A Study on Sex Cults in Popular Music: Lady Gaga's Example

This essay delves into the concept of sex cults in popular music, using Lady Gaga as a prominent example. It examines the viewpoints of scholars like Till, who analyze the presence of sexual transgression and the encouragement of certain behaviors within music culture. The essay explores how Lady Gaga's songs, music videos, and live performances explicitly portray sexuality, touching on themes of romantic love, sexual attraction, and the blurring of boundaries. It also discusses the role of her dancers and the overall impact of her work on shaping cultural norms. The essay agrees with Till's perspective on the cultic aspects but also notes that this is not the only way to categorize the music culture.

Sex Cults of Popular Music
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Sex Cult by Till................................................................................................................................1
Lady Gaga and Sex Cult..................................................................................................................1
Argument For Till’s perspective......................................................................................................2
References........................................................................................................................................3
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Introduction
This video essay discusses the sex cult presented by Lady Gaga in some of her famous songs.
The link for the video has been attached below:
Anon. 2016. "Lady Gaga - I Like It Rough". YouTube. Retrieved December 1, 2016
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LosJckZkfFY).
In this song, Lady Gaga declares that she like it rough with her man. In the video, she is wearing
raunchy bikinis and swimsuits, and by the end of the video she makes it extreme and is seen to
wear the nude colour bikini. She is seen to crawl and roll and ends in the orgasmic heap.
Sex Cult by Till
Till suggests that various characteristics are present in the popular music that help it define as a
sex cult. The issues of physical and sexual transgression are included in the music scenes and
usually amalgamated with the issues of commitment and identity. Additionally, the acceptance
towards these sexual practices had led to the encouragement of these cultures. A liberal attitude
of sexual ethics where the gay culture, eroticism of soul and blues, the rhytm'n'blues raunch, etc.
have been seen to have encouraged explicitly. A key role in changing mainstream sexual ethnic
have been performed by the changing pattern of music. He uses the term brainwashing while
addressing all types of cults. (Till, R., 2010, page 31).
Lady Gaga and Sex Cult
Lady Gaga has presented music and popular culture that explicitly displays sexuality. Her song
“Teeth” presents the joys of sex and pain related to it, similarly, the song “Dance in the Dark” is
about sex and related insecurities. Her song “Boys, Boys, Boys” is regarding the sexual
attraction towards male (Halberstam, J. J., 2012, page 55). Even the videos of the songs where
Lady Gaga is presented modestly with less sexual nature are seen to feature ample amount of
sexuality. Her song “You and I” deals with romantic love presenting Gaga as a mermaid who is
having sex with a normal man. Apart from her videos, the live performances and concert are seen
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to display sexuality. During one of her concerts, she encouraged the audiences to get their
“dicks” out and called them “motherfuckers”. Interestingly, her back dancers are also seen to
spice the stage by their sexual portrayal.
Argument For Till’s perspective
I completely agree with Till and believe that the case of the cults have been presented from the
times of Elvis Presley and Madonna but disagree that it is the only classification for the music
cultures and their elevation from the cultic status.
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References
Till, R. (2010). Pop cult: religion and popular music. A&C Black.
Halberstam, J. J. (2012). Gaga Feminism: Sex, gender, and the end of normal (Vol. 7). Beacon
Press.
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