I Kissed a Girl and I Didn’t Like It

One lazy afternoon, I decided to scroll through my Facebook feed. Senseless memes, photos, and status updates flooded my vision until I finally saw something that caught my attention: a failed American Idol audition.

If I consider you a close friend, then you know that my worst guilty pleasure is marathon-watching talent competitions. I could watch people belt out a screechy falsetto and embarrass themselves in front of all of America for hours without end and admittedly feel little remorse. But even for a sadist such as myself, there was no amusement in watching Katy Perry plant an unwanted kiss on singing contestant Benjamin Glaze.

That clip went viral with almost five million views after just one week. After watching it, I felt what I imagined most people had felt—disgusted. Even after he described his conservative background and desire to only be intimate with a woman he was in a relationship with, Glaze was still subjected to a kiss. The entire affair unfolded before the rest of the judging panel and a room filled with producers, yet no one called Perry out on camera for her inappropriate behavior.

The hypocrisy of the situation is overwhelming. Had gender roles been reversed, with a male judge and female contestant, there would have undoubtedly been an enormous outpouring of criticism and calls for sexual harassment charges against Perry. While there was some public outcry after the incident, it was certainly nowhere near as much as there would be if Glaze had been a woman. Glaze would’ve been immediately victimized and this footage probably wouldn’t have even been released in any form other than a leak. But Katy Perry’s actions were shameless, and she received the approval of, and was even egged on by, her peers. The media frenzy surrounding the clip made it out as a joke, and online jabs at Katy Perry were lacking.

As one of the biggest advocates of the #MeToo movement, Perry’s actions were not only gross, but marred the purpose of the cause she has valiantly defended. Since its origins as a means to give victims of sexual assault a voice, the movement has snowballed into a worldwide effort to reduce the prevalence of sexual harassment. But with increasing virality came an influx of problems, as is the case with many other reactionary campaigns,

The faces of these movements, especially those with celebrity status, should work to further their initial intents and make sure they operate on inclusive principles. In this case, that would mean granting male survivors of sexual assault just as much legitimacy as female ones. Perry backs away from this progressive concept by exhibiting behavior toward a male that would never have been deemed appropriate had it been toward a female.

Sure, it was “just a kiss,” but that fleeting moment of contact had lasting implications. Katy Perry used an already prevalent power dynamic to take advantage of someone attempting to make it big in the music industry, despite his lack of consent. If that sounds familiar, it’s because that is the same play made by Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and many other lower profile cases of workplace sexual harassment. The stark difference here is that while their transgressions were certainly much more atrocious, these men were forced to watch their family lives and careers destroyed while Katy Perry had the liberty of laughing her guilt off on television.

The credibility of the #MeToo movement is already on the line, and if celebrities such as Perry continue to muddy the waters, it’ll never regain its original and more noble intent.

Glaze has commented on the incident, saying, “I wanted to save my first kiss for my first relationship. I wanted it to be special.” He has found solace in the advice of family and friends, who tell him that the lack of romantic intimacy means it didn’t really count. Instead, he looks at the whole affair as a business endeavor that ultimately benefited his music and increased the amount of people following his career. Katy Perry managed to avoid being seriously affected by the controversy by simply tweeting a link to the video, followed by a kissing emoji.

Their responses follow a familiar trend of repression by both parties: the transgressor, who downplays the magnitude of the assault, and the victim, who simply wants to put it behind them. In order to advance the sentiment of the #MeToo movement, celebrities should start holding themselves accountable for occurences like these. And, to quote Perry’s hit single, she may have kissed a girl and liked it, but that definitely doesn’t mean Glaze had to.