A handful of music's best gender-benders

[Shana A]

A handful of music's best gender-benders
By Andrew Flanagan, Mon., Aug. 30 2010 @ 1:05PM

http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/2010/08/gender_benders.php

​Lady Gaga's recent spread in the Japanese edition of Vogue was an exercise in tongue-in-cheek banality, posing in a suit and dyed eyebrows as Jo Calderone, explaining how he/she took him/herself out on a date and maybe got it on: "She's f---in beautiful, and funny, and interesting. I was a little nervous for Nick to start shooting. She said, 'Don't be baby, you were born this way.' I took her out after. The rest is private "

"Gender-bending" isn't always so boring, however. Artists have used it as a means to stretch or question the definitions of masculinity and femininity for decades, often within the not-so-subtext of being a gay, lesbian, or transgender artist working within the strict mien of pop culture. And some have just used it for laughs (Jo Calderone doesn't seem to fit either). Taking from both column A and column B, here's some of our favorites.