Androgyny, Creativity, and Pop Culture

A long article but well worth a read considering Adam mentioining about Androgny for the influence on his Album cover recently

Quote :

"The time is right for Michael Jackson, because American culture has gotten better at handling sex and playing with gender roles. He gives you the sense that you can play with anything--with being a man or a woman, black or white, scared or scary, or some funny combination of all of them." --Marshall Berman in All That is Solid Melts in the Air, 1982

"I love Grace Jones and David Bowie because they both played with gender and with what 'sexy' means." -- Lady Gaga in Maxim interview, 2009

"The ideal of androgyny in contemporary culture represents the breakdown of a healthy social structure...it is a reflection of the inhumanity of contemporary culture and a sign of its possible demise." -- The Rev. Jefferis Kent Peterson in Androgyny in Pop Culture, 1996

Back in the 70's, psychologist Sandra Bem argued that psychological androgyny--the extent to which a person crosses sex-typed standards of desirable behavior-- has important consequences (note that sexual preference isn't a criteria for psychological androgyny). She believed that traditionally, society has not encouraged the development of both masculine and feminine characteristics within the same individual but that psychological androgyny can expand the range of behaviors available to everyone.

Explicit displays of androgyny are everywhere these days, from the hip thrusting performances of Adam Lambert to the motorcyle riding feats of Lady Gaga. So let's take a step back and ask: Is such an expansion of behaviors good for society? Or, as some have suggested, will it cause the downfall of civilization? Is all this individual excess making us a more narcisstic society? What about the potential benefits for creativity?

First things first. Psychological androgyny has been no stranger to artistry. Let's take a little trip down memory lane. The 1984 Grammy Awards was a momentous occasion. According to the The Rev. Jefferis Kent Peterson, the first half of the presentations "underscored a dramatic shift in cultural consciousness that has place in the past twenty years." Highly androgynous musicians Boy George and Annie Lennox competed for the best new artist spot and Michael Jackson cleaned up with seven awards. According to Peterson, the nominations ""became a celebration of androgyny and sexual ambiguity."

Later that very same year, Boy George had a heated debate about androgyny with the Rev. Jerry Falwell on CBS's Face the Nation. Historian Gil Troy in Morning in America: How Ronald Reagan Invented the 1980's had this to say about George and similar rock stars at that era:

"Dripping mascara and oozing attitude, Boy George reveled in his excesses...The British singer's group Culture Club was one of many 1980s acts that exploited the MTV-induced demand for striking visuals to accompany the song as well as the relaxed social mores that usually translates into consumption choices for America's youth...these celebreties challenged traditional social boundaries and protocols, to asserts their individuality, not to change the world. They championed inversions, crossed wires, mixed styles. Rock stars reveled in the violation of taboos...and watching as their devoted fans, dressed like them smeared lipstick or rouge as they did, coiffed their hair as they did, and yearned to match their seemingly prodigious sexual appetitites."

David BowieOther important androgynous male figures of that time included David Bowie, Prince, and Elton John. One of the earliest examples of Bowie's androgyny is depicted in his third album "The Man Who Sold the World", released in 1970. Bowie even created an androgynous alter ego: Ziggy Stardust.

Cyndi LauperAlso, let's not forget important female androgynous entertainers such as Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, and Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics (when I was a kid, I used to have a big-time crush on Lauper, along with Debbie Gibson). Troy notes:

"Cyndi Lauper, improvised a unique, clashing, mishmash, bag lady look that combined frilly femininity with raw sexuality...Similarly, Madonna would begin with a virginal lavender hair bow, a delicate lace blouse with a flower motif, and a crucifix. But she cut the blouse to reveal her midriff, her black bikini bra, and the elastic to her fishnet underwear, with a strategic rip on the side..."

These women had an enormous influence on the youth of that generation. In January 1985, Lauper was named one of the women of the year in Ms. magazine, "For taking feminism beyond conformity to individuality, rebellion and freedom."

Andy Warhol in dragArtist Andy Warhol was also riding the androgyny wave. According to The Getty Museum, he often dressed in drag at parties and admired "the boys who spend their lives trying to be complete girls." In 1981, he collaborated on a set of pictures of himself in drag.

President Ronald Reagan was not impressed with all the excesses going on around him. He believed that "this nation must have a spiritual rebirth, a rededication to the moral precepts which guided us for so much of our past, and have such a rebirth very soon."

Present day androgyny and the promotion of individuality

Fast forward to present day. New President, and new cast of androgynous characters.

Barack Obama and LudacrisObama is no Reagan. But the contemporary androgynous glam-rock king and queen Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert do bear a striking resemblance to the androgynous artists of the earlier era (and it is still open to debate whether Gaga is androgynous in both the physical and psychological sense). This present-day androgyny/artistry link is no surprise-- both Gaga and Lambert have stated the influence of the earlier androgynous artists on their careers.

Read the rest here


http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-minds/200912/george-and-lennox-gaga-and-lambert-androgyny-creativity-and-pop-culture