Why Progress is Hard

Katy Perry is on the cover of Out Magazine's "People of the Year" issue, presumably on the merits of "I Kissed a Girl," despite its portrayal of homosexuality as a viable way for a woman to piss off an ex-boyfriend / increase her chances of snagging a new one. And despite its portrayal of homosexuality as an act of rebellion. And despite it's assertion that homosexuality is "not what good girls do."

Richard Lawson wrote about it at Gawker, and he makes some fine points:

Sure, OK, Out isn't exactly the arbiter of gay culture it sometimes seems to fancy itself, but still! The bulk of the little bit on Perry is pretty praising (though they do at least mention the fact that some gay activists aren't happy with the song or Ms. Perry—who also has a song called "Ur So Gay" about a po-mo/homo ex-boyfriend who like, drinks wine and drives a hybrid) and that, I think, is pretty embarrassing for the magazine. Harmless fun is only fun when it's, well, harmless. This kind of co-opting of a hard-fought cause does, I suspect, do some damage.

Both of her geigh-themed ditties are kind of "jokes" in that way where they actually aren't jokes at all but the problem is that people who are smart enough to "get" "it" (common idiots, out of work chimps) are also smart enough to, you know, not like her music. It's her impressionable teeny bop fan girls who I worry about. I worry, frankly, that when they are of age... they will go wild.

I wonder if we're maybe giving Katy Perry a little too much credit as a comedian here -- just because non-idiots have to laugh at something in order to keep from jumping off a bridge doesn't necessarily mean it's a joke. 

UPDATE: Oh man, I just read the article in Out. Here's my favorite part:

"Yet even after a year of fielding tough questions about the divisive singles, Perry maintains she is simply espousing self-exploration and open-mindedness. 'I think certain parts of the world—especially in the U.S.—are just dying to be offended,' she says. 'I get a lot of journalists in Europe who are like, ‘What's the big deal? People are OK with hip-hop videos, where there are strippers and drugs and gangs and guns, when you're singing about an innocent kiss?' I'm aware of people's opinions, but it won't change how I express myself as an artist.'

You're right, Katy. Between "I Kissed a Girl" and "Ur So Gay," you're really making us search long and hard for something to be offended by.