{"id":9624,"date":"2011-02-13T19:50:17","date_gmt":"2011-02-14T00:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=9624"},"modified":"2013-02-05T19:34:42","modified_gmt":"2013-02-06T00:34:42","slug":"crossing-my-fingers-for-eminem-lady-gaga-at-grammys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2011\/02\/crossing-my-fingers-for-eminem-lady-gaga-at-grammys\/","title":{"rendered":"Crossing My Fingers for Eminem, Lady Gaga at Grammys"},"content":{"rendered":"

Someone asked me for my “girl and boy crushes” at the Fashion Group International Rising Star Awards lunch last month<\/a>. You know you’re at a fashion event and not the Council on Foreign Relations<\/a> when you’re asked that question. The query is practically mandatory among the stylish set now: “What do you do?” and “Who do you know here?” come first, then “Who are your crushes?” (Further proof of the popularity of this question is in the New York Times<\/a> today.)<\/p>\n

I answered “Lady Gaga<\/a>” and “Eminem<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

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I made myself these rings to wear to a Gaga concert. Click for more info.<\/p><\/div>\n

Fashion conscious Lady Gaga would have appealed to me at any point in my life. But during and after my college years, when I was very politically correct, I would have loathed Eminem. A homophobic (Marshall Mathers<\/a>, you protest too much!<\/em>) misogynist whose murderous alter ego rapped about being a mother raper<\/a>* would have been Public Enemy No. 1<\/a> in my mind. I probably would have written a passionate class paper about him, like the one I wrote for a literature class positing that Moll Flanders was an uber-feminist.<\/a> I got an A on that one. I also remember a paper I wrote for a post-college film class that explored the way two 1987 movies treated career women: I wasn’t happy with Fatal Attraction <\/a>but approved of Broadcast News<\/a>. That paper was “meh<\/a>.” I might have gotten a B. I think the topic would work a lot better as a video, like this Buffy vs. Twilight mashup.<\/p>\n

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A decade after I graduated, when Eminem came on the scene, books and music and movies got somewhat less of a rise out of me. I thought, “Of course, I hate Eminem! I just like this one song<\/a>. And this song<\/a>. And this other song<\/a>. And this one too<\/a>. But those are the exceptions that prove the rule that I hate him and anyone like him.”<\/p>\n

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MrB and I attended the 2000 VMAs, where Eminem performed against a background of “clones.” That piqued my interest.<\/p><\/div>\n

Another ten years down the line, I find I’m much pickier about my battles.While I still get agitated by real-life sexist bullshizz, including the memory of the bullshizz I endured at some of my jobs, I am far less likely to be upset by artistic expression. As I wrote in December<\/a>, I feel I have more power over words than they have over me. Maybe that’s because having my own business has given me more confidence. Maybe that’s because I’m such a contrarian <\/a>that I’ll even oppose my own past.\u00a0 Maybe that’s because I’ve learned that famous entertainers are easily beaten in the offensiveness race every single day by the ordinary online commenter<\/a>. (And I don’t blame rappers for coarsening dialogue. Human nature has always been nasty<\/a>. The anonymity of the internet merely invites the ugliness to come into the open.) For sure, I’m less judgmental of and more amused by professional provocateurs than I used to be — as you can tell from my idolatry of Coco<\/a> and my Wear What You Want<\/a>\u2122 policy.<\/p>\n

Whatever the reason, Elton John<\/a> and I have grown to love Eminem, so I hope Em and Gaga win big at the Grammys tonight. I’d be glued to the TV except that my designing friend Zang Toi<\/a> is having his runway show at the same time. Designing bros come before celebrity hoes<\/a>, so I’ll be at Lincoln Center in Zang’s audience, wearing the outfit he told me to wear.<\/p>\n

If you see me at Zang’s show and don’t know what to say, feel free to ask me the crush question again. I’m polyamorous so you might get a different answer. In fact, right after I gave my Gaga-and-Eminem answer, I realized I had a fierce girl crush on Nicki Minaj <\/a>and a boy crush on the guy who plays Mayhem<\/a> in the Allstate commercials<\/a>.<\/p>\n