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Little Valkyrie ([info]waltraute) wrote in [info]otf_wank,
@ 2010-09-18 12:28:00


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This feminist blog which depends on your donations is not here to educate you!
Thanks to the anon at wank_report for the bulk of the writeup, with its singular virtues.

S.E. SMITH accuses Lady Gaga of appropriation:

It's been pointed out that she appropriates a lot of things from musical traditions created by people of colour and nonwhite people. That her work contains transmisogyny. That she appropriates the experiences of people with disabilities. These are all things that I don't think of as feminist acts—note that I am not saying that Lady Gaga is not feminist (because I don't think it's up to me to decide that), but rather that I am saying that her actions do not always mesh with the identity she has chosen to claim. The same could be said of many other people who identify as feminist, including myself, however. Let those in glass houses...

(bonus points for the excellent use of praeteritio here.)

A commenter asks for references and explanation. According to Snarky's Machine, late of the now-closed Shapely Prose, asking for sources is derailing and oppressive:

I can't be arsed to unpack and respond to your comment except to say you're trafficking in copious amounts of derailing for dummies. Your inability to "see" how Gaga misappropriates says everything about YOUR own privilege and inability to google "Grace Jones" and nothing else. If concepts are unfamiliar to you instead assuming the concepts themselves are wrong, you might want to hit up Professor Google. Because the argument, "you're wrong because I don't know what you're talking about." just does not cut it.

Comments defending that commenter get deleted (although some are reposted in the anon threads below). Mods claim to be "reviewing the situation" (i.e., pretending to do something about it). "Open thread" disappears after 20 minutes after irate commenters leave comments there. The current status is "please email the mods directly if you want to talk about comment policy", which couldn't possibly have a chilling effect--not at all.

Snarky's Machine has another reply to that initial commenter on Twitter:

Ha. I love how some weird ass creepy e-troll named whitney is stalking my feed and tattling cause I'm so mean. Who are these people.

People take refuge to complain in several threads in the sfd_anon community. (Which are now locked; possibly accessible if you're a member of the community.) Worth noting are the ones about how Bitch magazine aggressively solicits donations to support their journalism, which puts a special irony gloss on the "we're not here to educate you" rebuttal.


(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]shark
2010-09-18 07:16 pm UTC (link)
I think that they might be trying to express that being happily cisgendered and also getting upset when/if people think/say you're transgendered is oppressive.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]platedlizard
2010-09-18 07:54 pm UTC (link)
Which sucks.

Lady GaGa isn't a sterotypical female beauty. So I can understand getting upset when people claim that there's no way she can be cis because of her looks. Frankly it's why I get annoyed when when people pull the same shit over Ann Coulter or Rachel Madow. What, so they don't meet some random definition of female we have to imply that they're trans (and therefore imply that transwomen aren't female as well?) How very feminist of (generic) you.

Aaaand this is [info]otf_w not [info]unfunnybusiness so I'll stop right there.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]arionhunter
2010-09-18 09:31 pm UTC (link)
Well, part of this, specifically in the "Telephone" video, is that it plays off the "Is Lady Gaga intersex?" rumor Gaga herself stirred up. Early in the video, when Gaga flashes her bare (but blurred) crotch at the camera, a prison guard says something to "I knew she wasn't a man."

Which is a pretty self-explanatory and offensive reification of biology = gender.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]platedlizard
2010-09-18 09:44 pm UTC (link)
Okay, that makes more sense. I thought it was more of the same shit Coulter and Maddow get (YES I GET IT, ONE HAS AN ADAMS APPLE AND THE OTHER'S A LESBIAN AND THAT MAKES THEM SOMEHOW NOT WOMEN HAHA. NOW SHUT UP)

I admit I haven't been following GaGa closely.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]blue_penguin
2010-09-19 12:44 am UTC (link)
I am slightly ashamed to know this, but isn't what the guard says "I told you she didn't have a dick" or something like that? Not that that bit isn't still problematic, but.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]shaggydogstail
2010-09-19 01:05 am UTC (link)
Early in the video, when Gaga flashes her bare (but blurred) crotch at the camera, a prison guard says something to "I knew she wasn't a man."

Except the prison guard actually says "I told you she didn't have a dick". Kind of an ironic mistake under the circumstances.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]arionhunter
2010-09-19 01:16 am UTC (link)
Pint taken, but I'm not of the opinion that makes it any better.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]skarrow
2010-09-19 06:47 am UTC (link)
Since it's obviously a direct address to the tabloid assertion that she does have a dick (I think hermaphroditic genitalia was the running theory), I'm not sure if it is the same as conflating physical sex with gender.

Media: You secretly have male genitalia. THIS IS A HUGE DEAL.
Music video: No, I don't secretly have male genitalia. NOW ON WITH THE SONG.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


redwarrior
2010-10-02 01:19 am UTC (link)
No, it's not.

Besides, she fucking supports intersex research. Which is why she started the rumor in the first place. JESUS.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]kosaginolegion
2010-09-19 03:13 pm UTC (link)
As an additional data point, the whole "Lady Gaga is a Guy" thing partly started (or fueled) by a photo of her that some viewers concluded was proof that she had more down there than a woman normally does.

I think for a while she let the rumors fly and that the bit in the song was intended to either fuel the fire or make a statement. Possibly both.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


redwarrior
2010-10-02 01:18 am UTC (link)
This is a whole bunch of WTF to me.

I'm a trans man, and I've been mistaken for a trans woman. Why can't these people do like I do and laugh it off?

(Reply to this)(Parent)


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