sharplittleteeth

Yeah. She's trying to corner the market in homophobes who are secretly turned on by same-sex snogging.

Which is a depressingly larger market than the "people who are cool with people having fun and don't give a toss about gender" market.

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The word 'gay' had, clearly, been recaptured from Teh Gayz and has been brought back into the mainstream.

Unfortunately it now means 'lame' instead of 'happy'.

"You don't eat meat, and drive electrical cars/ You're so indie rock it's almost an art, you need SPF-45 just to stay alive/Ur so gay and you don't even like boys."

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Well, since she's getting into faux-lesbianism, I think she needs to eat my invisible, pretend dick. Yup.

(Angry redhead reacting to the sunscreen lyric. Don't mind me.)

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Have you been reading The Dawn Chorus? Or were you just speaking to someone who has?

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No, it's just been bugging me the last week or so. Also, I really like that Veronica's song.

Link?

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http://thedawnchorus.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/she-kissed-me-and-it-felt-like-a-hit/

Only posted last Friday, which is why I asked :-)

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Oh, some of those comments are hilarious.
"It's men's fault"!

I did LOL at this one:
I find that I enjoy the songs intrusions into my life by just mentally changing the lyrics to: ‘I f*cked a horse and I liked it’. Suddenly ‘I hope my boyfriend don’t mind it’ becomes quite hilarious.

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Thanks.

That's pretty much my take on it. I particularly like the New Gay interview with Kate Perry where she admits that, uh, she hasn't actually kissed a girl at all.

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But does that Kate Perry "I Kissed A Girl" song shit you up the wall too?

Yes, as much because it's all about the "fauxmosexual/trensbian/celesbianism" thing as much as its status as musical wallpaper - it's everywhere.

I can usually avoid pop music (really, it took me months to know what that "umbrella" song sounded like, but Kate fucking Perry is everywhere, and the song is a well-designed ear-worm.

It wasn't even that interesting when TaTu did it.

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I haven't heard it. Well, not that I know of anyway.

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Once you hear it ... it's not hard to pick it up from a few bars.
It's quite interesting for a non-music type like me.

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There's a YouTube link above, if you're curious.

You're not really missing much. The Veronica's song is much, much better. Did I mention that I like the Veronica's song yet? :)

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p-cat.livejournal.com

There's a YouTube link above, if you're curious.

For the love of humanity, don't do it! It will be stuck in your head for the rest of your life!

I had the misfortune to hear this song in a shop over a month ago and it gets stuck in my head all the time.

Just know that it's ghastly and obnoxious. Don't click the link, I beg of you!

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andricongirl.livejournal.com

i haven't heard them either

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I think you've at least hear the Kate Perry song - I first heard it on Rage, which is why I remember the video more than the actual song itself.

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Does she actually kiss a girl in the video?

/We should bring back the scarlet letter :)

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No. There's lots of girls dancing in their underwear. And the video opens with Perry (I shit you not) stroking a pussycat in her lap.

But there's no girl-on-girl action.

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And the video opens with Perry (I shit you not) stroking a pussycat in her lap.

That must be symbolic of something.
Quick, to my semiotics textbooks!
*Barthes Man symbol flashes on the screen and whirls around to a trumpet score*
That fiendish woman! Her symbolism is too subtle for even the BarthesComputer!
*thumps fist into hand*
FADE OUT

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seedy-girl.livejournal.com

Article from The Age last Friday on exactly this problem:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/the-dangers-of-fauxmosexuality/2008/10/09/1223145603452.html

I personally don't like that both songs seem to trivialise an issue that results in a considerable number of suicides.

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See, I don't think the Veronica's song does trivialise the issue. To me, it sounds genuine and heartfelt. The Kate Perry song, on the other hand, is far more cynical and exploitative.

I'm not dismissing the seriousness of gay suicide. But Tim Duggan's article implies that only Officially Approved Gay Persons are allowed to enjoy a bit of same sex snogging. Sexuality just doesn't work like that.

(And I'm still trying to work out how Lindsay Lohan being with her partner for over a year and exchanging engagement rings trivialises gey relationships rather than, say, providing hope and inspiration for young gay people who feel alone and isolated.)

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seedy-girl.livejournal.com

I agree with you that the Katie Perry is more cynical and exploitative than the Veronica's song (mainly due to it being the entire subject of the song rather than just a couple of lines) but I still think that it trivialises the issue to some degree.

I probably should have mentioned that I don't necessarily agree with all of the article, particularly the sexual dichotomy angle that you pointed out, but I am glad that at least there is a critical article on the subject in the mainstream media. I'm just surprised that it's taken so long.

As regards Lindsay Lohan, I suspect that the point that Tim Duggan is trying to make (despite doing so badly) is that by continually being coy with the media about the status of her relationship with the person who she may or may not be dating, Ms Lohan is sending the message that "It's OK to be gay, just as long as you keep it behind closed doors". I have trouble seeing how that assists young gay people feel less isolated - it's still reducing their sexual orientation to little more than a tool to sell gossip media or enhance a person's celebrity.

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it's still reducing their sexual orientation to little more than a tool to sell gossip media or enhance a person's celebrity.

That applies equally to any and all hetero relationships too.

Do I care Paris Hilton is dating the guy from Good Charlotte?
No.
Do I know? Yes. Why?

Ms Lohan is sending the message that "It's OK to be gay, just as long as you keep it behind closed doors"

She's done a bang-up job there.
Even I know Miss Trashtastic is dating Miss Skanky.
And I don't want to know anything about Lohan or some DJ.

/Will rant about dumbing down of the media for food. I think that's the real issue.

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I despise this kind of crap. Not just because it trivialises non-hetero sexual preferences, but because it actively exploits lesbian sexuality and re-enforces the grotesque idea that chicks doing it is only cool when it's two "hot" chicks, doing it for men to watch and get off on. Fuck Kate Perry.

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the grotesque idea that chicks doing it is only cool when it's two "hot" chicks, doing it for men to watch and get off on

Whilst I'm something of a hermit, as I understand it, this has been an increasing trend in the US for some years (indeed, there was a much less successful trend among emos for boys kissing boys) which is far beyond the usual "faux-bisexual" thing.

Is Kate Perry exploiting a zeitgiest, or creating a trend? Or is she pushing hetero-normative boundaries and ushering a paradigm shift, an era of so-called fluid sexuality, if such a thing can be said to exist?*

(*The thing I miss about university: using wank words).

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I still don't know what half those words mean, even after looking them up in the dictionary repeatedly when I come across them in books/on the net.

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I bloody-well loathe the word zeitgiest, I have to say. But it may just be wanky negative associations.

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I loathe half of those words.

Besides, zeitgiest is so 2000.

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I still don't know what half those words mean, even after looking them up in the dictionary repeatedly when I come across them in books/on the net.

That's okay. I can't play the basson music either. :p

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Oh, I don't think she's creating a trend at all - I think she's just one more person contributing to something that's been established for a while now. I think what creeps me out is that it seems to have crept out of porn into the mainstream popular media. "Lesbian" porn doesn't bother me so much, because at least porn is inherently honest about its purposes - it's fantasy, there to get you off. Pop music (which seems to me to be getting closer and closer to the soft-porn boundary), is far less honest about itself and its purposes.

David mentioned Tatu up there and I think they're a great example - it's one thing to know that image in pop is about selling records, and that sex is going to be part of that with young female vocalist, but to create a false sexual identity and a false relationship is just downright creepy. It's like the gay equivalent of blackface.

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Pop music (which seems to me to be getting closer and closer to the soft-porn boundary), is far less honest about itself and its purposes.

I think pop music crossed into soft-porn years ago.

It's like the gay equivalent of blackface.

I think that's a great metaphor.

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a-carnal-mink.livejournal.com

Ur, maybe I've just seen the title of the song and assumed "stuff" from that, but... isn't it just a cover of a song from the '90s?

And if it is - why the palaver over it now?

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No, it's not a cover of the Jill Sobule song from the 90's. That was a sweet little song about a fairly innocent kiss.

The Kate Perry song is a lot more "Look at me! Aren't I all sexy and naughty for kissing a girl! Gosh, I hope my boyfriend doesn't mind *wink*".

The palaver is nicely summed up in the Dawn Chorus article horngirl linked to above.

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