#to describe their experience of sapphic desire (or just feeling sexy)

[sheathandshear]

I get irritated when trans people talk about how “outdated” transgender terminology and schema are intrinsically bad and do “harm” to trans people, because the gender concepts that best fit my experience are incredibly out of vogue in the (online, younger, cultural-majority) Anglosphere, so I guess I... what, do harm by existing?

I approach sexuality and relationships with people of any gender through the perspective of having been a queer woman. I loathe the term “deadname”, because I didn’t fucking die, I changed. I say “When I was a girl” and “when I was [name]” and use “she” pronouns to talk about my past self when I thought I was cis, because in a very real social and personal way, that’s who and what I was. I do think I was female-socialized in a way that continues to affect my behavior, whether through adoption or rejection. And even though girlhood and womanhood never felt like home, even though there was always that persistent discomfort, there were parts of it that I really enjoyed! Yes, I chose to present as high femme in part as a reaction to feeling undesirable because I was a big, fat kid who never felt like one of the girls, but it was also really fucking fun, and I have real grief in not being able to feel comfortable embodying that anymore. More than anything: I don’t actually feel that I’ve always been male. I don’t think my transmasculinity is anywhere close to cis masculinity. I think that the experience of having been female (and in some ways, still being) is so intrinsically intertwined with my experience of being male that they can’t be separated into “true” and “fake”. I’m uncomfortable with being 100% a “trans man” because I feel like it severs that part of me in a way that “female man” or “FTM” honors. If I do end up medically transitioning, for me it won’t be “gender confirmation” any more than getting a tattoo is “pigment confirmation” -- it’ll be transsexual, because I am deliberately choosing to take what I naturally started out with and modifying it through unnatural intervention across the binary that society imposes on it, and that’s fine. Modification and choice are value-neutral. Transition is an active choice rather than a passive inevitability. And if I do end up happily detransitioning or de-then-retransitioning later (gasp!), that also doesn’t make my masculinity have been less real any more than moving back to Omaha after living in Chicago for 20 years would make someone a “fake” Chicagoan. But I also don’t think that this means that I’m automatically “nonbinary” instead of binary, or that I’m “not really” trans, or that I’m hate-criming other trans people by feeling that way and talking about feeling that way using language that is comfortable for me and uncomfortable for others. In the rush to justify our existence to cisgender people and to shore up our own self-images -- which yeah, for some of us are really aggressively, unhealthily fragile and I think discussions about intra-community conflict and harassment do need to address that elephant in the room -- there’s been tremendous pressure to purge “trans voices” of all the weirdos and cis simps and unfashionable old fogeys who might give transphobes the wrong idea but like...

They’re going to get the wrong idea anyway. It’s not trans language they object to, it’s the existence of trans people itself. TERFs already think that trans men are alienated women. An Evangelical transphobe hears “trans man” and thinks it means “man who considers himself transgender”, i.e. a trans woman. (And trust me, most cis people, even those who’re genuinely trying to be accepting of trans people, actually struggle a lot less with the idea of “MTF/FTM” than “trans woman / trans man”.) Yes, the intra-identity policing of “acceptable” and “accurate” terminology is a tool, and yes, it can be used to certain political ends... but it’s incredibly disheartening to watch trans complexity get squashed by other trans people (or “cis allies” a la the ones gleefully participating in the Attack Helicopter harassment mob) because of the fear that a TERF might screenshot it and use it to justify the beliefs they already have no matter how carefully you word something. And while I don’t particularly care if insular groups of terminally online trans people feel the need to get into internet slap-fight threads with each other over the precise language of a tweet in order to distract from their own niggling insecurity, I do care when people start thinking that someone talking about their own trans experiences and/or identity with unfashionable terms or language that could be “misinterpreted” is cause to send them death threats or accuse them of “doing harm” or harass them in real life.

[mariacallous]

#i worry that one of the unintended consequences of the (justified) backlash to the transmisandry / transandrophobia drama going on right now#is even more stringent panopticon policing of 'acceptable' language and looking for crypto-terf-pol in EVERYTHING to the point of paranoia#and transmisandry against transmasc ppl enacted *by* other transmasc ppl#i'm less knowledgeable to talk about how this thing goes on among transfem ppl but i get the sense there's a similar dynamic happening#given the vicious backlash from other transfems i've seen against transfem ppl who talk about genderfluidity btwn transfem / femme gay man#or male socialization or affinity with men or discomfort with other women or embracing 'agp' terminology tongue-in-cheek#to describe their experience of sapphic desire (or just feeling sexy)#i don't think trans ppl having discussions about trans-ness while *knowing* that they are being watched 24/7 by cis ppl and transphobes#is healthy for building a sense of community or solidarity and especially not for disagreeing in a way that's illuminating to both parties#none of this is new but boy has social media made it way worse

these were the tags from the OP’s post about trans identity I just reblogged and I wanted to share them because I thought it was worthwhile and because it voices a lot of concerns I’ve had as time’s gone by

[gaganalyses]

Venus

Venus is a song inspired by ‘The Birth of Venus’, a painting by Sandro Botticelli.

She describes it as a hybrid of different things:

‘’(...) this song is a hybrid of a couple different things. One of those things is Venus, the goddess of love, as we know in Roman and Greek mythology; and then, it’s also about the planets. So, this song is about faith, but it’s also about finding faith in other places — in the beyond — and, my experience with love being something that took me a really long time to find.’’

She further stated: ‘’So, this song’s really about sex, but it’s about sex in the most mythological way.’’

To better understand her inspiration, let’s take a quick look at the mythology of Venus:

In Roman mythology, Venus was the goddess of love, sex, beauty and fertility. She combined physical and intellectual love. In the Greek mythology, however, the goddess of all those things was Aphrodite. Not only that: she was also the goddess of victory, fertility and prostitution.

This is interesting because Gaga mentions both goddesses in the song, deepening its meaning.

The planets in the solar system were named after gods, so she plays with a lot of symbolism here. Of course we have to reach a little here because we can’t know for sure if she actually thought about the different planets and what they stand for while writing the song, but knowing Gaga and her master mind, there’s a high chance that she did!

So, let’s analyse the lyrics!

‘Rocket # 9 take off to the planet, to the planet, Venus’

The story behind this part is sort of a chain reference: it directly took on the lyrics from the 1960’s song ‘Rocket Number 9’ by Sun Ra, which was later covered by Zombie Zombie (Venus also samples this song musically) - the song basically consists of those few words on repeat. ‘Rocket Number Nine’ is also the name of an ‘all-purpose external rocket-camera that orbits or is deployed around the Satellite of Love' in the 1988’s movie ‘Mystery science theatre 3000’.

Since Gaga stated that the song is also about planets and love, this could be her way of saying ‘Hey, I think I’m falling in love with you. Let’s run away to planet number nine, even beyond cloud number nine.’

If we look at the planet Venus as the planet of women, it can be seen as a reference to her bisexuality - this is being underlined by several metaphors throughout the song.

‘Aphrodite lady seashell bikini, garden panty, Venus’

This is a direct reference to the painting by Botticelli, where the goddess stands -nude - inside of a seashell in the ocean (which might also be the reason for the ‘sea theme’ that Gaga continuously used during the ARTPOP era). According to the mythology, Venus was born out of sea foam and came ashore on a shell. The girl on the right of the painting wants to cover her with a flowery mantle. In the back of the painting, you can see a forest.

Knowing all of this, it’s pretty easy to understand that Gaga views herself, metaphorically, as Venus/Aphrodite: she is proud to be a woman and owns it. Instead of standing inside of the shell she stranded in, she wears it and covers only her mount with blooming flowers to represent the beauty of femininity (and, of course, this could also be a metaphor for pubic hair = refusing to cover up) because she is not afraid of surrendering to her lover in her full glory (anymore). That would explain why she uses Aphrodite instead of Venus, since she’s also the goddess of victory, as we established earlier!

In the modern context, she’s owning her femininity and feels sexy. She adds a ‘get with me’ right before the pre-chorus, inviting her lover to be with her.

Let's blast off to a new dimension, in your bedroom, Venus’

Well, she’s obviously talking about mind-blowing sex here, probably using the ‘blast off into a new dimension’ as a metaphor for the climax (in her lover’s bedroom). At the same time it’s a fun wordplay with the rocket reference.

‘I can't help the way I'm feeling, Goddess of love please take me to your leader’

She obviously can’t control her desire. If we take back into view the theory that this song has some sapphic undertones, this could mean two things: either she can’t help desiring the woman of her longing, thus accepting her sexuality and embracing it. Or she’s talking to her stronger self - the ‘goddess of love’ - and calls her for guidance. In addition, ’Take me to your leader’ is a sci-fi catchphrase used by aliens, indicating that she has arrived on the planet Venus. Everything she feels is new to her.

‘I can't help I keep on dancin, goddess of love, take me to your planet, your venus’’

She surrenders and follows her drive. Throughout her discography, Gaga often uses ‘dancing’ as a metaphor for sex and masturbation.

‘When you touch me I die, just a little inside, I wonder if this could be love’

This is Gaga explaining her feelings with the kind of love she has never experienced before. It’s the same feeling she describes in ‘Perfect Illusion’: ‘I don’t need eyes to see, I felt you touching me, high like amphetamine, maybe you’re just a dream’. Perfect Illusion also picked up the last lyric, as she discovered that ‘it wasn’t love’.

'Cause you're out of this world, galaxy, space and time, I wonder if this could be love’

Her lover is out of this world, galaxy, space and time and Gaga feels like she’s dying a little inside whenever they touch her. She’s equating them with a god(ess). Could this be love?

‘have an oyster, baby, It’s Aphrod-isy, act sleazy’

Oysters are known to be an aphrodisiac, increasing sexual desire. She wants her lover to start acting dirty.

Oh, and someone stated that oyster is a metaphor for vagina (which isn’t too far off to be honest, if you ask me).

‘worship to the land, a girl from the planet’

As explained earlier, Venus was born on earth, but she is a goddess after all (a girl from the planet). She was a gift to earth (worship to the land) to spread love and sex. If I remember correctly, Gaga once mentioned that she sometimes feels like an alien in the music industry. So metaphorically, she could be encouraging the world to worship her, because she lives for the applause.

The bridge is quite interesting because Gaga didn’t list the planets and the gods they represent in the correct order of the solar system.

Looking at the order she put them in, this could unfold a new side of the story. Of course this doesn’t necessarily have to have a deeper meaning, but we should think about all the possible reasons as to why she did that. Even though each planet represents a god, I believe that Gaga focused more on the astrological symbolism here (I highlighted the different meanings and they sum up the essential struggles in Gaga’s life).

‘Neptune, go’ Neptune was the god of the sea (which symbolises faith). Astrologically, Neptune symbolises time: past, present and future. It also represents dreams. She lets go of her past…

‘now serve, Pluto’ …and embraces her power. Pluto was the god of the underworld. This could represent her fear of death and mental health struggles. Astrologically, Pluto stands for deep psyche and hidden power.

‘Saturn’ Stands for wealth, which could be metaphorical for her career and the struggles she has to face. Astrologically, Saturn stands for dominance, power & charge.

‘Jupiter’ Is the god of sky and thunder, which could represent her trauma; astrologically it stands for growth and healing.

'Mercury, Venus, uh ha!’ Mercury stands for boundaries and communication and astrologically represents the power of words. Mercury is neither feminine, nor masculine - it amplifies whatever it’s connected to. So in this context, this line clearly describes her bisexuality (she is Venus and the gender of her lover doesn’t matter). On a deeper level, this can be seen as a reference to Born This Way and the power its lyrics had, helping her and so many other people embrace their sexual orientation.

‘Uranus!’ Is the god of the sky. As Gaga sings in ‘Sine from Above’, music has always saved her. No matter if she’s talking about god or music sine waves here, it’s clear that it represents her faith in this context. In the astrological sense, it represents being weird, art, shock value.

‘Don't you know my ass is famous?’ This one is connected to the line before, Gaga obviously knows how much we love her bum and likes to show it. I think this is meant as a fun response to the criticism she faces for her art from the general public.

‘Mars’ Is war, masculinity and youth. She’s been at war with herself for so long and many people, especially men, have hurt her.

‘Now serve for the gods, earth, serve for the stars!’ She’s letting go of all of it and drowns herself in her art and love. Earth is feminine and stands for infinite creativity.

To get every layer of the song, we need to briefly look at the surroundings, too.

There were three different cover art versions for the single:

In the first one, Gaga has a scorpion on her face and a deep cut above her left breast. It was inspired by Marina Abramovic, who posed with the animal as a homage to feminist Frida Kahlo, who originally posed with a monkey. The scorpion stands for death, disease and danger. On the cover of the Candy Magazine in 2013/2014, Gaga wore a scorpion on her left boob.

The second one is a bit more abstract and if you look closely, you can see Gaga as a dead bat. The bat symbolises death and rebirth.

The third cover shows Gaga standing naked in the bathroom with a Venus clam in her mouth. The Venus Clam represents women, art, music, relationships, and was perceived as deeply creative.

All of this adds to the theory of the astrological meaning of the planets: Gaga is ready to be reborn and start a new life, possibly with her lover that she is now ready to surrender to.

Almost every time she performed the song, it was notable that she barely wore any clothes. Mostly, her outfit consisted of a seashell bra and a garden panty, that had only minor changes done for different performances. One exception was her performance on Smap x Smap in Japan, where she wore a body embroidered with flowers (another reference to the painting by Botticelli).

On one occasion at a gay club, she even stripped completely naked. At the X Factor, she wore nothing but a nude bikini and during her performance on Graham Norton, she additionally only had female dancers on the stage.

Another two things that are mentionable, are the long and bushy, blonde wigs that she wore in most of her performances and the fact that whenever she showed herself naked, she hadn’t shaved her pubic hair. All of those things add depth to the topic of the song, as she’s fully embracing her femininity. And lastly: the ‘V’ symbol she formed with her hands obviously stands for Venus, but now that we know about the more subtle topics within the song, you can let your imagination run wild *wink*.