"Are Latinos supposed to be grateful
that a white superstar, born of privilege, included a racist shout out to our
community? Not all Latino ladies are 'cholas' in the barrio, some of them are
teachers, writers, engineers and nurses and doctors." --
Robert Paul Reyes
A while back I wrote an article praising
the Estonian technopop artist Kerli Kõiv because she represents what I think a
true musician should be: modest, compassionate and real. For juxtaposition I am
going to talk about Stefani Germanotta better known as Lady Gaga.
I have remained silent for the most part in
my dislike of Lady Gaga. I am not a fan of attention-seeking stunts or high
fashionistas. I am especially not into mainstream American pop music and Lady
Gaga is arguably mainstream.
My real beef with her though, is her
privilege. She is from a wealthy background (she used to party with Paris
Hilton), she is conventionally attractive, and she is cisgendered, White and
skinny. Her inability to accept any of this is troubling.
Somehow there was some kind of rumor that
Lady Gaga came from a poor background and that she made herself from nothing,
this is patently untrue. In her wikipedia article she is quoted as having said
that her family came from modest means and that her parents worked for
everything. Her private school upbringing and matriculation to the exclusive
Tisch School of the Arts at NYU say otherwise. I have heard the argument
before, about parents working hard. My parents worked hard, my dad put himself
through medical school on scholarships and crappy cleric positions, but that
doesn't mean my sister and I grew up with little means. I have no problem
accepting and deconstructing my class privilege.
Another issue with Gaga's privilege is her
racism. People hailed her single "Born This Way" as the newest
"gay anthem". Hold up, what? I gotta wonder, have these people even
read the lyrics: "YOU'RE BLACK, WHITE, BEIGE, CHOLA DESCENT
YOU'RE LEBANESE, YOU'RE ORIENT".
Excuse me, but that is racist. It is
tacitly agreed that using the word "Oriental" is about the same as
using the word "Negro" and wholly inappropriate. Political
correct-ness aside, this was a stupid word to use in a song dubbed progressive.
Orientals are rugs, not people. (Ed. I understand that she didn't use the word
"Oriental" precisely but she did truncate the word to fit her rhyme,
she refers to races in this line so arguably the word "orient" was
referring to "Oriental" or Asian. So STFU.)
Furthermore, the word "chola" is
problematic too. The term was originally used as a designation for people of
mixed or pure Amerindian descent in the racist classification system of
colonial Latin America. The word presently has come to refer to "low
income Mexican-American families in the United States" or "Latino
gangsters". (see Wikipedia article here). Miguel Perez, of Chicanos Unidos
further elucidates in this article. Basically, Gaga is relegating all Latinos
to this designation of poor and criminal.
Also, what is this beige bullshit? I guess
that's my category.
I just want people to see Lady Gaga for who
she is. She is not "weird" or unattractive, that is her makeup and
clothing. She is skinny, she is White and she dresses as our society prescribes
for her biological gender. What is special about
that?
It's easy to be angry with all of this, but
in the end it's like my boyfriend said this morning,“When we're talking about
Lady Gaga and Madonna, we’re not talking about women; we’re talking about
clothes and makeup.”
(Ed. note: Also, see Lady Gaga's
"Little Monster" fans respond to Miguel Perez's article Warning! Very
triggering.)
