Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender, and the End of Normal by J. Jack Halberstam (review)

Recently, I asked students in a gender studies class what they thought about feminism. Blank stares. “Okay, you’re all staring at me and this is awkward. You read some texts for today about feminism, what did you think?” I asked, trying to break the silence. Slowly, the discussion that ensued revealed a contradictory complexity: They felt that earlier forms of feminism are not relevant to their current struggles and that they do not embody the stereotypes associated with being feminists; that said, they recognized that they still need feminism. J. Jack Halberstam’s new book, Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender, and the End of Normal, discusses these complexities in ways that make sense for younger generations of feminists (and soon-to-be feminists) who are attuned to the messy intersections of gender and sexuality with race, class, and nationality in everyday life. Overall, Gaga Feminism is an accessible guide to new feminisms for anyone who might be skeptical, and an engaging read for those who are already on board.

Halberstam begins with a lengthy introduction that explains the figure of Lady Gaga as a symbol for a new feminism, arguing that Gaga’s monstrosity lends itself to a new politics of gender and sexuality that push feminism in queer directions. The queer sentiments within Gaga feminism are highlighted when Halberstam purports, “This punk or wild feminism hints at a future rather than prescribing one; it opens out onto possibilities rather than naming them; it gestures toward new forms of revolt rather than patenting them” (xiii). Further, Halberstam sets up Gaga as a performative practice of feminism that works to redefine and rework more traditional notions of gender equality.

The rest of the book is divided into several short chapters that touch on key themes: queering notions of gender and sexuality, challenging marriage and traditional kinship structures, and a recognition that Gaga feminism already exists in various forms of popular culture and everyday life. For those who are familiar with Halberstam’s earlier works, In a Queer Time and Place and The Queer Art of Failure, Gaga Feminism will echo many of the sentiments in those texts, albeit in a much less theoretical manner. For this reason, Gaga Feminism would be an excellent introduction to some of Halberstam’s ideas and arguments, particularly for undergraduate students who could potentially find some of the earlier texts more difficult. That said, Gaga Feminism is by no means simplistic or redundant.

Most of the text focuses on rethinking gender, sexuality, kinship, and family through a Gaga feminist lens. In the middle sections of the book, Halberstam begins by discussing a new politics of reproduction through the popular media coverage of Thomas Beatie (beginning in 2008), who was described in the media as being the first transgender man to become pregnant while also being legally recognized as male on identification documents. Halberstam then moves to more in-depth discussions about heteronormativity, heteroflexibility, and queering the gay marriage debate by referencing a variety of popular media, including the film The Switch, which illustrates issues within family and heteronormative romance structures, such as supposedly deep connections between people solely due to blood relation and continuing relationships where there is no chemistry between the individuals involved. Halberstam uses Big Love, The Golden Girls, and Desperate Housewives to argue that although these shows present the viewer with complex and anti-normative notions of kinship and family, “lesbianism is the love that dare not speak its name” (53). That said, not all of Halberstam’s arguments refer to or are made through forms of popular culture. Halberstam also outlines the complexities of the globalization of “gay” and the failure of metronormative gay politics in the United States to translate to a global context. Further, Halberstam utilizes earlier arguments from The Queer Art of Failure to suggest that Gaga feminism encourages us to move queer theoretical applications outside the academy and into the everyday.

Overall, Gaga Feminism...