forever defending

February 7, 2012

“…as far as we understand the harshest criticism of Del Rey, it’s not that she’s “wanting and taking like a man,” it’s that she’s “wanting and taking” just like a stereotypical, anti-feminist conception of a woman: That is, she isn’t wanting at all; she’s existing only as an object of desire, completely in thrall to the male gaze.”

i really don’t expect guys to like lana. she hits on a nerve that is entirely coated in estrogen for me. the fantastical things she says make me sink into a subdued revelry that is so hard to explain.

it’s the feeling i get when i watch the hours or reread virgin suicides. they get whatever hard-to-pinpoint feminine struggle it is that sorta floats around like that cloud guy who chucks spiky turtles at you in mario games.

she’s like this odd swan that is just gooey with femininity. she’s a summation of female fantasies as well. she’s hardly racy—in fact, i find her quite elegant. and brash. i like both qualities. they make smoking and listening superbly fun.

maybe it’s just me growing into myself.

also, what wouldn’t be considered behaving in response to the male gaze? would she have to don turtlenecks, tattoos, unwashed hair? this isn’t meant to polarize, i really am sincerely asking.

i don’t know why i feel the need to constantly be on her side. mysteries!

I think it’s great that people are engaging with Liz Phair’s French Feminist WSJ editorial, but I really feel like having a dude write about it is kind of missing the point (sorry, Marc Hogan, it seems like you are engaging in good faith and whatever, but the casual way the Phair piece was framed kind of belies how complicated the conversation is about female subjectivity and desire in the heteropatriarchal world, and this is maybe something that might be hard for a lot of dudes to get, because it’s not as easy to explain as violence against women or the wage gap or even the male gaze), it’s just that I feel like the whole Lana Del Rey performance - and I’m basing this almost entirely on the epic beauty of “Video Games” which I have lived, and which I love, (I haven’t heard the rest of Born to Die yet because I’ve been traveling) - is so, so much about Being a Girl and losing. It’s basically “Why Don’t You Love Me” on downers.

8:20am | URL: http://tmblr.co/ZSRIbyG1haK9

(Notes: 60)