This morning I watched her newest video “Born This Way”. I have real problems with this video. Last semester I wrote a glowing defense of Gaga and why I believed she was the face of a new kind of feminism. Woops. I feel like everything I had argued for went down the toilet as I watched her new video. Shit.

Like I said, I have some real problems with this video. Writhing around in a bra and panties is no way to get a message out there. She’s already done this before. This bra and panties thing is so Telephone with Beyonce. Ugh, come on Gaga. You’ve already established yourself as a woman with a voice. You’ve said over and over and over and over and over again that you’re queer. We get it. You cannot be leader of the queers by simply saying “I’m here, I’m queer!” That is not how things work. I suppose her new song would be much more meaningful had she offered something more substantial. The messianic birthing scene in the beginning is too full of itself. She is mindlessly spouting off nonsense in the hopes that people will believe that what she is saying is true, enlightening, and queer. Uh, no. Also, she is co-opting an accent. And the song is racist. As a woman of color, I don’t appreciate a “queer icon” nonchalantly saying ‘Orient’ as if the term is used everyday. That term has not been taken back and for Gaga to use it in her manufactured pop song about gay rights (ha, presumably) is degrading and downright insulting. Not to mention the other mindless dribble that masquerades as the chorus.

Here is why the video is problematic for me. All queer people are not perfect dancers, with perfect bodies, and perfect faces. She is far enough in her career to have more creative control over her music and videos. She espouses herself as the spokesperson for all things grotesque, weird, queer, ugly, and odd. Why not choose people who actually are? Instead, we get beautiful backup dancers. Are we still playing that game? As someone who allies herself so closely to queers, I expect Gaga to know better than to produce a video that highlights mainstream ideas of beauty. And in an ironic twist, she manages to make facial prosthetics beautiful. I am not faulting her for this. But she is treading a slippery slope by appropriating a deformity. Furthermore, Gaga does a grave injustice to this obnoxiously promoted queer anthem by grinding on a WHITE MALE who serves as her primary interest. Are you kidding me? Gaga should know better. I hold her to a higher standard and so should you.

It is not okay to rally around queerness by still maintaining your privilege. It is not okay to rally around queerness and only support the gay marriage movement. She has not addressed HIV/AIDS in a way that separates herself from other idiotic celebrities, she has not spoken about the racial inequalities within the gay community, and she definitely has not addressed any TRANS ISSUES. This shit exists people.

I still believe that Gaga is finding her own way in the world and that she has the potential to be one badass radical feminist. But we have to help her out by saying that it is not okay to feed us this half-ass manure. She cannot be a queer icon if she continues to remain ignorant of her own actions. We need to hold her to a higher standard, if not for her sake, then for ours.