "Judas" at Tiger Beatdown, including a phrase I never knew I always wanted in my life: "racy biblical slash fic."

Thoughts? What else have you been reading?

(Video possibly NSFW. It's... sexy.)
Robyn 'Indestructible' Official Video

Robyn | Myspace Music Videos

I've written about Robyn a lot, I know. This has, as I've mentioned, been the Year of Robyn for me. But this video hit last week and aside from being steamy, sent me spiraling off into a train of thought that I couldn't keep to myself.

Talking with a friend about the video and the tubes full of liquid that Robyn is wrapped in, I used the term "abstract futurism," which is totally me being pretentious. And yet, the tone of a lot of Robyn's songs, both on the Body Talk recordings and her previous work, evokes a world of robots and a world of love--the visual best suited was maybe already snagged by Bjork for "All Is Full Of Love".

Frank Lautenberg made it clear this summer that he has a big love for Lady Gaga. The octogenarian isn't even up for reelection this fall, but just to pad his war chest a little, he hosted a fundraiser at a Gaga concert. For a mere $2,400—the maximum individual donation amount allowed by law—one could join him and his wife in their box at the Verizon Center in DC. He wasn't playing about his affection; for his 86th birthday in January, he went to a Gaga show at Radio City Music Hall. No Rockettes for this Democratic senator from New Jersey.

It's impossible to escape the appropriative aspects of the Gaga persona, though. The feminist aspects of her work are deeply tangled with the anti-feminist parts. We probably wouldn't be seeing Gaga's work at all if she didn't meet certain beauty standards applied to pop stars, if her work wasn't appropriative—the crispy feminist interior is wrapped up in a shit sandwich. It isn't Lady Gaga's fault that appropriation and conventionally attractive women are popular in pop culture and that both of these things are pretty much necessary if you want to be a pop star. And I don't blame Germanotta for creating a character like Lady Gaga to break into the pop scene, because who doesn't want to be a star?

You see, if I was a guy, and I was sitting here with a cigarette in my hand, grabbing my crotch and talking about how I make music 'cause I love fast cars and fucking girls, you'd call me a rock star. But when I do it in my music and in my videos, because I'm a female, because I make pop music, you're judgmental, and you say that it is distracting. I'm just a rock star.

Are you also a feminist?

I'm not a feminist - I, I hail men, I love men. I celebrate American male culture, and beer, and bars and muscle cars...

Via Feministing.