# Lady Gaga androgynous? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 3, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475 "2010-02-03T02:52:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/1 "2010-02-03T02:52:45Z")
I’ve been reading a few articles about Lady Gaga, and one word which pops out at me is “androgynous”. I’ve seen it used by quite a few people about her, and she even uses it to describe herself! Androgynous? Really?? I mean, I can see bizzare, I can see over the top, theatrical, sci-fi, disco, sure, but androgynous? In which bizzarro land does she look even the slightest bit NOT-female? > [@](#): > > “I just don’t feel that it’s all that sexy. It’s weird. And uncomfortable. I look at photos of myself, and I look like such a tranny! It’s amazing! I look like Grace Jones, androgynous, robo, future fashion queen. It’s not what is sexy. It’s graphic, and it’s art.” > **[Prefixmag](https://prefixmag.com)** > > Prefixmag explores the latest technology trends via daily published news, hands-on reviews, and guides. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/2 "2010-02-03T02:58:58Z")
She keeps using that word. I do not think it means what she think it means. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![statsman1982](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/3 "2010-02-03T03:05:10Z")
There’s been speculation that she’s a hermaphrodite, based on this footage from a concert. Editing to add that I don’t think this is true based on the linked video. I can’t tell what’s going on under there. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/4 "2010-02-03T03:06:01Z")
I don’t really think she’s all that pretty–is that what she means? Like, not in the mold of the average cutesy blonde pop singer (Britney Spears or Mandy Moore or whoever). Obviously that isn’t what androgynous means, but maybe it’s the definition she’s working with. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/5 "2010-02-03T03:09:54Z")
> [@statsman1982](#): > > There’s been speculation that she’s a hermaphrodite, [based on this footage](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8Jt_JxGYn0) from a concert. When you are with a woman one day you will find hey have something called the “mound of venus”, and that when you put light colored panties over this area it becomes a little light colored mound. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/6 "2010-02-03T03:13:19Z")
I really wouldn’t say she’s androgynous. Weird clothing style can often make famous people look a bit odd, but in her case i’d say it’s pretty much just odd but still feminine. ---
**Author:** ![statsman1982](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/7 "2010-02-03T03:14:07Z")
> [@astro](#): > > When you are with a woman one day you will find hey have something called the “mound of venus”, and that when you put light colored panties over this area it becomes a little light colored mound. As I said, I don’t believe it to be true. I do have sex with women, and I haven’t seen anything quite like what I saw in the video. Maybe I’m dating the wrong type of girl… Anyway, thanks for that snarky jab. Nothing like fighting ignorance with grace :rolleyes:. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/8 "2010-02-03T03:16:00Z")
What I saw in the vid wasn’t all that different from how any other woman would look in just panties, to me, but it was hard to tell exactly. Didn’t seem all that conclusive either way. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/9 "2010-02-03T03:21:19Z")
> [@statsman1982](#): > > There’s been speculation that she’s a hermaphrodite, based on this footage from a concert. She’s very pretty and seems to be tall, two of the “classic,” as in “what I learned in the 70s,” attributes of hermaphrodites. Or she’s very pretty, NOT tall (5’-1"/155cm), and used a prosthetic device to jerk people around and buy a little publicity in a very obvious way (that wasn’t a cameraphone). Or a combination (pretty but short and with additional plumbing). ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/10 "2010-02-03T03:26:52Z")
Wife had a girlfriend who claimed she had never menstruated so she never used “protection.” Further inquiry by her gyno showed she would never need “protection,” as far as pregnancy was concerned. Having just taken that mid-70s class on “Human Sexuality” I asked if she was tall and beautiful. “Oh, yeah!” ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/11 "2010-02-03T03:29:31Z")
**dropzone** –I thought there was no such thing as a (human) hermaphrodite. Do you mean that this woman had AIS? Though I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea of Lady Gaga as beautiful. She has a great body, but I don’t see her as so attractive in the face. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/12 "2010-02-03T03:31:46Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I don’t really think she’s all that pretty–is that what she means? Like, not in the mold of the average cutesy blonde pop singer (Britney Spears or Mandy Moore or whoever). Obviously that isn’t what androgynous means, but maybe it’s the definition she’s working with. That’s probably what she was getting at. I don’t think I would go as far as to say that her fashion is androgynous. No male save for the biggest glam queen would where what Gaga wears. But she is androgynous in the sense that she doesn’t fit the classic feminine gender role. What comes after the quote in the OP is pretty interesting: > [@](#): > > But that’s what’s funny: Well, yeah, I take my pants off, but does it matter if your pants are off if you’ve got eight-inch shoulder pads on, and a hood, and black lipstick and glasses with rocks on them? I don’t know. That’s sexy to me. But I don’t really think anybody’s d— is hard, looking at that. I think they’re just confused, and maybe a little scared. I would also add that she does mess around with gender roles concerning sexuality. Her sexual behavior isn’t explicitly masculine or feminine. She’s kind of all over the place. 🙂 The video [Love Game](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mB0tP1I-14) is a good example of that. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/13 "2010-02-03T03:33:24Z")
She’s androgynous all right. She’s androgynous in a very specific and modern way: she’s all about _artificial_ femininity. It’s the drag-queen esthetic: a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman. She puts style over substance in a very fundamental way. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/14 "2010-02-03T03:39:50Z")
> [@statsman1982](#): > > As I said, I don’t believe it to be true. I do have sex with women, and I haven’t seen anything quite like what I saw in the video. Maybe I’m dating the wrong type of girl… > > Anyway, thanks for that snarky jab. Nothing like fighting ignorance with grace :rolleyes:. You can keep your roll eyes. I posted (with some restraint) in response to your absurd “look she’s got a dick!” video which had no caveat at the time I responded to it. You added your caveat after the fact. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/15 "2010-02-03T03:41:33Z")
I think she knows the difference between hermaphrodite and androgynous - at least, on [snopes](http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/ladygaga.asp), in an interview with Barbara Walters, she says no to the man bits, yes to the androgyny. But… androgyny??? really?? I can understand David Bowie, the lead singer of Tokio Hotel… actually, I can’t really think of any androgynous female singers. Maybe Ellen Degeneres. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/16 "2010-02-03T03:43:46Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > She’s androgynous all right. She’s androgynous in a very specific and modern way: she’s all about _artificial_ femininity. It’s the drag-queen esthetic: a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman. She puts style over substance in a very fundamental way. Hmm. I never thought of her in this way before. You’re right, though… ---
**Author:** ![2ply](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/b2d939/32.png) [@2ply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ply)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/17 "2010-02-03T04:02:28Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > She’s androgynous all right. She’s androgynous in a very specific and modern way: she’s all about _artificial_ femininity. It’s the drag-queen esthetic: a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman. She puts style over substance in a very fundamental way. Yes. She got her start as a teenager playing in clubs with drag queens and the like. She a biologically female drag queen. ---
**Author:** ![statsman1982](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/18 "2010-02-03T04:39:36Z")
> [@astro](#): > > You can keep your roll eyes. I posted (with some restraint) in response to your absurd “look she’s got a dick!” video which had no caveat at the time I responded to it. You added your caveat after the fact. Yes, you’re right, I shouldn’t have assumed you read the caveat that I added. I think we were posting at the same time or something. But I still don’t get the point of the snark. Even in what I originally wrote, I wasn’t clearly advocating that she had a dick, just that some have speculated. I wasn’t trying to be prurient or sensationalistic with the link, but only trying to shed light on why the OP might be finding references to Gaga’s androgyny (which is not the right word, but some people confuse the two). ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/19 "2010-02-03T04:57:04Z")
I think this hermaphrodite thing is a non-sequitor, to be honest. Gaga refers to herself as being androgynous. The question is, why does she refer to herself as androgynous, and why do people persist in using that descriptor for her? ---
**Author:** ![statsman1982](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475/20 "2010-02-03T05:01:27Z")
> [@Tabby\_Cat](#): > > I think this hermaphrodite thing is a non-sequitor, to be honest. Gaga refers to herself as being androgynous. > > The question is, why does she refer to herself as androgynous, and why do people persist in using that descriptor for her? Yeah, I agree. I’ll drop it. Maybe she doesn’t know what androgynous means either. Because I just can’t see it, even in the modern, drag-queen sense. I don’t know much about drag queens, though, so maybe that’s what it is. Plus, androgynous sounds cool. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lady-gaga-androgynous/527475.md?page=2)