Is Lady Gaga a Feminist or Isn’t She?
March 11, 2010 by Noelle Williams · 28 Comments
Nobody could describe my relationship with Lady Gaga better than she does: We’re in a Bad Romance.
She’ll say something feminist one minute and equate feminism with man-hating the next. Sometimes she seems too skinny, too blonde, too commercial–but then she explains how her Bad Romance video simulates the trafficking of women as commodities in the music industry and I swoon. So, with the newly released first unofficial biography of Lady Gaga in hand, I set out to settle the question: Is Lady Gaga a feminist or isn’t she?
Emily Herbert’s Lady Gaga: Behind the Fame adds to the already familiar growing-up-Catholic-school-girl backstory new insight into Gaga’s artistic vision and business savvy. In an industry in which many women (and some men) are shepherded to stardom with little input, Gaga appears to be completely in control of her image. As Herbert explains in the book, Gaga’s creative collective, “Haus of Gaga,” is fashioned after Andy Warhol’s Factory. Every member is under 26 years old and hand-picked by Gaga. Together, they handle everything–the music, the clothing, the performances–and are wildly successful at creating exciting, strange art and music that large numbers of people love.
Her art provides a running commentary on gender, sexuality and beauty. There are hints of David Bowie, Prince and Madonna in the way she plays with sexuality, but while Gaga acknowledges these similarities she wants it to be clear she is something entirely her own. With her deliberate juxtaposition of conventional platinum blonde beauty and fashionably ugly costumes, she toys with conventional rules of attractiveness. Half of her appeal throughout 2009 seemed to be the question of whether or not she was pretty, whether or not people felt comfortable liking her. “I am not sexy in the way Britney Spears is sexy,” Gaga is quoted in the bio, “I just don’t have the same ideas about sexuality that I want to portray. I have a very specific aesthetic–androgyny.”
What effect does it have for someone who defies conventional beauty to be sexy? Maybe it means broadening what sexy is.
Gaga also espouses safe sex and embraces her queer fans.“I want to free [my fans] of their fears and make them feel they can create their own place in the world,” Gaga told Barbara Walters in December 2009. What is more feminist that creating an inclusive atmosphere where people feel accepted?
Lady Gaga speaks at October 2009 National Equality March
And Gaga beautifully articulated the double standard within pop music :
You see if I was a guy and I was sitting here with a cigarette in my hand, grabbing my crotch, talking about how I make music because I love fast cars and fucking girls, you’d call me a rock star. But when I [sing about sex] in my music and videos, because I’m a female, because I make pop music, you are judgmental and you say that it is distracting. I’m just a rock star.
But moments later she stomped on my heart:
I’m not a feminist. I hail men, I love men, I celebrate American male culture– beer, bars, and muscle cars.
Feminist fans around the country joined in a collective hand slap to the forehead.
Of all people to be afraid of a word, the controversy-loving Lady Gaga just doesn’t seem to fit. So is Lady Gaga really fearful? Or just ignorant?
I was heartened when finally, as the year came to a close, she admitted to the LA Times that she was a “little bit of a feminist.” And I think she’s more a feminist than she admits. Throughout her time in the spotlight, Gaga has made consistent statements about being a strong woman, focusing on her career and being in control. On a radio show in September 2009, she addressed a rumor that she was a hermaphrodite: “I think this is society’s reaction to a strong woman.”
Lady Gaga is a young artist who seems to renegotiate her image and identity with each bit of education she receives. Maybe she has made some feminist faux pas, but to her credit, she educates herself and comes back with a stronger statement than the last. She thinks about who she is and how she presents herself, and that is refreshing. And “a little bit feminist.”
I can’t help but fantasize about just what Lady Gaga could do by identifying as“feminist.” Her immense popularity and youthful, outspoken image could be the perfect set-up for a revolution of the word.
Photos from Wikimedia Commons.
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Oh I think she is absolutely feminist! I think her comment about “hailing” men was tongue in cheek, playing into those myths about feminists. She clearly realizes the inequalities for women in the music biz, and is promoting LGBTQ rights, safe sex, AIDS awareness, and women who have creative autonomy. What more could we want? I think sometimes as feminists (I do it too sometimes) we want our female icons and role models to be perfect with feminisms in the ideal sense, but that is not realistic. They live in the same world of flux and contradiction that the rest of us do, and do the best they can. Plus, we don’t want to fall into that same trap of criticizing female musicians harsher than male ones. That gets us nowhere. But I agree with your post, and I love Lady Gaga as well. I knew she was a feminist even before she came out as one. I guess being a feminist musician, you know it when you see it! =)
Great article. Isn’t this what makes lady gaga so alluring after all? You’re never quite sure where the performance ends and are forced to constantly question whether she is satirizing or deserves to be satirized. Ultimately, I think straddling the line works for her. She’s just mainstream enough to fit in, and just progressive enough to challenge our normative views.
Sometimes I wonder whether it’s intentional or not. Is she a sometime erring liberal or a super-genius progressive manipulator. If anyone knows, don’t tell me. That’s my favorite ambiguity of all.
Noelle, I feel your pain and frustration, so many strong feminist women I love and admire are scared of the ‘F’ word. It seems that there is every reason to believe she is a feminist, the only thing thing that suggests otherwise is her aversion to calling herself one and she’s coming round to that.
Great read. I think as a strong and successful women, she needs to own the feminist within and claim the F word. Oh Barb, you are so right to call her one of 2009′s most interesting people.
For my part, I’m just devastated to discover that, in a little less than a year, I will be too old to work for Lady Gaga.
Interesting analysis Noelle.
I think, more than anything, your question (is she or isn’t she?) is embedded in a larger question. That is, how people define feminism. Listen to what Gaga says immediately after she claims she’s not a feminist in that Norwegian interview: “I hail men.” Hail – welcome; encourage; approve with enthusiasm. Can’t a feminist hail men? Under which misconstrued definition of feminism can s/he not?
I was talking to a friend here, an unusually strong Ecuadorian woman of indigenous heritage, and when I told her that yes, I would probably consider myself a feminist, she was much more surprised than I expected, asking me why a female-dominated world would be necessary. What? Does feminism mean female domination?
People are afraid of “the F word” precisely because of that. They believe that it means that feminists don’t have boyfriends and don’t like any sexy fashion and generally don’t think anything to do with men is necessary.
I’m not convinced that the singer is as intelligent as her art is (although, I admit, I had no idea who she was until December when I was in the States), and I think that she might not have a clear-set idea of what feminism is–she seems to me to be confusing the definition.
This is one of the few fair and reasonable articles analyzing gaga and feminism that I’ve read. It’s a complicated question, but I think that speaks to fact that determining whether or not anyone is a feminist is complicated. Especially at a point in time when so many legitimate, self-proclaimed feminists frequently find themselves in disagreement with one another about a myriad of issues. It’s hard to define what makes a feminist a feminist, and lady gaga is an excellent example of why. Thanks, Noelle, for not shying away from the facts. Addressing the reality of gaga’s past inconsistencies is commendable. Celebrities are not one-dimensional characters. And they evolve, just like everybody else.
I understand that it’s hard to forgive certain “mortal feminist sins,” and I understand why it’s important to establish certain shared feminist principles. However, feminism can’t survive on an island, and, as a movement, I don’t think that feminism can afford to turn people away at the door.
Does she actually identify as a feminist? If no, then she’s not a feminist. She certainly seems to have feminist sensibilities that work in similar ways as Madonna circa late ’80s/early 90s, so perhaps that counts for something. At the end of the day, though, she’s simply manipulating the media machine in her monetary favor, and while that may pad her personal pocket, it’s not contributing to systemic change.
Feminist Review:
I get the idea that you have to be a whole-heartedly self-proclaimed feminist in order to count as one in most circles. But Sarah Palin fits that description. To be fair, Palin might be contributing to systematic change, but not in the direction you or I likely want to go. Maybe we can agree on that. But I really, really think that it is ultimately damaging to the feminist movement to become too attached to some sort of highly subjective (and socially constructed) litmus test for what constitutes a true feminist. And the idea that calling yourself a feminist makes you a feminist, well, that leaves plenty of room for the Palins of the world, and that’s not ok with me!
@ Annie. I agree. If we have some sort of feminist litmus test that defeats any sort of coalition building between feminisms. It’s just more phallogocentric thinking.
Sarah Palin only briefly ID’d herself as a feminist, then quickly backtracked. http://www.feministing.com/archives/011827.html. By the way, how feminist/not feminist do you think Gaga’s new video with Beyonce is? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ95z6ywcBY
@ Electrik Emily: I love the term “phallogocentric thinking.” Completely true. Certainly brings up the question: If someone identifies as everything that defines “feminist” in its many and varied definitions, but does not call themselves “feminist,” are they in fact a feminist?
To which I ask, do we need to necessarily label Gaga as feminist or not? It reminds me of Johnny Weir refusing to label his sexuality. What’s the necessity in doing so?
Slightly related, love Ms. Gaga.
Nearly 40 years ago feminism meant women and men who were “for women”. At that time it meant fighting for jobs that were closed to women. Women are now in many of those jobs b/c we fought for those jobs. It meant changing the images of women in the media. Today women and men are imaged in varying ways in the media but still stereotyping lingers. It meant fighting for equality of wages…a battle not yet won. Today we see the plight of women all over the world = in need of support from other women and from feminist men. The ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) in the USA has still not passed. Women are not yet equal under the law in the United States of America.
Is Lady Gaga a feminist? Maybe she is just a smart business woman who has taken advantage of the openings we forged nearly 40 years ago, and the openings forged by our foremothers in the struggle from 1840 thru 1920. We fought for equal rights then, but settled for the right to vote. We have so much farther to go. Before you can define yourself or anyone else as a feminist you need to learn about women’s history. Will you find it in books written predominately by men? Ask yourself what you really know about the struggles of your sisters and foremothers to get you where you are today.
Find the book “Century of Struggle” if you can. I don’t remember the author’s name and I gave my copy away many years ago.
Noelle hits the nail on the head.
This is a great article, and I totally appreciate it. But “hermaphrodite” is both dated, inaccurate, and considered pretty offensive to a lot of people with intersex conditions.
@Joanna – you’re right about the word. In the defense of Noelle Williams, “hermaphrodite” is the word used in all the press about Lady Gaga. So while it is not an accurate description of intersex people, it is an accurate description of the rumors. The full quote is great:
“I’m not embarrassed—I sold 4 million records in 6 months; I’m not embarrassed about anything. I think more than anything, it’s society’s reaction to a strong woman. The idea that we equate strength with men and a penis is a symbol of male strength, you know, it’s just what it is. But like I said, I’m not offended at all, but my vagina might be a little bit upset.”
@camipco Love the quote!
P.S. Just wrote a huge blog post about Lady Gaga. I basically look at the new telephone video from a feminist perspective. Check it out if you want! Just click my name above this post! Thanks!
I read this with much interest as everytime I hear/see Lady Gaga I think this. Most of the time, I think that actually she’s not, but then I see the quotes that she gives in full and change my mind. However, having spent the last while talking to girls/young women’s groups I realised that actually regardless of how we, as adult women, interpret her, the way girls interpret her is very important. We all know we live in a raunch culture right? and we all know that Lady Gaga is rarely ( if ever) quoted in full so her desire to re-interpret, explore and poke fun at sexism and female sexuality is never properly reported.(this is not down to her obv) girls and young women do see her as a role model, because she is sexy and fun, not because she opens up dialogue on what it means to be a sexual (as opposed to sexy) woman. I think the last video was a check list of all the sexist imagery we see in raunch culture, and without a feminist interpretation of it, most girls see her as beautiful and sexy. But sexy for boys and men. I’m from the UK, and we’ve just had a report out by the Home Office about the sexualisation of children. One of the findings was how girls aspirations are shaped by their “desire to be desired”. Lady Gaga absolutely feeds into this culture. So for me, it’s really about the context in which we interpret popular culture-including Lady Gaga, and this goes back to the questions who controls the media and our social discourses? why is she (white, blonde, slim) given a platform as opposed to other musicians?
Annie Shields: There a two-ish distinct questions I have about what you’re saying: 1) Who gets to decide who is and isn’t a feminist? And what is or isn’t feminist? 2) Does not identifying as a feminist somehow invalidate one’s participation in and contribution to feminism?
Great post, Noelle, and terrific dialogue via the comments. You’ve all raised valid and important points. The questions Feminist Review raises above are complex and worth discussing further (new post?)