it's not just satire
everything wrong with Katy Perry’s “Woman’s World”
As everyone knows, I’m chronically offline. Still, there are some internet phenomena so viral they fail to escape even my attention. One of the most recent ones being Katy Perry and company’s 11-minute space flight. The internet’s backlash to this was so bad the BBC wrote a whole article about it.
Reading the article, I realized I had no idea how much of reputational hit Katy Perry had taken in the last year. I could understand an album flopping because, honestly, how could you expect her to outdo the impact she left on the early 2010s? No, what really took me back was the mention of a regressive music video for a song titled “Woman’s World.” How could Katy Perry–a trailblazer for many female pop stars today—have put out something even subtly misogynistic? I had to see it for myself.
Perry has been one of pop's most successful singers over the past two decades, but the narrative around her has become more negative in the past year. A poorly received album was accompanied by a lead single, Woman's World, which had a music video which many viewed as regressive. – BBC
The video opens up with a female construction worker spraypainting the letters “WO” to a sign reading “MEN WORKING,” which was a bit on the nose but not completely an insult to my intelligence. It then cuts to a shot of Perry and others recreating the 1932 photograph Lunch atop a Skyscraper but in skimpy uniforms (not the best but not the worst either).
Perry then takes a swig from a bottle labeled “Women’s Whisky,” which makes no sense (it wasn’t even product placement) while unintentionally satirizing the pink tax. She then goes on to unwedge her thong while pissing into a urinal with her coworkers, all while singing she’s a sister, she’s a mother—a detail so unnecessary only a man could have written it.
Perry proceeds to rip off her cropped safety vest, unveiling an American flag-style skimpy bikini top. And if that wasn’t enough, they make sure to dedicate a full one second clip of her breasts clapping together in slow motion; the cherry on the male gaze-coded cake. Then, of course, there’s the product placement: a confusing mix of actual advertising and some more poorly executed satire. The hero product? Sigh, a $200 pink vibrator. While many have applauded Perry for challenging the stigma around female pleasure, I don’t buy it because they could have easily have done that without product placement. No, the decision to include a sex toy targeted at women was purely a capitalist one.
Half way through the video, Perry gets crushed by a giant anvil only to be reborn as a deflated skimpy bikini-wearing cyborg pool float. I can’t make this up. But, not to worry, all she has to do is blow into her thumb to reflate (only a tiny bit infantilizing), lest we miss out on some highly anticipated underboob and thong moments. She marches her robot legs through a dysfunctional female society, only to run out of battery. But, again, nothing to fear, as there’s a fuel station nearby.
She picks up the nozzle and puts it (you guessed it) in her ass—in the cheek, thankfully, which felt like somewhat underwhelming given the way things were going. At that exact moment, Trisha Paytas walks by, towing a monster truck, telling you everything you need to know about who made this video and for whom. They take a short joyride in the truck, complete with a bedazzled uterus rearview mirror accessory.
Perry then stomps through someone’s house into the backyard, shattering much glass in the process but definitely not a ceiling. She then joins a teen recording a TikTok dance using a female gender symbol-shaped ring light, proceeding to steal it. The video ends with her hanging off the side of a helicopter, filming herself with said ring light proclaiming “I’m Katy Perry!” in a way that was probably meant to translate “IM KATY PERRY!!!!”
I can easily say this was one of the most misogynistic, capitalist shit shows I’ve ever seen in my life. And it was deliberate. According to Perry, the first half of the video is satire; getting crushed by the anvil is meant to serve as a reset, where the second half embodies her idea of the feminine divine. I think this whole statement is bullshit because (a) there’s nothing to indicate the first half is satire, and (b) the second half is worse than the first. But that’s the point, without the internet’s outrage Woman’s World is a very forgettable concept. It’s trying to be California Gurls but without the effort.
We’re not about the male gaze, but we really are about the male gaze. – Katy Perry
Sure, California Gurls is provocative and there’s a fair bit of skin showing, but I think it’s fair to say it stays on theme. After all, it’s a song full of candy-based innuendos, it’s meant to be sexual. But Woman’s World isn’t, it’s just a poorly written song trying to be the next Run The World (Girls) (whose music video has sexy elements without overdoing it).
Not to mention, it’s indirecting teaching girls to appease the male gaze. And it’s a shame because it makes me feel like you can’t be a successful woman in this world without sexualizing yourself to some degree (and often that degree is borderline misogynistic). I think that’s why I’m still in shock: I never expected Katy Perry could be so regressive. Like a parent with high expectations, I am disappointed. Because she has set us back, whether or not she realizes it. Because we live in a world where men are only getting worse at hiding how much they hate us. And that’s the real Woman’s World.
