Why Katy Perry is Hateful

I have been only dimly aware of Katy Perry as someone that people hate. Turns out? Totally justified.

Katy Perry is in the news lately for her song "I Kissed A Girl." Which (aside from the title) has nothing to do with singer-songwriter Jill Sobule's earlier song. Perry's song is essentially an MTV-ready version of the "Girls Gone Wild" video series.

It is yet another tiresome pornographic objectification of lesbians, every bit as tedious as if it was made by and for men. Oh wait, it IS.

The girls even have a pillow fight, in their spacious whorehouse/boudoir, there at the end of the video. Which leaves no cheesy pornographic cliché un-mentioned.

Unfortunately, my research into "Why do people hate Katy Perry" further led me to what may well be The Worst Song Ever. That would be her earlier song, "Ur So Gay," which first brought her to fame in 2007.

"You're so gay, and you don't even like boys." Charming, that.

Evidently Katy Perry has confused "metrosexual" or possibly "emo" with "gay." I guess? Because the last time I checked, "gay" meant "sexually attracted to the same gender as oneself." Not "Wearing a particular brand of scarf" or "driving a particular kind of car."

I mean, unless you're in the schoolyard or on XBOX Live. In which case "gay" is an all-purpose slur that means "anything that I myself do not like." In this case, Perry is using the word "gay" as a knife, with which to stab her ex-boyfriend in the back. Since when was it okay to use an entire segment of humanity as the tool of your spite?

And will you just LOOK at her smug little smile?

According to Wikipedia, Katy Perry was raised by a pair of Christian pastors. Her parents forbade her to listen to "secular music," so Perry listened only to gospel music during her entire childhood. It's clear that this limited musical experience has stunted her sense of what is and isn't good music, not to mention what is and isn't appropriate, funny, or excessive. She released a self-titled gospel album in 2001 (under the name Katy Hudson) which evidently met with ringing silence.

Part of what brought Katy Perry into the limelight is that Madonna mentioned that "Ur So Gay" was her "favorite song right now" while on a radio interview. Really, Madonna? I hardly think of Madonna as being someone with really good taste, but I do think of her as someone with enough credibility with the gay community to at least not mention that she enjoys "Ur So Gay" in public.

Musically, Katy Perry is nothing more than an awkward Lily Perry knock-off, lacking the charm, style, and talent. Even a cursory glance at the ex-boyfriend hate in "Ur So Gay" compared to that in Lily Allen's "Smile" makes this obvious.

If anything, "Smile" is considerably more mean-spirited than "Ur So Gay," particularly if the video is considered along with the song. But it's far more targeted, emotionally charged, and specific. More authentic, if you'll forgive the triteness, and it only serves to make Katy Perry look like what she is: a meaningless dress-up doll that Capitol Records has dropped into the role they needed her to play.

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Ur So Gay

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perry

Good article. Sorry you had to think about it that much. Allen is by far the more honest 'artist', even the flock of faithful sniffed out a faker in their spiritual midst, but you failed to mention what irks me the most about Perry, the legions of drooling idiot spoonfed Americans that idolize this vapid bimbo. With any luck her career will be a footnote about how cheesy the 00s were along with Orange County Housewives and pseudo celebrity reality dating games.

Katy Perry fake & untalented

I agree with you. Everything about her is fake her hair is naturally blonde she dies it fake black, her eyes are a dull greyish blue, they are photo-shopped to a piercing light blue (fake) . I do not know why people like her She has a bad personality and is not very smart, did not even graduate from high school. Look at the picture of her that her husband Russel Brand took with out the piles of make up. The Rolling Stone cover was completly photo shopped. She is hideous, tons of tacky make up, stripper outfits, she obviously has fake breasts, then lies about it. You can look it up on U tube it shows several celebrities such as Selma Hyeck, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Katy Perry before & after pictures of them before breast implants and after. She also dresses and acts like a cheap stripper.

I still can't believe it was

I still can't believe it was really her in Russell Brand's twitpic! Her face is, like, a completely different shape!

Thanks Erica

Thanks for looking at the picture. I agree with you. Russel Brand didn't photo shop it. Thanks for your comment Erica.

Some sense.

A couple things here.

"It is yet another tiresome pornographic objectification of lesbians"

"I kissed a girl just to try it, I hope my boyfriend don't mind it." From this line, we can deduct the song has nothing to do with lesbians. In fact, all of the lyrics in the song suggest that she is referring to a straight woman kissing a girl. "You're my experimental game" "I kissed a girl just to try it" You get the point.

If you ask me, she is referencing the sharp contrast in traditional values and the counter-culture emerging from the post-feminist era. "It's not what good girls do, not how they should behave" "This was never the way I planned, not my intention"

"You're so gay, and you don't even like boys." Because the last time I checked, "gay" meant "sexually attracted to the same gender as oneself.

Clearly you aren't under the age of 20 or attending college. "Gay" does not mean homosexual anymore, the word has completely changed meanings, along with "fag" and "faggot". You can attribute this change to xbox live or the schoolyard if it makes you feel better, but the word has nonetheless evolved. Clearly, Perry (or, more accurately, her producers) knows her audience.

"but I do think of her as someone with enough credibility with the gay community to at least not mention that she enjoys "Ur So Gay" in public."

Oh jesus. Because of some of Perry's terminology, we should look down upon her art? I suppose we should also throw out Chaucer's work because of some it might be taken as racist, right? Madonna stating her aesthetic attractrion to the song speaks nothing of her relationship to the gay community. Don't even kid yourself.

"a meaningless dress-up doll"

"nothing more than an awkward Lily Perry knock-off"

"And will you just LOOK at her smug little smile?"

Please, stick to the insults. You don't have to support them with legitimate reasoning.

PS.
"You're so gay, and you don't even like boys." Charming, that.

Lol, it is pretty clever.

You make some interesting

You make some interesting points, aside from the random insults. (Must your comment include random insults? Why do you feel that is so? I always wonder. Do you feel I will pay more attention if you are insulting? Or do you feel that you may as well insult me, since I probably won't pay any attention anyway? These are honest questions.)

But to address your point that "gay doesn't mean homosexual anymore." I beg to differ. The entire reason people use the word "gay" now as a slur meaning "something that I dislike" is because gay = homosexual.

Anyone who says otherwise is lying to you.

Know how I can tell?

Because PEOPLE STILL USE THE WORD GAY TO MEAN HOMOSEXUAL. This definition is still well within their vocabulary - as it is in the vocabulary of our culture at large.

Witness phrases like "gay adoption," "gay marriage," "There are a lot of rumors that A Famous Hollywood Star is gay," etc.

Unless you think being under

Unless you think being under the age of 20 is an insult, the only way in which I hit you on a personal level was pointing out all of the shots you took at Perry-- right here:

"Please, stick to the insults. You don't have to support them with legitimate reasoning."

And I think it was constructive considering you spent at least two paragraphs telling us your negative opinion of Perry.

Sure, the original meaning of the word might still be heard now and again, but the word has still sprouted a new meaning.

And as an advocate of gay rights myself, I'm pretty sure I'm not using the word synonymously with the homosexual definition.

I don't know though, maybe I secretly hate homosexuals..

I'll ask one of my gay friends.

You should definitely ask

You should definitely ask your gay friends how they feel when you insult something by saying "That's so gay," especially in their presence. I'm sure you don't mean it that way, but that doesn't make it untrue.

The word "gay" has not sprouted a new meaning, and if you're an advocate for gay rights, you shouldn't be using it as a slur. (Just ask Wanda Sykes!) End of story.

I use it because it isn't

I use it because it isn't insulting anymore, that's what I'm trying to tell you.

And, in fact, I have asked several of my gay friends if they mind it. Guess what their response was?

I'm sick of the feminists, the LGBT, and the fundamentalists all trying to tell me what words I should use and which I shouldn't.
Words don't mean anything. Curse words are only bad words because they are used to describe bad things. No word has an inherent meaning.

Also, my roommate read your reply along with me and thought I should draw attention to how the word has already once changed its meaning.

You are incorrect. Using the

You are incorrect. Using the word "gay" is insulting to gay people. That is why there is a whole brand of activism which is pushing back against it.

I'm sorry if it upsets you if you feel that "the feminists" are trying to tell you what words you should or shouldn't use. Use whatever words you want. I ain't the word police.

But let us stop discussing what is, and discuss what should be.

Do you feel that the word "gay" should be an insult? Do you feel that it promotes equality to use it in this fashion? Do you feel that it supports the cause of homosexual rights?

"You are incorrect. Using the

"You are incorrect. Using the word "gay" is insulting to gay people. That is why there is a whole brand of activism which is pushing back against it."

There is also a whole brand of activism for teaching children the bible in public schools. I hope you aren't on board with them too.

"I'm sorry if it upsets you if you feel that "the feminists" are trying to tell you what words you should or shouldn't use. Use whatever words you want. I ain't the word police."

I appreciate that. It doesn't really upset me when groups of people tell me to avoid certain words, but it does bother me when other people cave into their demands. Freedom of speech is part of what paved the way for the free society I live in today and I hate to see it needlessly tarnished.

"Do you feel that the word "gay" should be an insult?"

I don't have an opinion on what it "should" be. It's just a word.

"Do you feel that it supports the cause of homosexual rights?"

Probably not. Although I don't think the word "potato" supports the cause of homosexual rights either.

No, obviously words have

No, obviously words have meaning. In fact, meaning is the only thing that words have. It's why we use them.

Your argument is disingenuous, like pointing out that "money is just pieces of paper." If that's true, then why don't you give me all of yours? Because money isn't JUST pieces of paper, the way that words aren't JUST collections of letters.

In the case of the word "gay," the meaning "homosexual" directly precedes the meaning "wrong and bad." This is documented in every dictionary from the OED to Urban Dictionary.

People try to argue that "it doesn't mean that anymore," which is clearly incorrect, because the word is visibly in current use in both senses. Examples of this abound.

You yourself freely use the word "gay" in both senses. Leaving the reader (or listener) to have to parse out whether you are talking about someone who prefers a same-sex partner, or someone who is wrong and bad.

I'm not discussing this with you any further. I've spent more than enough time on this. Feel free to get in the last word if you feel you must. But just think about it, okay? Your peer group isn't always right.

Words describe ideas

Never did I say words are devoid of meaning, I said they have no Inherent meaning. And only fiat currency is "just pieces of paper".

Dictionaries change their definitions according to people's use of the word, not the other way around.

You can give a word whatever meaning you want, but it's still just a word-- a placeholder for an idea. It's the idea you should be worried about, not the term.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kh0Uu1yD-v0

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