Challenging gender norms, from Shakespeare to Gaga

Kathi Wolfe | Sep 02, 2010

http://www.washingtonblade.com/2010/09/02/challenging-gender-norms-from-shakespeare-to-gaga/

Hey, Lady Gaga! You're hotter than 110 degrees in the shade and appearing, dressed as a man in the September issue of Vogue Hommes Japan. Your fans, especially in the LGBT community, love your playfulness and outrageousness. But, when I saw the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Free for All production of "Twelfth Night," which runs through Sept. 5 at Sidney Harmon Hall in Washington D.C., it dawned on me. You didn't invent gender bending. Long before you, even pre-Madonna, performers, writers and playwrights have tweaked genders in their work, and their art has influenced queer and straight culture and been infused with a gay sensibility. Going back to William Shakespeare.

There has been much speculation about whether Shakespeare, who lived from 1564 to 1616, was queer. People during his time didn't identify as gay as we do, and we don't know if Shakespeare, who was married and had children, had male lovers. Yet, because many of Shakespeare's 154 sonnets are addressed to a man, it's hard to resist believing that the playwright and poet experienced same-sex love and attraction.