Mannish Girl: k.d. lang-- from Cowpunk to Androgyny, by Stella Bruzzi

Bruzzi outlines k.d. lang’s shift musically and sexually from a heterosexual dynamic into an ambiguous one, or into androgyny.

The mystery is her performance and the audience is fascinated in the knowing, and not knowing. Lang bypasses the radical {and sticky} sexual and gendered difference by gravitating towards a stylistic ambiguity. Her conformity to androgyny robs her of a sexual identity.

The author criticizes lang for being a hypocrite; lang comes out to be honest with her audience, but is still singing gender neutral songs.

k.d. lang is an artist and performance of absence and presence.

Liberace comes to mind, He was what he never admitted. And his denial confirmed it.

Liberace is also the performance of a paradoxical absence and presence; it is more pronounced and obvious that he is a homosexual because he never admits that he is. The absence of this proclamation makes more apparent the fact that he is. He is known for being a flamboyant, decadent gay man; everyone knows it, but no one ever really says it. He was characterized by it; and people were fascinated by it, and by his denial.

LGBTQ is more and more talked about and accepted now. It acts as a symbol, or a part of their image. When it is mentioned {or even, not mentioned} it is speculated upon, and becomes an iconic part of the celebrities viewed persona.

Patrik et les brutes: Plastik Patrik is the "genderqueer" or androgynous lead singer of a Quebec garage-rock-dance band. {performance is after the interview}

Joan Jett the 'Queen of Rock n' Roll' sings "Androgynous"

Queries:

1. What is with this fascination with sexual preference and androgyny? Does this affect the way the audience listens to/interprets her music?