From “Portrait of a Lady” by Jeremy Kinser in The Advocate:
“‘… I was born this way. And that’s who I am. Some people weren’t born to wear masks, but I was. I was born to wear masks and wigs and fashion. To express myself through my clothing and my performance art, and that’s who I am.’”
Case in point, Camille Paglia. Case in point.
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From “Madonna: Finally, a Real Feminist” by Camille Paglia, in an article from 1990 in the New York Times:
“Madonna has a far profounder vision of sex than do the feminists. She sees both the animality and the artifice. Changing her costume style and hair colour virtually every month, Madonna embodies the eternal values of beauty and pleasure. Feminism says, ‘No more masks.’ Madonna says we are nothing but masks.”
Paglia is notoriously anti-Gaga, perhaps fearing that Mother Monster may be stealing the waning spotlight from Her Madgesty.
It’s funny that this was written 21 years ago, because it could very well have been written only recently, in relation to Gaga: “she sees both the animality and artifice” of sex. She changes “her costume style and hair colour” one better than Madonna; every day, it seems. And Gaga, as I have written, exists as something of a mask, while espousing the importance of being yourself.
So it’s not just the novelty bras and “Express Yourself” tune in “Born This Way”…
Related: [The Early Bird Catches the Worm] Gaga Ooo La La?
Elsewhere: [The Advocate] Portrait of a Lady.
[...] too long, it was the anti-feminists who owned that brand: Katie Roiphe, Camille Paglia, Caitlin [...]