In early December, Katy Perry was honored by the Trevor
Project, an organization that works to prevent LGBTQ suicides. The Trevor Project gave KP the Trevor Hero
Award for “inspiring LGBTQ
youth to find their spark through her video 'Firework'” and “increasing
visibility and understanding of the LGBTQ community.”
However, many in the LGBTQ community did not believe KP
deserved such an award. In her song “I
Kissed A Girl,” she makes clear that she has a boyfriend (and therefore is
straight, not gay or bisexual). This
song delegitimizes lesbians by portraying girls kissing girls as a “phase” that
straight girls go through, rather than an expression of feelings between
lesbian or bi women. It furthers the
idea that two girls kissing is only socially acceptable for straight girls who
are “bi-curious” or hoping to get attention from men. This song does not appear to “increase
visibility and understanding of the LGBTQ community.”
Even more offensive is KP’s song “Ur So Gay.” (Hint: Her inability to spell is not the
offensive part.) In this song, Katy
Perry makes fun of an ex-boyfriend by calling him for being too feminine. The lyrics include “I hope you hang yourself
with your H&M scarf/While jacking off listening to Mozart.” Rather than using legitimate insults on her
ex, KP resorts to the default insult of a middle-schooler: “You’re so
gay.” This song is childish and
offensive, and certainly does not further the Trevor Project’s goal of reducing
LGBTQ suicides.
Despite these two
songs, Katy Perry did positively portray gayness in the music video of
“Firework.” A series of clips includes a
boy at a party, who crosses the room to kiss another boy. Based on the lyrics, we can assume that this
boy is embracing his true self. But is
this short section in one video enough to negate the damage done by two of her
previous songs? Should Katy Perry be
rewarded for doing some good? Or is honoring her actually hurting the LGBTQ
community, by ignoring and normalizing her use of negative, anti-gay
stereotypes?
What are your thoughts? Is Katy Perry a good role model for the LGBTQ community? What about for everyone else? Post in the comments!
** You may publish anonymous comments as well. All comments are subject toreview and approval from The Alice Drum Women's Center. **
- Lauren Dever
** You may publish anonymous comments as well. All comments are subject toreview and approval from The Alice Drum Women's Center. **
- Lauren Dever
I think we seriously need to look at why Katy Perry is being nominated here... Is she being nominated because she's an advocate who happens to be famous, or because we're trying to make a celebrity into an advocate. To me, the fact that we're scourging through her lyrics to find something worth praising suggests that we're just trying to make a famous person into an advocate.
ReplyDeleteWhy not find someone whose advocacy work is profound and admirable, and then make them famous for it. It seems to me like that would be a better role model than a pop singer who maybe once wrote a song that almost mentions bicurious relationships, but maybe doesn't, and also maybe denigrates non-masculine men - is this the best we can find?
-Drew Mitchell
She owes the community an apology. It's quite amazing that she hasn't gotten much backlash about these songs. I can't believe she had the nerve to sing "ur so gay" at a high school. Thank you for writing this, people easily brushed it off and gave her a free pass because she's "cute".
ReplyDeleteI COMPLETELY AGREE. I CANNOT FIND A POST THAT BETTER EXPLAINS ALL THIS SO WONDERFULLY!!!I wrote something about her too on my blog, too...
ReplyDeletehttp://misslaceynoel.blogspot.com/2013/01/my-thoughts-on-tegan-sara-and-katy-perry.html?m=1
She doesn't deserve the award. Anyone that writes lyrics encouraging someone to hang themselves for ANY reason (in this case, because they were gay), should not be encouraged. She should not be endorsed by the community she ends up insulting, no matter how playful or loosely comical the lyrics were intended to be.
ReplyDeleteAs for her song "I Kissed a Girl," it may have made girls kissing girls more socially acceptable, but not exactly in the way that the LGBTQ community would like. Hate to burst the LGBTQ bubble, but I think it was made more as a sexual fantasy rather than an expression of real emotions felt between two women...
I agree with Drew, find a real advocate
- Colin Ely