Lady Gaga insults me with her maleness. As a gender non conforming activist I am in favor of anyone who pushes gender norms. However Lady Gaga pushes her own agenda.
It makes me feel uncomfortable. Yes, people play on the continuum of gender , and yes people do it merely for attention grabbing reasons.And many people suffer intensely from the slings and arrows they receive as a result of being sincerely and clinically "different".
So when a constructed character called Lady Gaga does it, it does not feel as if it promotes the cause of gender nonconforming people, including trasngender people. It feels self serving and opportunisitc. I imagine the team of constructionists of the Lady Gaga brand gathering, head scratching and wondering how next to surprise and shock the world so that Gaga keeps earning millions.
Aha, they may have thought, let's make her into a man. What fun! How sensational!
Therein lies the insult for me. I am privileged to be doing work with SWEAT, an advocacy NGO for sex workers. I run a transwoman sex workers group. And not one of the 19 transwomen will tell you they are having a party in their bodies, bodies that cannot be aligned with their gender self identification as they do nto have the funds nor access to health care services to allow them to feel fully human.
I challenge Lady Gaga: donate some of your man made millions to transgender people for the hormones, counselling and surgery they need to feel human and at one with themselves.
Until then go peddle your wares where I do not not feel the deep insult of your self serving needs.
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