This short blurb about Beth Ditto walking the runway for Jean Paul Gaultier addresses the misconceptions of her being unhealthy. It shows how today's culture sees skinny women as always healthy, and bigger women as unhealthy and even detestable. Ditto says she is "tired of proving herself all the time." This sheds light on how women of Ditto's size must constantly prove that they're comfortable with their bodies.

Amanda Palmer gave this TED talk on crowdsharing and the way she interacts with her fans. This sheds light on our discussion of Amanda Palmer's practices of hiring musicians without paying them and asking fans for help in funding her music. I thought it was particularly interesting to see her reasoning and perspective behind what so many writers have criticized her for.

I thought this short article was interesting after reading about the "homo-hop" genre. It was helpful for me to hear the perspective of a gay rapper echoing Gebreamlak's assertion about Macklemore neglecting to address his white, straight privilege. I also thought it was interesting that Le1f bashes Macklemore for "ripping from" one of his songs. This brings to light the issues of authenticity and copying from other artists, which we discussed in regards to Lady Gaga.

This short article shows how Christina Aguilera was criticized in the media for being "not Latina enough." It demonstrates how heritage is tied to ethnicity. It also shows how she responded to claims of her ethnicity being inauthentic. On a broader scale, the article reveals how ethnicity comes across through signs that audiences either accept or reject as authentic.

This Ke$ha music video demonstrates Railton and Watson's point about white femininity as flexible and able to draw upon other cultures.

This music video of Katy Perry with Elmo relates to the Gayle Rubin reading because the reaction to it is a clear example of the fear associated with showing children "too sexual" images. Because the video received so much backlash from adults and parents calling Katy Perry's outfit too revealing for children, Sesame Street opted not to air it.

I found this short article about the authenticity of Gorillaz and I found it particularly interesting that the lead guitarist is female. Also, the article discusses more virtual bands in the United States as well as Japan's new phenomenon of "vocaloids."

I thought this music video contributed to our discussion about the theme of the coming of age, "good girl gone bad" story that is of interest in popular culture. It also comments on gender and feminism.

This article focuses on the mumblecore genre of film and discusses how it portrays youth culture and "privileged white slackers." It expands upon Halberstam's discussion of the films and gives new insight into it.

This article gives insight into the search for the "real" Lady Gaga, and discusses how she is a manufactured performance artist. The story adds some depth to Paglia's article and discusses Lady Gaga's references to Madonna as well.