NavigatingtheSocialandSexualPoliticsofCountryMusic

Navigating the Social and Sexual Politics of Country Music Ienuso, 1
“I Bet He’d Understand A Heart Like Mine:”
Navigating the Social & Sexual Politics of
Country Music
Columbia University:
Barnard College
Women & Gender Studies Thesis
by Joli Ienuso
Professors:
Marianne Hirsch
Saidiya Hartman
Advisors:
Professor Aaron Fox
Professor Farah Griffin

Table of Contents:
3 Introduction
10 Chapter 1-“You Can't Take A Pill To Silence Me”: Constructing an “Authentic” Queer
Celebrity
28 Chapter 2- “Man, I Feel Like a Woman:” Gender Roles in Country Music
45 Chapter 3- “[W]right In The Middle of It:” The Politics of Coming Out of the Closet as a
Country Singer
59 Conclusion: The New Frontier
61 Works Cited

Introduction
Who among us has an unshakable, immutable identity? who among us
is a real anything? Who among us is “real” or “perfect” at any socially
defined identity? Goodness knows we’re all pressured, to some degree,
to become the unattainable “real man” or the unbearable “real woman”
that the dominant culture would like us to be. Each of us tries to be real
at some identity, but do any of us, in fact, have the exact same identity
we had, say ten minutes ago? Or have our identities been continually
and subtly altered the course of our lives almost imperceptibly shifting,
to the point where we’re no longer quite so sure of the purity of our own
identities? If so, then what is it exactly that’s being altered? What is is
within us that reaches a point of satisfaction one we’ve found an identity
we’re comfortable with? And what inside us fiercely struggles against
change?
-Kate Bornstein, My Gender Workbook
In 1995 Chely Wright took country music by storm when she won the Top New Vocalist
award from the Academy of Country Music. Over the next ten years, Wright had seven number
one songs and was nominated for nineteen industry awards (six of which she won). Wright also
frequently went overseas to perform for the United States military, and was even personally
requested to perform at Vice President Dick Cheney’s residence for a private event for a select
group of “wounded and recovering troops from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda
National Naval Medical Center.” Although Wright usually stayed out of politics, she felt for
those who were being honored and set her rule aside for this special event. Of course, this was
all before May of 2010, when Wright decided to come out as a lesbian by releasing a memoir
titled “Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer” and an album titled “Lifted off
the Ground,” both of which chronicled her struggle with sexuality and the country music social
value system.
As a queer identifying, country music loving individual myself, I was ecstatic when I
found out about Wright’s coming out. I immediately purchased her book. I read it. I made my
mom read it. I listened to her CD on repeat trying to determine at what point during the narrative

of the memoir she wrote each song, or who a song was about. I tried my best to find myself in
her lyrics. I watched every interview, I read every magazine article. There was something wildly
exciting about Chely Wright being out. However, I transitioned from fangirl to analyst very
quickly. Wright’s first big interview after publishing her memoir was on the Oprah Winfrey
Show, and Wright cried her eyes out. From my perspective, she seemed scared and completely
overwhelmed. Her honest feelings and honest tears disappointed me. But what exactly was “my
perspective” in May of 2010? And how has it perhaps evolved?
I am a New Yorker who is much more involved in a queer community than I am in a
musico-cultural community of any kind. I had, in a sense figured if I am a queer identifying
person who knows other queer identifying people who also listen to and identity with country
music that there must be some kind of place for us within the country music community.
However, I wasn’t so naive; I was aware of the stereotypical views of country music culture
being homophobic, or as the soul of a musico-cultural group that excludes gays and lesbians and
other forms of “alternative lifestyles.” I grew up in the suburbs of New York City, not Nashville,
Tennessee, but I believed, and still do believe, that my queerness should not exclude me from
being a listener and lover of country music. At the time Wright came out I was only a casual
listener to country music, so I knew little about the culture surrounding the music beyond some
of the stereotypes (such as cowboy boots and hats, the word “y’all,” over-politeness- sometimes
to the point of being condescending, lots of booze and beer, a love of guns and God.). I wanted
to learn more so I could better understand Chely Wright’s fears, and her struggle. I also wanted
to uncover why I had expected something else, something more, from Wright. What was it about
her tears that I found so disappointing? How had my involvement in queer discourse and theory
shaped an expectation of a celebrity coming out? Why did I not see a problem with the idea
that “coming out” was being real? Moreover, why did I not see a problem with the “I knew all

along” and the “hiding” discourses that Wright felt so comfortable using? In order to do try to
unpack all of these questions, I began to listen more to more country music.
Through my own exploration of country music, and a more critical view of the queer
community I began to realize that maybe my disappointment in Chely Wright’s tears and
emotion during her coming out was because it was somehow too real. Here she was, this
seemingly larger than life woman, a beautiful femme lesbian from the Heartland who was
making what I considered the boldest, and most liberating decision of her career, and of her life,
and yet, she seemed somehow unprepared. I had watched “successful” celebrity “coming out
stories” such as Neil Patrick Harris in 2006, Wanda Sykes in 2008, and Chris Colfer in 2009.
After seeing the changes that were being made in the general acceptance of these out celebrities,
and the type of growing visibility the queer community had in the celebrity world I didn’t quite
understand her fear. These other celebrity “coming out” stories seemed to have had an element
of security, an air of confidence; they would talk about past fears and miseries. However in their
interviews there seemed to be a fundamental sense of hope and contentment. Wright’s book,
which begins with her account of almost taking her own life, ends with a struggle over country
authenticity or realness:
If you were to ask a fan why they love country singers, their answer would likely
be ‘because they are so real.’ Every time I heard a fan say that about me–and I
did so often– it made me sick to my stomach. I was hiding a big part of myself
from my fans, and I feared that most of them would not understand or approve
who I really was. I have no idea if or how many of my fans will support me
in my journey from this point forward, and I have no idea where I might find
my audience. I am a musician and a songwriter. I have dedicated my life to
performing for an audience, and my work has paid off. I don’t know what will

happen, but I am at peace with the uncertainty of it all. (Wright 2010. 283)
I wanted to believe that she was at peace with the uncertainty, but I did not feel like I was
seeing that in her interviews. I felt like she was trying to convince herself that she was at peace,
when in reality she was terrified. That fear is evident in the last few sentences of her memoir,
where she was still grappling with her “realness,” her “authenticity.” I did not understand why,
as a self-identified performer, “realness” was the most important aspect of sustaining her career,
or why coming out and being open about her “true self” would jeopardize that “realness” in some
way. There was an unruly contradiction at work.
In my early research I learned from both Chely Wright’s memoir and her overall
public persona that she supported the troops, prayed to God, was a feminine, beautiful, girl from
Tennessee with a great voice, and had even dated country music superstar Brad Paisley for an
extended time. From the audience’s perspective, Wright was the full embodiment of what it
means to be a perfect female country music star– she was real, authentic. However, as Wright
explained in an interview with Lesbian News Magazine in August of 2010, although she had
received all of the benchmark successes of a country music artist, and of a modern American
woman, they still seemed empty because she was hiding herself from her fans, from her music
and even her family.1 This belief in being “honest” with the fans is a major pillar of the social
value system of country music and ironically also within the popular face of the queer
community (especially one that affects the celebrity). In other words Wright was wedged
between country music’s construction of authenticity and the a queer community’s sense of the
power of queer visibility.
As I began to attend concerts in the summer of 2011 (seeing nine country music
superstars in concert in one summer, and purchasing tickets to see three more the following
1 "Chely Wright: Out of the Lie and into the Light." Lesbian News Magazine Aug. 2010: 24-27. Print.

summer) and attempted to understand the cultural values associated with the scene, I felt myself
getting caught up in the music in a brand new way. I tailgated at these concerts; I drank frozen
margaritas and beers while sitting on the back of a truck outside a football stadium, playing
card games. I woke up at 4am on a hot summer morning to get front row during a free Miranda
Lambert concert in Central Park for Good Morning America (I was even featured on television
a few times while singing along and wearing a Kenny Chesney concert shirt); I traveled out of
state, road tripped, and bought plane tickets for these shows. I may not have been to an authentic
Texas two-stepping country music club yet, but as a New York City dwelling college student, I
have thrown myself into this community as much as possible. As the saying goes, I was “living
life like some country song.” My once “dirty little secret” of being a born and raised New Yorker
who has an ever growing love for country music, cowboy boots, a southern drawl was out-- just
ask my Texan partner. By the end of 2011 I was an out as country music lover- and proud of it.
The purpose of this thesis is to unravel the constructions of authenticity in both the queer
community and the country music community in order to explore the seemingly uncompromising
way these two social value systems coexist. This thesis will ultimately delve into the coming
out narrative of Chely Wright in order to analyze the ways people navigate these two social
structures simultaneously. This thesis will be divided into three chapters. Chapter one will
explore the history of popular discourse within the queer community. In this thesis the word
queer will be used as an umbrella term for nonheteronormative identities such gay, lesbian,
bisexual, transexual, genderqueer and many more. When referring to an individual I will use
the word that the individual uses to identify himself with. This chapter will evaluate the queer
community’s push for visibility and the pressure for celebrities to come out from different
perspectives within the community. By doing this, I hope to uncover the paradox of the different
definitions and expectations of the word “authenticity” for both the country music community

and the queer community (referring to them as such), and therefore how difficult it is for a
celebrity like Chely Wright to navigate both of those paradigms simultaneously.
Chapter two reforms those arguments in terms of the gender roles of the “mainstream”
country music community and the power of gender roles on the construction of authenticity.
In order to evaluate these two aspects of country music, I will rely on lyrical analysis, and
a literature review. This chapter will also situate Chely Wright as an agent of change within
country music vales. It will do this by examining the historical context of feminism, masculinity,
and periodic attempts to “out” mainstream performers.
Finally, in chapter three I provide an in depth discussion of Chely Wright’s coming out
to provide a way for these two communities to not simply tolerate each other but for them to
begin to incorporate each other. For country music, the construction of authenticity is considered
the soil from which the remainder of the value system, the quintessential sounds, and the lyrical
themes stem, whereas for the queer community, the construction of authenticity is asserted as the
foundation of gay pride and visibility. I will highlight the parallel similarities and hypocrisies in
these two communities. I will do this by analysing lyrics, responses to artists through Internet
forums and news sources, and scholarly works on queer theory and on country music. Reactions
of other country music stars regarding Wright’s coming out will also be cited.
I also begin here with a note about the term community. There is not one “country music
community” just as there is not one “queer community”; location, race, age, class, religion and
gender each alter the ways that people attest and argue with these communities– if they attest
to them at all– and how they interact, perform, and define themselves as communities. Both are
amorphous, abstract and not bound by space or location. Their boundlessness, or borderlessness,
makes them hard to define and situate. Therefore, I use words like “community” and “culture”
broadly and with an understanding that communities and cultural customs can change and grow.

In other words I do not see these “communities” as being fixed, but rather I am attempting to
take a snapshot of the significance of contemporary country music as it is situated in a wider
American society.

Chapter One: “You Can't Take A Pill To Silence Me2:”
Constructing an “Authentic” Queer Celebrity
The American celebrity knows little of privacy. As an audience and a consumer market,
the average American has no need to go searching far to find out the latest gossip about their
favorite celebrity- the magazine stands are overwhelmed with headlines about the latest celebrity
breakup, pregnancy, weight loss or gain, scandal, and of course, failure. Not too long ago, Ellen
DeGeneres and Cynthia Nixon were making news within queer communities. DeGeneres was
under attack by a conservative group, One Million Moms, for becoming the new spokesperson
for JCPenney, whereas Cynthia Nixon was under attack from critics within the queer community
for saying that for her being gay was a choice. Along the same lines, not too long ago, Ellen
Page, the witty lead in Juno, and more recently the notable co-star in Inception, was being forced
by the media to come out as gay. The lesbian news website When Sally Met Sally reported that
after numerous web-based news sources claimed Page was in a relationship with Clea Duvall
(Girl, Interrupted, 21 Grams) in August of 2011, that a more formal coming out or admitting to
her romantic relationship was being called for. The reason behind the pressure is twofold. One,
which is cited in the article, is the lack of young queer women role models; the other is the
overall importance placed by gay rights activists on visibility of queer identifying people in order
to normalize the identity on a wider scale. This push for queer celebrities to come out is found
not just in mainstream media but in subcultural social contexts as well, such as in country music.
A few years ago, country music sensation, Kenny Chesney was involved with his own sexuality
scandal after Renée Zellweger divorced him due to a “fraudulent” marriage.
The American celebrity has been used as the example of the American dream coming
2 Chely Wright, “Object of Your Rejection.”

true. According to the sociologist and author of the book Celebrity Culture and the American
Dream, “celebrity culture also reflects shifts in gender, marriage, families, relationships, and
race relations in addition to political and economic changes (Sternheimer, XIV)” Considering the
determined push from queer and queer friendly organizations and politicians for the passing of
same sex civil rights which includes but is not limited to, same sex marriage state by state and
also on a federal level through the repealing of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), almost all
of the shifts that Sternheimer cites as being gaged by the American people through the American
celebrity are involved with the current political progress of the queer community. It is for exactly
this reason that celebrities such as Ellen Page are put under such scrutiny to come out of the
closet; to come out of the dark and into the light in order to reveal one’s “true,” or “authentic”
self.
Exploring Authenticity
What does “authenticity” mean? How is the construction of authenticity different for
different cultural communities? To begin trying to find a working definition of the word
authenticity, I first went to the dictionary. According to the Oxford Dictionary the
word “authentic” is defined as “of undisputed origin and not a copy; genuine” with three
subcategories: “made or done in the traditional or original way, or in a way that faithfully
resembles the original,” “based on facts; accurate or reliable,” and “(in existentialist philosophy)
relating to or denoting an emotionally appropriate, significant, purposive, and responsible mode
of human life.” Let’s break down this definitions a bit further:
(1) Of undisputed origin and not a copy; genuine- the overarching idea is based in
originality and sincerity. In this definition to be “authentic” is to be the origin of something and
to faithfully be what the person, place, or thing in question is said to be.

(2) Made or done in the traditional or original way, or in a way that faithfully resembles
the original- to be “authentic” in by this definition, is dependent on perpetuating an original or
a tradition. If alterations are to made to the original, or the tradition is to be updated, it must
be done in a way that preserves the integrity so to not make the original unrecognizable. This
definition is a contradiction of the first which states that to be authentic is to be the original, the
origin.
(3) Based on facts; accurate or reliable- something is “authentic” when all the
information or evidence provided is proved to be consistently true.
(4) Relating to or denoting an emotionally appropriate, significant, purposive, and
responsible mode of human life- to be “authentic” is to indicate the proper emotions, as
well as the meaning, purpose, and to uphold the balance of good versus evil in human life.
This definition of “authentic” implies the possibility of one’s genuine emotions or actions as
being “inauthentic” based on not being able to uphold such standards.
In the reactions to both Ellen DeGeneres’s and Cynthia Nixon’s comments on sexuality,
which will be discussed later in this chapter, we can see a combination of these definitions at
work. For mainstream celebrities and especially, for queer celebrities, the construction of
authenticity is about upholding certain standards of the accepted rhetoric about what it means to
be a queer identifying person. Furthermore, authenticity is being policed in order to ensure that
the language of the popular and dominant arguments of the gay rights movement is preserved. In
this case, I am relying on the third definition where “authenticity” is based on facts and
reliability. As we will see, whenever the language of choice is used it is viewed as being an
attack, or as undermining the “born this way” discourse which is widely revered as being true. In
turn, this is perceived as threatening to “undo” the work in convincing people of this truth. The
contradictions of the construction of “authenticity,” then, stem from the fact that a celebrity is

not expected only to be truthful to themselves as humans, but to themselves as performers.
Therefore if a queer celebrity is being honest, truthful, genuine regarding a personal story and a
relationship with sexuality and identity that does not match up with the popular, or accepted,
discourse, the celebrity therefore appears to be inauthentic to the movement or to the community.
As we will see in the case of Cynthia Nixon going against the grain, due to her position as a
celebrity, she was widely viewed as “not knowing what she was talking about,” and ultimately,
an as inauthentic queer celebrity.
Although the concept of sustaining the “tradition” or the “original” proves to be a helpful
and key notion for understanding the construction of authenticity for mainstream celebrities, be it
queer celebrities or country music celebrities, overall a different definition seems even more
fitting. In the end, what matters most is a credible public identity and not so much a true or
essential inner self (Tolson, 452). This concept, drawn from Andrew Tolson’s essay “Being
Yourself': The Pursuit of Authentic Celebrity,” means that “authenticity,” in the case of the
celebrity, is not so much based on being true to oneself, as the word denotes but rather to being
true to a movement or a community as a means of having a successful and credible persona. The
catch, however, is that the persona of the celebrity is assumed to be real. In relation to the
construction of authenticity in country music, Richard A. Peterson writes, “Prospective
performers had to have the marks of tradition to make them credible, and the songs that would
make them successful has to be original enough to show that their singers were not inauthentic
copies of what had gone before, that is, they were real (Peterson, 209).” This construction holds
true for both the country music singer and the queer celebrity. There is the need to balance the
rules, or ways, of the tradition and while still being modern, new, and original.
In Stardom: Industry of Desire, Christine Gledhill describes this dilemma in another
way. She says “The persona...forms the private life into a public and emblematic shape drawing

on general social types and film roles, while deriving authenticity from the unpredictability of
the real person (Gledhill, 215).” In other words, according to Gledhill authenticity is found
between the persona and the real person. However, I would further argue that it is shaped also
by the celebrity's political placement and therefore the ordinal positions between the persona
and the real may be vastly different. Chely Wright was trying so hard to perform the ideals of
the country music woman that she forced herself to keep her love life, or rather the love life she
wanted, a secret. In the documentary film of her life leading up to her May 2011 coming out,
Wright admitted to having numerous ways to sidestep or avoid talking about her love life during
interviews such as saying things along the lines of “I’m married to my music,” or “I’m too busy
for a relationship”. Wright felt the pressure to keep up the persona of being an authentic country
music star, rather than being true to herself inner self.
The Tradition
The second definition of “authentic” in the Oxford Dictionary evokes the need to know
the history of a community in order to understand the way authenticity is constructed within that
community. For the queer community, this means having base knowledge of the gay rights
movement and the thread of common discourse it has produced. In the wake of the Stonewall
Riots in New York City in 1969, gay rights activists formed the Gay Liberation Front (GLF).
The mission statement of the GLF reads: “We are a revolutionary group of men and women
formed with the realization that complete sexual liberation for all people cannot come about
unless existing social institutions are abolished. We reject society's attempt to impose sexual
roles and definitions on our nature." At the pivotal start to the gay rights movement, we already
see the roots of the contemporary discourse. The rhetoric has changed slightly with the times.
However, the use of words like “nature,” which denote human sexuality’s essentialism and

innateness, is echoed in the current use of “born this way3” discourse. The belief that gay people
are born as such has been at the focal point of the gay rights movement from the start. Now,
forty three years later, although more theories and concepts have been provided for political
recourse, few have withstood the test of time, and of popularity.
When the motion for gay liberation began, it did so as an equality movement; one that
sought all the legal and financial benefits that are granted to heterosexual individuals through
state and federally recognized marriage. Originally, the movement tried to educate the public
about sexuality, but as time passed and efforts were not seen with open arms the methods of the
fight for gay political equality plateaued. Progress has, in fact, been made for the gay
community, gays and lesbians now have more employment rights and protection under the law,
the military structure that made it nearly impossible to be gay and serve, “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,”
has been repealed, and marriage is now legal in six states as well as Washing D.C.. And yet, the
dominant, or popular discourse still frames the diverse and amorphous queer community through
a very narrow, normalized window.
While seeking to free themselves from the societal chains of what is considered to be
a “normal” or “real” relationship and sex life, the Gay Liberation Front accepted the binary
structures of the patriarchal gender regime by defining themselves as men and women. This
isolating action, one that is often repeated to this day further divorces the “T” and the “B”
from “LGBT.” The gay civil rights movement has a history of of asking for acceptance, settling
for tolerance, and attempting to conform to the heterosexual norm as much as possible. The
legalization of same sex marriage does not inherently liberate the gay community, but rather it
chains them to way of living that fits nicely into the already constructed societal system, one that
the movement, from the beginning, has often claimed to reject. However, the right to marriage
3 “Born this way” discourse is based in the idea that being gay is strictly biological. As a political strategy, “born
this way” has been equally effective as it has been limiting.

has been made into the focal point of the gay rights movement.
Harvey Milk, who was elected a city commissioner in San Francisco in 1976, and
made a member of the Board of Supervisors in 1978, was known for being very open about his
sexuality and an advocate for gay rights. He was also known for asking people to come out of the
closet with the common thought that visibility would aid in the progression of rights and legal
recognition. Milk was also known known to use the language anti-gay rights discourse ironically,
to cause a stir, such as when he would proclaim, “My name is Harvey Milk and I’m here to
recruit you.” But despite the writings of Alfred Kinsey, who in 1948 argued influentially that
sexuality is a scale, rather than an absolute, the politics of the Gay Liberation Front, of Harvey
Milk, and of many more are based on binary gender absolutes and the idea that one either is, or is
not gay. Furthermore, this essentialism is naturalized in this discourse: one is either born, gay, or
born straight, just as one is born as either male or female. The possibility that gender or sexuality
would be a subject of choice, or that they might be fluid or even a matter of choice, is often
understood as threatening within the community of gay rights activists and their most vociferous
opponents alike.
The construction of authenticity for this community, and for its members, is based, in
part, on the fact that to be an authentic queer celebrity requires one to reiterate the accepted and
popular discourse. The construction is complex in the sense that what matters is the persona of
the celebrity, not the “true” or “essential” self of the celebrity. In order to be considered a worthy
celebrity spokesperson, one must follow along the path of the common, popular discourse–
that being the “born this way” along with the attempt to normalize the gay identity. When a
celebrity goes against that grain, as we will see with Cynthia Nixon, they are ostracized and
deemed unfit to be a spokesperson. This in turn, strips them of their authenticity, based on the
construction, and strengthens the authenticity of those who are operating within the current

acceptable boundaries. This is something that, as we will see, has parallels within the country
music community.
The American Queer Celebrity & Controversy
The private lives of celebrities are very rarely respected. However considering the
political climate for queer rights, it is no surprise that once a celebrity does come out, they are
thrust into the position of spokesperson, advocate, activist, and more often than not, the new face
of the queer community. This also means that the queer celebrities are expected to use the most
popular of the queer discourses. Currently the popular discourse being used in order to foster
support and claim civil rights is known as “born this way” discourse. Perpetuated in particular
by by pop music sensation Lady Gaga, this rhetoric states that because queer identifying people
are “born with” an innate same-sex desire that they deserve the same type of civil liberties
that heterosexuals have. The “born this way” rhetoric is used in order to combat the religious
conception that homosexuality is “a choice” rooted in negative moral values or personal trauma,
and which can be “fixed” or altered at will. However, the primary challenge to that argument
asserts that queer civil rights hinge on an innateness that has yet to be scientifically proven. It
also inherently conflates innateness with authenticity and realness in such a way that anything
less than “being born gay” is devalued to the point of not being accepted as legitimate. In other
words, the argument is currently being shaped in a way that someone should only be allowed to
have the same civil liberties, such as the right to marry, as a heterosexual person only if marrying
(or simply being attracted to) someone of the “opposite” sex is considered to be biologically
impossible.
In January of 2012 Cynthia Nixon, a co-star of the hit HBO series Sex and the City, and
who came out as bisexual in 2004, made a comment that refuted the “born this way” argument

(which often excludes the very possibility of innate bisexuality) by saying that for her, being gay
was a choice. These comments engendered on extreme backlash. Nixon’s comments to the New
York Times were heated:
For me, it is a choice. I understand that for many people it’s not, but for me it’s
a choice, and you don’t get to define my gayness for me. A certain section of
our community is very concerned that it not be choice, because if it is a choice,
then we could opt out. I say it doesn’t matter if we flew here or we swam here,
it matters that we are here and we are one group and let us stop trying to make a
litmus test for who is considered gay and who is not….Why can’t it be a choice?
Why is that any less legitimate? (Nixon quoted in Witchel)
Here we see Nixon combating the popular “born this way” rhetoric by saying that even though
her sexuality was a choice, it should not stop her from having rights as a bisexual whose life
partner is a woman- it should not matter how she came to love the person she loves, or how
she came to form her identity, just that it is real. Nixon, was quickly bombarded with angry
responses. One such response came from the blog “AmericaBlog Gay” with the tagline “A great
nation deserves the truth.” In a short, but clearly emotional entry titled “Actress Cynthia Nixon
says it’s a choice to be gay. And she’s wrong,” blogger John Aravosis claims that Nixon fell
into a “right wing trap,” knowingly or not, and that “she needs to learn how to choose her words
better.” He continues by evoking how the religious anti-gay activists “mean you quite literally
choose your sexual orientation, [and that] you can change it at will, and that's bull.” Although he
is correct in his citing of a prominent religious perspective on homosexuality, Aravosis is using
the same rhetoric that the religious right, whom he seems to fear and have great disdain for, uses
in order to delegitimize queer identities in their entirety. He continues his argument by using
Nixon’s bisexual identity in order to attempt to undermine her stance:

It’s not a "choice," unless you consider my opting to date a guy with brown
hair versus a guy with blonde hair a "choice." It's only a choice among flavors
I already like. And if you like both flavors, men and women, you're bisexual,
you're not gay, so please don't tell people that you are gay, and that gay people
can "choose" their sexual orientation, i.e., will it out of nowhere. Because they
can't. (Aravosis).
Where Nixon was speaking in “I” statements and telling her own person story of her relationship
with her own sense of identity, Aravosis feels that it is an attack on his personal identity, and
therefore rights. Paradoxically, the religious right against which he is arguing would use the
same rhetoric by claiming the sexuality of others is an attack on their own personal identity
and and way of life.In short, Nixon’s “mistake,” as it is being noted4, is one that highlights
the disagreements and the conflicting queer rhetorics being used. Moreover this debate shows
how “born this way” discourse is the most valued of the current arguments for LGBT rights, and
the animosity that can follow when a celebrity -- even one who claims to be a fellow traveler --
speaks out against it.
In comparison to this event, let us look at the recent controversy involving
Ellen DeGeneres, JCPenney, and the conservative group called “One Million Moms.”
DeGeneres “came out” on national television during an episode of her sitcom Ellen in February
of 1997, and did not successfully break back into mainstream media until 2003 with her
eponymous (and very successful) talk show. Nine years later, after establishing herself as
a generally well known, well respected, and well loved lesbian, comedian, and CoverGirl,
DeGeneres, who had seemed impervious to such homophobic slander, was under attack by One
Million Moms because she was hired to by JCPenney to be the company’s new spokesperson.
4 Spaulding, Pam. 2012.

One Million Moms describes itself as being established in order to “give moms an impact
with the decision-makers and let them know we are upset with the messages they are sending
our children and the values (or lack of them) they are pushing... [and to] stand against the
immorality, violence, vulgarity and profanity the entertainment media is throwing at your
children.” Part of what is being implied here is the presence and visibility of queer identifying
individuals such as Ellen DeGeneres.
DeGeneres addressed the comments made against herself and JCPenney on her talk
show by, first, reading the statement which can be found on the One Million Moms website
and Facebook page: “By jumping on the pro-gay bandwagon, JCPenney is attempting to gain a
new target market and in the process will lose customers with traditional values that have been
faithful to them over all these years. The majority of JC Penney shoppers will be offended and
choose to no longer shop there.” DeGeneres addresses this comments as follows: “First of all,
being gay or pro-gay isn't a bandwagon. You don't get a free ride anywhere. There's no music.
And occasionally we'll sing 'We Are Family' but that's about it. Secondly they said ‘a majority
of the JCPenney shoppers will be offended and not shop there anymore...’" She then reads a
few comments on the One Million Moms Facebook page which are in support of Ellen and
her new position as the JCPenney spokesperson. She concludes her statement by thanking her
supporters and by saying: "Here are the values I stand for. I stand for honesty, equality, kindness,
compassion, treating people the way you’d want to be treated and helping those in need. To me,
those are traditional values. That’s what I stand for.”
Ellen DeGeneres, unlike Cynthia Nixon, deploys one of the mainstream forms of gay
civil rights rhetoric which evokes a “we’re just like you” mode of representation. In other words,
she is reappropriating the language of the One Million Moms, (a language of “traditional”
or “conservative” values) against the group’s stance, by saying she stands for such values as

kindness, compassion, and the golden rule. By doing so, DeGeneres, unlike Cynthia Nixon,
has left fewer openings for the religious right to mount an attack. DeGeneres’s rebuttal was
effective and widely respected. There are, of course, also critics of such rhetoric and its
popularity. Feminist critic and scholar Judith Butler writes: “The professionalization of gayness
requires a certain performance and production of a ‘self’ which is the constituted effect of a
discourse that nevertheless claims to ‘represent’ that self as a prior truth (Butler, 18).” In other
words, “professionalization of gayness” as Butler puts it, is what forces or perpetuates the
policing of authenticity, and the boundaries placed on what can be considered true, and real.
This concept is not just powerful in the context of Ellen DeGeneres and JCPenney, but also more
broadly for understand the performance of authenticity
What’s The Difference?
Michael Warner, the author of “The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and The
Ethics of Queer Life,” sums up the dilemma behind the gay civil rights movement by saying
that “gay people think that their ‘acceptance’ needs to be won on the terms of straight culture’s
politics of shame.” Warner continues to argue that “it seems as though there are two ways to
argue for gay marriage: embrace the politics of shame outright, allowing married gay couples to
be relieved of stigma in order to make its coercive effect felt all the more by the unmarried; or
simply deny that the legal institution of marriage has any connection to the politics of shame at
all” (Warner, 114). The “shame” to which Warner refers is an argument that unlike most who
often attribute the national distaste with same-sex marriage and other civil right does not stem
from homophobia but from a general phobia of sex in America5. This argument asserts that
although the queer community is on the “outside,” it must still abide by the rules of the “inside.”
5 Kurth, Peter. 1999

By accepting and appropriating traditional values, much like Ellen DeGeneres did, it has the
potential to further the concept that marriage is the only way to legitimize a relationship. To this
day a marriage can be nullified in many jurisdictions (and under religious laws) if it is not
consummated.6 Sex is considered an integral part of a legitimate relationship. However the
concept of marriage, in part, still hinges on the idea of family, and the ability for the couple to
reproduce naturally. The fact that vast majority of same sex couples cannot legally be married
does not just mean that the relationships are taken less seriously, but despite the ever moving
shift away from slander against premarital sex, an assumption is made that sex within the queer
community is more perverse than within the heterosexual community. The reliance on alternate,
or non-natural, methods for childbearing and family building has also been a hurdle for those in
the queer community that have the desire for children. In some states a couples cannot legally
adopt a child unless they are married. The lack of civil rights for those within the queer
community hinders their ability to be viewed as legitimately participating in a sect of American
life.
Some queer theorists resist buying into the institution of marriage completely.
Kate Bornstein, the queer theorist, playwright and lecturer as well as someone who self identifies
as “a feminist, a Taoist, a sadomasochist, a femme, a nerd, a transperson, a Jew, and a tattooed
lady”, wrote an “Open Letter to LGBT Leaders Who Are Pushing Marriage Equality7.”
Bornstein does not support marriage equality because she does not support marriage at all. In her
letter she criticizes the gay civil rights movement for making marriage equality the pinnacle of
gender and sexuality equality. She also notes that “marriage is a privileging institution... Seeking
to grab oneself a piece of the marriage-rights pie does little if anything at all for the oppression
caused by the institution of marriage itself to many more people than sex and gender outlaws.”
6 "Marriage and Nullity - Family Law | Law Teacher.”.
7 Bornstein, Kate. 2009

In other words, having the right to marry, or being married to one’s partner does not eliminate
the oppression but in fact perpetuates it. Bornstein also claims that marriage is a “further
expression of America’s institutionalized greed in that it benefits only its demographic
constituency.” Her first, and likely her boldest, claim is that “marriage, as it’s practiced in the
USA is unconstitutional” based on the absolute ties the institution (and the 1500-1700 civil rights
it provides) has to religion. Lastly, Bornstien attempts to remind those who are pushing for same
sex marriages that this “community” is amorphous: “Beyond L, G, B and T, there's also Q for
queer and Q for questioning. There's an S for sadomasochists, an I for intersex, an F for
feminists, and another F for furries...There are more and more people to add to this ever-growing
list of communities whom you must own as family and represent in your activism.”
Much like in the wide spectrum of feminist thought, there is not one way to a queer
activist; there is certainly not one voice of the queer community, which as Bornstein reminds us
all, is made up of a sweeping array of identities. However, there is one voice with the loudest
megaphone and the most popularity. For better or for worse, “born this way” and “just like you”
rhetoric is the preferred method for the gay civil rights movement and therefore the concept of
choice as Cynthia Nixon suggests, or living outside the system as Kate Bornstein would prefer,
are not viewed as being viable ways to gain rights or legitimacy within the United States. To
reiterate an earlier point, the reason for that line of thought is mostly attributed to the disapproval
from the religious right, whose patois wholeheartedly believe that being a queer individual is a
conscious, defiant, and negative choice that can and should be “fixed” in order for one to live a
happy and successful life. It is for that reason, among others, that the gay rights movement has
turned to concepts such as “I was born this way” or the appropriation of of traditional values in
order to say “we are just like you, we want the same things you do.” However the naturalization
of these good intentioned (and even fairly successful) tactics can create an atmosphere where it

is hard for an openly queer celebrity to admit a queer politics outside of this small window of
accepted discourse. Furthermore, the acceptance and perpetuation of this rhetoric leads to the
acceptance from the majority of the largest gay rights activist organizations and campaigns as
well as their followers. As noted earlier, the acceptance of this rhetoric also plays a role in the
construction of authenticity in the mainstream gay rights movement.
Being Out as Being Real
Another aspect of the common discourse, noted earlier with the history of Harvey Milk,
is being out as being “real” or helping gain rights for those within the queer community. The
language behind “coming out,” the very phrase itself, has been under attack for years. The
dichotomy of being considered “in the closet” or “out of the closet” has been constructed in a
way that makes being in the closet a bad thing and being out of the closet a good things.
Unsurprisingly, the dualism has caused a stigma of being, or remaining, in the closet as living a
false, or untrue, life resulting in unhappiness8. This idea of being out having strong ties, and even
a direct correlation to the true, or authentic self, as well as happiness, has not only taken over
popular discourse but also drives it. By this I mean that it motivates audience members,
consumers, and media to demand “authenticity” from the celebrity. No matter what the cost.
The mindset echos the slogan from Second-Wave Feminism that “the personal is
political.” However, in the case of outing a celebrity in specific, the personal is often forced into
the political. As previously mentioned, celebrity culture is often used as a way to gage the views
of the American people. Graeme Turner, an analyst of celebrity culture, notes that “the process
of celebritisation is widely seen as transformative but with markedly varying political
significance; at one end of the spectrum of opinion it would be described as a form of
8 Seidman, Steven. "Beyond the Closet: The Transformation of Gay and Lesbian Life."American Journal of
Sociology 111.1 (2005): 322-23. Web.

enfranchisement and empowerment, but at the other end as a mode of exploitation or
objectification (Turner, 13).” I argue that for a celebrity who is coming out, or for one whom is
already out, is all of the above. In the current political atmosphere identifying as queer is
equated with a distinct political position. That position, regardless of how truthful it may be, is
often attached to being intensely liberal and anti-traditionalist. In other words, although it is
possibly empowering to be apart of a celebrity community of queer identifying people and to be
a voice or a face of the larger population, it is also often than not a lifestyle that is exploited for
both political gain and for the personal interest of the media.
Much in the same way that the identity of woman has historically and often is still
othered, so are queer identities: Man is the default to which woman differs, heterosexual is the
default to wish queer differs and therefore, one is not simply an actor or performer, one is a
queer actor or performer. In her anthology Inside/Out: Lesbian Theories, Gay Theories, feminist
writer and queer theorist Diana Fuss argues that heterosexual is considered to be “inside” and
homosexual is considered to be “outside,”
Paradoxically, the “ghosting” of homosexuality coincides with its “birth,” for
the historical moment of the first appearance of the homosexual as a “special”
rather than a “temporary aberration” also marks the moment of the homosexual’s
disappearance- into the closet... On the other hand, it suggests the process of
coming out– a movement into a metaphysics of presence, speech, and cultural
visibility. (Fuss, 4)
In other words, upon giving name, and therefore definition, to the homosexual as being its own
species the definition also divorced the identity from the norm and therefore pushed it to the
outskirts of society, or into the closet. Fuss argues, however, the the act of outing is a way to
give voice and visibility to the community. Additionally, she argues that outing is “an attempt

to demonstrate that there have been outsiders on the inside all along (Fuss, 4).” This concept has
become the backbone of the defense for putting pressure on, or forcing, celebrities to come out.
One problem with such a line of thought, however, is that it creates a singular narrative
for a plethora of queer identities. The “inside/out” dichotomy assumes that being in the closet is
always a more miserable and dark experience than being out of the closet. What it does not take
into consideration is the separation of public and private life. Queer characters have more
presence in mainstream media today than ever before. They are featured on television shows
such as Modern Family (ABC), Glee (Fox), Happy Endings (ABC), Nurse Jackie (Showtime),
Shameless (Showtime), United States of Tara (Showtime), Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family),
Smash (NBC), and many more. It has become hard to turn on the television without seeing a
queer identifying actor, talk show host, or musician. Queer identities have become more
mainstream than ever before. However, there can still be consequences for a celebrity upon
coming out. The consequences may be for their career or it may simply be the loss of privacy.
Despite the belief that coming out is a political decision, it is highly personal. For celebrities, the
decision to disclose with the public may be more like putting up boundaries between what public
and private information, rather than the decision being about shame, guilt or fear9. Furthermore
from the media’s standpoint, coming out often is an invitation to come into the celebrities private
life.
The next chapter will expand upon some of these theories of the constructed authenticity
of the American celebrity, and specifically of the American country music celebrity.
Interestingly, the same set of definitions and contradictions within the definitions can be used to
describe the construction of authenticity within mainstream country music communities. There
are differences, of course, but the policing of authenticity and accepted discourse is surprisingly
9 Seidman, Steven. 2005

similar.

Chapter Two: “Man, I Feel Like a Woman10”:
Country Music Gender Roles
It is nearly impossible to discuss and understand the musico-cultural system of
mainstream country music without a discussion of “authenticity.” The notion, or construction
of “authenticity,” and its synonyms, “real” and “true,” rears its head in every nook and cranny
of country music. In a recent article from CNN, Jacque Wilson begins talking about authenticity
after just three short sentences: “Authenticity is what defines country music, says Karla Lawson,
a morning host for Nashville's WSIX country radio station. ‘It's so real and accessible and
down-to-earth and relatable,’ she says. ‘It's really the most honest music out there.’” The article
concludes by quoting the Country Music Association’s (CMA) media relations director Scott
Stem saying “I always claim that everyone liked country music– they just don’t want to admit
it...We are a very real-life music, based on real-life experiences. Who among us hasn’t had
our hearts broken? Who hasn’t lost a loved one, found a love or not gotten the job we wanted?
It covers (everything from the sad to the happy to the silly.” Wilson adds one last sentence to
this: “Now that sounds more like America11.”
This is just one example, yes, however it is poignant because without question, Wilson not
only highlights country music’s “authenticity” but also claims county music to be the sound of
America. The language of authenticity, or realness, has an omnipresence within country music
and is rarely questioned.
Tied to this valuation of the everyday is the assertion that country music is
10 Twain, Shania, Robert John. Lange, Paul Leim, Joe Chemay, Biff Watson, Dann Huff, Brent Mason, and Bryan
White. "Man, I Feel Like a Woman." Come on over. Mercury, 1997. CD.
11 Wilson, 2011

sincere: the songs describe real experiences and real emotions, and the singers are
expected to be ‘real’ themselves. Richard Peterson has described this dynamic as
a ‘fabrication of authenticity,’ observing that commercial country music, from
its origins in the 1920s, has worked consistently to construct ‘the image of the
country artist as open, down-home, and utterly conventional’. (Grossman 2005.
269)
Much like Stem related county music to “real-life experiences,” it is country music’s ties
to the mundane and the everyday that links it so strongly to this notion that it is so “authentic.’
What exactly is country “realness” or “authenticity?” Each subculture seems to gage authenticity
by slightly different set of standards because each relate to a basic set of social values in a
different way. For instance, “alternative” country musicians and fans make a point to stay away
from mainstream music, claiming it is too flashy and commercial, and therefore not “real.”
Authenticity is a focus within within mainstream country music discourse as well. Therefore,
establishing a definition of country “realness” or “authenticity” is dependent on having
knowledge of the social value system that is in place, as well as how that system is policed.
However, if we recall the definitions of “authentic” from the Oxford Dictionary from chapter
one, it becomes clear the that two basic definitions that are at work in the construction of
authenticity within country music are (2) “Made or done in the traditional or original way, or in a
way that faithfully resembles the original” and (4) “Relating to or denoting an emotionally
appropriate, significant, purposive, and responsible mode of human life,” as well as the
overarching definition based on Tolson’s work that says in the end, what matters most is a
credible public identity and not so much a true or essential inner self. This chapter will challenge
and complicate “authenticity” by first introducing some of the historical context of mainstream
country music, and then delving into an analysis of how the gender roles have, or have not,

changed over time. In order to do this I will be engaging with both historical and contemporary
country music lyrics as well as with scholarly works.
Gender Roles
Masculinity
In her book Dude, You’re a Fag C.J. Pascoe compartmentalizes masculinity into four
distinct categories: hegemonic, complicit, subordinated and marginalized, in order to understand
the hierarchy of the male students in high school. Her definitions prove to be helpful when trying
to understand the role of the man within country music as well.
Hegemonic masculinity, the type of gender practice that, in a given space and
time, supports gender inequality, is at the top of this hierarchy. Complicit
masculinity describes men who benefit from hegemonic masculinity but do not
enact it; subordinated masculinity describes men who are oppressed by
definitions of hegemonic masculinity, primarily gay men; Marginalized
masculinity describes men who may be positioned powerfully in terms of gender
but not in terms of class or race. (Pascoe, 7)
It seems as though the socio-cultural value system within country music is working from both
the hegemonic and complicit definitions of masculinity with the belief that a gay man can never
live up to the standards of the man who embodies the “hegemonic” man. It has been theorized
that the men in country music, at least according to the lyrics, must fall into the categories of the
cowboy, the heartbroken, the heart breaker, or the father12. In his article “Interpersonal Relations
and Sex-Role Conflict in Modern American Country Music,” G.H. Lewis makes the observation
that man in country music are “supposed to be tough and competitive and are likely to see other
men as rivals for jobs, a woman's affections and even societal approval (Lewis, 234).” If Lewis
12 Pruitt, Cenate. 2006.

has included that the men were to also be likely to wander or travel often he would have the
definition of the cowboy who is “at home in the wild...they fight hard, drink hard, and love hard.
In country music lore, the cowboy is perhaps the ultimate masculine (Pruitt, 60).” In other words,
the cowboy is the real embodiment of hegemonic masculinity and at the top of the hierarchy.
Judith Butler explains “homosexualities of all kinds in the present climate are being
erased, reduced, and (then) reconstructed as sites of radical homophobic fantasy (Butler, 20)”
and we see that happening with the image of the cowboy, which is a figure that has been
eroticized within the gay community. Willie Nelson even pokes fun at the idea of the cowboy
being gay in his song “Some Cowboys are Frequently Secretly (Fond of Each Other)” The song
begins: “Well, there's many a strange impulse out on the plains of West Texas./ There's many a
young boy who feels things he can't comprehend./ And a small town don't like it when somebody
falls between sexes./No, a small town don't like it when a cowboy has feelings for men.” Right
off the bat, Nelson says two things everyone already knows: (1) There are gay men, even in
West Texas, and (2) Small towns in places such as West Texas are usually homophobic. The
chorus of the song follows “And I believe to my soul that inside every man there's the feminine./
And inside every lady there's a deep manly voice loud and clear./ Well, a cowboy may brag
about things that he's done with his women./ But the ones who brag loudest are the ones that are
most likely queer.” Here the listener is also told something they most likely already know– even
if they do not want to believe it– that being masculinity and femininity are not absolutes, but
rather exist on a spectrum. Furthermore, he pokes fun at the man who feels the need to brag
about his sexual conquests, asserting the need to do so usually stems from having something to
hide, or a lack of confidence, or the need to continually prove his heterosexuality.
Lastly, the bridge of the song reads “Cowboys are frequently secretly fond of each other./
Say, what do you think all them saddles and boots was about?/ And there's many a cowboy who

don't understand the way that he feels for his brother/ And inside every cowboy there's a lady
that'd love to slip out.” Here Nelson even turns the attire of the cowboy into evidence for the
cowboy’s queer sexuality. Nelson is implying that this hegemonic masculine figure, one who,
as noted earlier, fights hard, drinks hard, and loves hard, is often also a gay man. We also see
such concepts play out in the 2005 film starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, Brokeback
Mountain.13 The film explores the homosexual desire between two cowboys and the pressure
they feel to keep up the appearance of sustaining hegemonic masculinity. Janet A. McDonald
engages with this dilemma:
The outdoors in [Brokeback Mountain] is a masculine-only realm that
naturalises and nourishes male-male relationships, which then remain
unspoken and inexplicable to the women and children occupying the domestic
space...This ‘queering’ moves away from simply addressing the complexity of
cowboy homosociality as something in opposition to female-ness, and towards
considering it as something where there are complex amorphous notions of
masculinity at work which parallel heteronormative desires.14
The film provides a space for the cowboy to be engaged with same-sex desire and sex while not
compromising his masculinity and status as a cowboy. Whereas Nelson deals with the concept
of the gay cowboy in a joking matter, Brokeback Mountain does so as a drama that attempts
to examine the struggle of dealing with sexuality and the rigid boundaries of masculinity. This
struggle is exemplified outside of the Hollywood world when Kenny Chesney was at the center
of gay rumors.
13Brokeback Mountain. Dir. Ang Lee. Prod. Diana Ossana and James Schamus. By Diana Ossana and Larry
McMurtry. Perf. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. Universal Home Entertainment, 2005. DVD.
14McDonald, Janet A. "Queering The Representation Of The Masculine 'West' In Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain."
Gay & Lesbian Issues & Psychology Review 3.2 (2007): 79-85. Gender Studies Database. Web. 1 Apr. 2012.

After a public divorce from actress Renée Zellweger in 2005, the prominent country
music star Kenny Chesney was at the center of gay rumors. The Chesney/Zellweger marriage
lasted all of four months and Chesney had allowed Zellweger to file for annulment based
on “fraud,” which is often a euphemism. Chesney did not address any of the comments made
about him and his sexuality for two years. This scandal reached news sources such as the
television programs “E! Hollywood News” and even the legitimate news program “60 Minutes.”
During his July interview with Anderson Cooper (also widely rumored to be gay and under
pressure to come out) on “60 Minutes,” Chesney addressed the rumors by saying “It's not true.
Period. Maybe I should have come out and said, 'No, I'm not [gay],' but I didn't want to draw
any more attention to it. I didn't have to prove to anybody that I wasn't [gay].” According to E!
News, “his lone act of deceit during his brief union stemmed from his mistaken belief that he
was ready to be a husband.” Throughout his interviews, Chesney did not stray from this story
however. In an interview with Playboy Magazine in 2009 he appears to get a big more defensive
about the rumors and his feelings towards them by saying:
That is the most unbelievable things in the world. “Because Renée cited fraud,
Kenny’s got to be gay.” What guy who loves girls wouldn’t be angry about that
shit? I didn’t sign up for that. I think people need to live their lives the way they
want to, but I’m pretty confident in the fact that I love girls. [laughs] I’ve got a
long line of girls who could testify that I am not gay. (Tannenbaum, 34)
He follows that statement up by further defending his heterosexual identity saying that by
2001 he had slept with over one hundred women15. The statement was gently provoked by the
Playboy interviewer, Rob Tannenbaum. But Chesney was hardly reluctant to keep that number
to himself. It is also interesting to juxtapose Chesney’s statement to 60 Minutes in 2007 saying
15 Tannenbaum, Rob. "Kenny Chesney." Playboy page 34

he did not have anything to prove and his comment to Playboy that the rumors made him angry.
I would also like to note in the entire interview commenting on the rumors is the only moment
when Chesney curses. The game of tug-of-war that Chesney seemed to be playing regarding
how to carry himself through the duration of this “scandal” is evident in the Playboy interview.
He attempts to show some sort of support for, or tolerance of, a gay identity, however he
simultaneously distances himself from it, then follows up by asserting his masculinity through
his high number of sexual conquests. During the interview Chesney also recalls fist fights that
he has been in, his way of gaging how drunk he is, and how often he drinks16. Overall, the
interview comes across as being a way to reassert his position as a man, and as a cowboy – a
man who “fights hard, drinks hard, and loves hard.” (And one who isn’t gay.)
Male effeminacy, which is noted in the Willie Nelson song, becomes a place to both
make jokes, as well as call forth the crisis of masculinity. Contemporary country music star Brad
Paisley’s song 2007 “I’m Still A Guy17” provides the listener with great insight into what is
expected of both men and women within the socio-cultural value system of country music. The
song begins with the narrator providing examples of the different ways men and women see the
same thing, such as “when you see a deer you see Bambi/ And I see antlers up on the wall.” This
verse concludes with Paisley admitting that his woman may keep him cleaned up, but no matter
what, he’ll always be the outdoorsy, tough guy who will hunt and fish. He also displays a love
of danger and recklessness in his desire to ride a wild bull, whereas the woman is expected to
point out the danger in the act and show concern, which also shows a sensitivity that is lost on
the man, who needs to be somehow weakened in order to walk his girlfriend’s, or wife’s, “sissy
dog.”
The word “sissy” here is key. “Sissy” implies a lack of masculinity, a lack of power and
16 Tannenbaum, Rob. "Kenny Chesney." Playboy page 30
17 Paisley, Brad. "I'm Still A Guy." 5th Gear. Brad Paisley. BMG Music, 2007. CD.

even a lack of clout. In fact, it is commonly a euphemism for “gay.” But we must remember,
that he is “still a guy.” As the song goes on Paisley makes cracks about coming a long way
since being a caveman, while still proclaiming his needs for sex, since he is, of course, “still a
guy.” He even makes fun of men who take care of themselves by means of facials, manicures,
waxings, botox, spray tans, and hand lotion–supposed overly feminine means of male body care.
The song concludes: “Yeah, with all of these men linin’ up to get neutered/ It’s hip now to be
feminized/ I don’t highlight my hair/ I’ve still got a pair/ Yeah, honey I’m still a guy/ Oh my
eyebrows ain’t plucked/ There’s a gun in my truck/ Oh thank God, I’m still a guy.” Here, we see
Paisley explicitly putting down men who most likely fit into the “metrosexual” or “subordinated
masculinity” category, which is noted in Pascoe’s hierarchy of masculinity included earlier, to
be “predominantly gay men.”
This is not the only place that we see ideas such as these about masculinity, however.
Based on a common misconception -- the conflation of gay men with femininity -- we see here a
direct assault on gay male (or even straight but cosmopolitan male) identity. This song is for its
effort narrowly define both men and women simultaneously. Paisley builds up his sense of his
own masculinity and tries to appeal to his partner by putting down different ways to express the
male embodiment. This building up one’s own image of masculinity resembles the Kenny
Chesney interview where he noted the “more than one hundred women” who could attest to his
heterosexuality.
We also see traditional gender roles displayed in both lyrical content and within
the social communities of country music. The article “Healers and Heartbreakers” by Karen
Saucier notes “the male is expected to play the active role by ‘asking’ the woman out, which
reflects the dominant behavior acceptable for traditional male and female relationships (Saucier,
161).” While writing her doctoral dissertation “Constructing and Internalizing Countryness:

Authenticity and Fan Diversity in Country Music Culture,” folklorist Cathy Brigham did
fieldwork in country music two-stepping clubs in Austin, Texas.18 During her fieldwork,
Brigham visited an Austin, Texas dance club called “Dallas” where she asked a man to dance.
She wrote that “the man looks startled, but accepts my offer and we move onto the dance floor.
He then asks me where I am from. When I say I have just moved to Austin from Indiana, he
informs me that in Texas, women do not ask men to dance and that I should have waited to
receive an invitation to dance from him (Brighman, 74).” While dancing he even made a point to
tell her not to lead. This is a glaring example how a woman taking on a traditional “man’s role”
that offended this man’s sense of masculinity and manhood. She was perceived as being too
masculine -- a female embodying a “male role” -- and his response indicated that she had
deprecated his identity as a man in the club. These rules are meant to keep a certain balance in
order to sustain the delicate masculine ego; this balance is not constructed only within the
culture of country music but it is perpetuated by it. This man’s behavior fits under the category
of complicit masculinity.
The image of a woman as challenging a man’s sense of masculinity is seen in a broad
range of media, political, and social areas, as well as in country music. G.H. Lewis explains this
game of tug of war in the context of country music.
The woman is portrayed as taking over the “freedom” portion of the male role,
but – and this is critical – not being subject to the pulls of the “restraint” pole of
this axis, which she is accused of abandoning in her search for liberation. Thus,
in contrast to the man, who is constantly torn in both directions – which makes
him appear both tragic and noble, even as it offers him an excuse for excess in the
area of freedom – the new female is seen as one-dimensional in intent, turning
18 Brigham, Cathy A. 2002.

her back on the social responsibilities defined by proper social restraint, and thus,
blamable. In contrast, the male in trying to play out his traditional role against this
new femininity, finds himself all alone in attempting to uphold the ties of social
responsibility and ultimately, failing to do so well. In this way, the man emerges
as a suffering figure, to be both pitied and respected, while the new woman is
seen as a one-dimensional bitch. (Lewis, 236)
The problems that Lewis is discussing apply more broadly to feminism in country music. The
role of women –although it has not changed so dramatically– has changed, whereas the role of
the man has not really changed. He is still supposed to represent the image of the traditional
man, as discussed above. The woman, on the other hand, has altered her position from being a
housewife, homemaker, and mother (or conversely, a woman of loose morals that threaten the
social order) to being a somewhat autonomous being who is in control of her life, career, and
sexuality (to an extent). For both the man and the woman, however, the aspect of their life that
is the most fulfilling is that of the romantic relationship with someone of the opposite sex19.
The very fact that men, but especially women, are defined extensively through their relationship
with the opposite sex furthers the heteronormativity of country music and the community that
surrounds it. It also deepens the point that both Judith Butler and Maxine L. Grossman make
about the erasure of homosexual identities.
Although historically both sexes are defined by their relationship with each other, in
country music culture men frequently assert that their identity is derived from their work and
ability to provide for their families and their ability to satisfy their wives, whereas the identity of
women in country music stems from how well they are able to support and take care of their
men. According to Saucier, “the only really acceptable role for women in country music is of
19 Saucier, Karen A., 1986. page 159

housewife, mother, and lover. Women are viewed as lovers, best friends, wives, and mothers but
never as co-workers or career persons20.” This type of stereotyping is not exclusive to country
music, however it remains a driving force of the social value system as well as a major point of
opposition. Even though women have been in the workplace and pursuing careers since the
1950s, the mentality of women remaining within the home still lingers– although not with the
same intensity. Furthermore, despite the limitations of what are “acceptable” roles for women in
country music, those are not the roles in which women allow themselves to stay confined.
In 1975, the well known country music singing and songwriting star Loretta Lynn came
out with the song “The Pill.” Although Lynn was not the first woman to make feminist strides in
country music, she is a figurehead of the thread of the women’s rights movement within the
genre. The song, “The Pill” tells the story of a woman who has lived the life of a wife and
mother ever since she married a man who “promised to show her the world,” but in reality she
has had multiple children and has sacrificed her own independence in order to fulfill those roles.
The difference between when the narrator first married and the moment in which she is singing
the song is that now she has the birth control pill and she can protect herself from having more
children. The narrator is ready to go out and have some fun like she used to: “This old maternity
dress I`ve got is going in the garbage/ The clothes I`m wearing from now on won`t take up so
much yardage/ Miniskirts, hotpants, and a few little fancy frills/ Yeah I`m making up for all
those years since I`ve got the pill21” What makes this song so powerful, aside from that it came
out in 1975 and the idea of birth control is once again a hot political topic for American
conservatives, is that it expressed direct opposition to the standard gender roles for women. So
much of a woman’s identity is inserted in her ability to produce children and to be a
mother, “The Pill” is asserting the idea that women have a choice of whether or not “mother” is
20 Saucier, Karen A., 1986. page 157
21 Loretta Lynn. "The Pill." Rec. 1972. Back To The Country. Owen Bradley, 1975. CD.

how they want to identify.
However, such outspoken lyrical content was not very common for country music
at the time. The truth is that “because the county music industry is far more conservative than
other popular music genres, female singers have had to make feminist stands in ways that would
not offend the industry’s male gatekeepers at record labels, publishing companies, and radio
stations, where the sexist double standard is still alive and well. In other words, they’ve had to
play by the rules (or at least pretend to) before they could be allowed to bend them or use them
promote feminism (Keel, 155).” Playing by the rules of country music can mean pushing the
limits of one aspect of the social value system, while upholding the others. This is important
because, as in politics, the attempt to change too much too fast risks a dramatic backlash and a
renewed and strict protection of “traditional” values and investments. For country music, this can
also lead to the isolation of the individual from the community. Although Loretta Lynn was
pushing the political and social limits of gender roles, as she had continued to do throughout her
career, she had been able to uphold the other values of country music such as the love for the
simple things in life, traditional feminine appearances. More importantly, audiences adored
Loretta Lynn, and she has had a huge number of hit songs and won dozens of awards over her
long career, as well as authoring a best-selling autobiography that became an Oscar-winning film
depicting her rise from rural poverty to stardom. As displayed in the current Republican
primaries for the 2012 presidential election, conservative voices have still not fully come around
to the ideas of gender equality and birth control for which Loretta Lynn argued frequently in her
music. However she did pave the way for more strong women in country music. Overall, large
strides have been made to bridge the gender gap. Lynn’s song “The Pill” is an example of how
changes have been made, and yet there is still still more that can be done. In the case of birth
control and the weight of the current debate over regarding how available it should be made, it

can even be said that it is merely another way that the crisis of masculinity is rearing its head– it
says more about those who have the intentions to limit the use of availability of birth control,
then it says about the progress women have made in the social and political arenas.
Twenty years after “The Pill” was released, Canadian-born singer and songwriter Shania
Twain found herself at the center of the feminist movement within country music. Although it
was not her first album, The Woman in Me put on her the map. The lyrics in this 1995 album
range from the narrator telling her listener what she wants in her man in the song “Any Man of
Mine,” to the narrator criticizing her man for sexual infidelity in “Whose Bed Have Your Boots
Been Under?” to the vulnerability displayed in the title song of the album, where the narrator
expresses that despite being strong on her own, she may sometimes need her man to hold her.
Even with this brief overview of the album, it is easy to see why Shania Twain was at the focal
point of this feminist movement. In regards to Shania Twain, Beverly Keen writes in her essay
Between Riot Grrrl and the Quiet Girl:
Love her or hate her, she has forever changed the country music terrain for
female singers, in terms of the types of acts signed, the types of songs recorded
(including feminist lyrics), and the increased sexiness in photos and videos.
Twain has emerged as the unofficial but undeniable leader of this movement and
represents the future of women in country – frank, original, independent, and
sexy. She loves her man, but she loves herself more. She is turning the tables on
men, insisting that she’s the one who must be pleased. (Keel, 165)
Here, again, we see a slow pushing of the boundaries of normative gender identities. As much
as Shania Twain was advocating for the woman’s right to choose to live her life the ways she
wants it, and for women to demand from men in the way that men demand from women, she
was also letting it be known that she needed a man in her life. As Loretta Lynn had originally

pushed the boundaries of the definition of woman, so did Shania Twain. Even as she was doing
this, however, it is also noted that she was paving the way for a newfound expression of female
sexuality and sexiness for women. This was simultaneously reinforcing old acceptable notions of
what a woman should be – a lover – and advancing the image of a new, independent woman who
is in charge of her own choices. Even though women women now have more sexual agency than
ever before, that freedom still had its boundaries then, and continues to have boundaries now.
The woman are still expected to express themselves within the bounds of heterosexuality and
therefore in relation to their man.22
Ten years later, Miranda Lambert broke into the country music scene. Lambert’s
second album, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” takes the feminist work of Loretta Lynn and Shania Twain
one step further. The first song on the album, entitled “Gunpowder and Lead,” is a high energy,
empowered song about the narrator preparing for what we presume is her ex-lover getting out of
jail for beating her. The chorus chronicles the narrator going home to load her shotgun, have a
cigarette and a beer, and wait for him to come home so that she can “show him what a little girl
is made of/ gunpowder and lead.” During the climax of the song, Miranda belts out “his fist is
big but my guns bigger/he’ll find out when I pull the trigger!23” This song – full of anger,
aggression, and a type of alcohol use usually reserved for the (male) cowboys – asserts that the
narrator whom Lambert is performing as is also someone who “fights hard, drinks hard, and
loves hard.” Although the narrator of the song is a victim of domestic abuse, she is now prepared
to fight back. She does this again in the title song of the album, where it takes her “five bars,
some thirty license plates” to find her ex- boyfriend and the new woman in his life. The narrator
22 Pruitt, Cenate. 2006. page 67
23 Lambert, Miranda. "Gunpowder and Lead." Rec. 14 Jan. 2008. Crazy Ex-girlfriend. Miranda Lambert. Sony
BMG Nashville, 2007. CD.

of the song has shown up for a fight and is unafraid to end up in jail over the altercation24.
Lambert pushes the boundaries that Loretta Lynn and Shania Twain began to widen, even
further. Through the use of the character she has created, she is not only a woman whom the
audience assumes is in charge of the choices she makes, and who makes demands of her man,
but also one who is willing to stand up for herself – physically if necessary. She pushes back
against the concept of the strong, macho man, by saying she is not only as strong, but stronger.
Lambert’s power does not stem from her man; it stems from herself. According to G.H. Lewis,
historically “the woman [as a character type in country music specifically] is, before marriage,
supposed to be free and sexual enough to attract a man but, at the same time, be socially
responsible enough that she, like mamma before her, can be considered a legitimate candidate
for marriage25.” Lambert however, breaks those rules.
Miranda Lambert’s song “Heart Like Mine26” overtly rejects normative definitions of
womanhood. The song begins with the lines “I ain't the kind you take home to mama/ I ain’t the
kind to wear no ring.” This song chronicles the things the narrator has done wrong, and the sins
she has committed– she drinks too much, smokes cigarettes, has a tattoo, and isn’t particularly
well educated. According to the song, they only thing she has going for her is her ability to sing,
yet she continues in the chorus, “I heard Jesus, He drank wine/I bet we’d get along just fine/ He
could calm a storm and heal the blind/ And I bet He’d understand a heart like mine.” Lambert
turns her previously mentioned fondness for drinking into a possible commonality to Jesus. In
the end, she thinks despite her faults, Jesus would understand her, and therefore, she no longer
needs the approval, or understanding, from those around her. The narrator seeks her salvation,
not through earthly possibilities, but rather through the likelihood of being understood by Jesus.
24 Lambert, Miranda. "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend." Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Miranda Lambert. Sony BMG Nashville, 2007.
CD.
25 Lewis, George H. 1989. page 235
26 Lambert, Miranda. "Heart Like Mine." Revolution. Columbia Nashville, 2009. CD.

In other words, her sense of identity, although it is still dependent on a man (Jesus) it is not
dependent on a male lover. She is an independent woman. The audience is therefore lead to
believe that for Lambert, this is where she finds her sense of authenticity.
Authenticity is constructed differently for men and women in country music. As
we have seen, and as Karen Saucier’s study concludes, “males (in the songs) conform more to
stereotypical male traits...more often than women (in the songs) conform to stereotypical female
traits (Saucier, 149).” The gender roles of the men in country music have been static, almost
unchanging, whereas the women of country are, little by little, changing the rules. Women being
agents of social change is not a concept that began with country music by any means, however it
is one that we see repeating. Not all women in country are acting as agents of change, just as not
all men are trying to stand in their way. However, there are men in country music who are
attempting to maintain the status quo, and their hegemonic power, just as there are women who
are trying to change it and gain true autonomy and control over their bodies. The construction of
authenticity then, is always changing. Five years after Miranda Lambert’s “Gunpowder and
Lead,” the aggressive cowgirl song, Chely Wright came out as a lesbian. In a way, it seems like a
logical next step for the women of country music: first we saw, Loretta Lynn tackled issues of
bodily freedom and sovereignty and family norms; then Shania Twain made a more forward
sexuality acceptable and profitable, and created characters who make demands on the men in her
songs. Miranda Lambert appropriated the identity of the cowboy for her female characters.
These women, although important figures, are by no means the only who have pushed and
changed the image of women in country music; there are countless other women who had a hand
in the changing of what it means to be a woman in country music. Up until now however, none
have pushed the hardest of limits -- the presumption of a hetereosexual subject position for
women in country music -- the way that Chely Wright has.

Chapter Three: “[W]right In The Middle of It27:”
The Politics of Coming Out of the Closet as a Country Singer
How does someone publicly “come out of the closet” from within one of the most
socially conservative cultural formations in the United States? With a tandem memoir and
album release as well as an interview on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” of course. During this
interview, Wright explained the religious influence on her fear: "I was told in church that there
were building blocks of sin and evil doing, and these words were strung together to scare me—
drunkard, thief, adulterer, homosexual. I thought, 'That's what I am,'” It is unmistakable that
religion has a part in mainstream country music. It is also unmistakable that religious values run
deep for many of country music starts and listeners. Yet, how often and where does the queer
identifying person fit into the spectrum of religious and religiously inflected discourse?
Obviously not everyone who is religious hates or is uncomfortable with queer
identifying people, and certainly there are queer identifying people who themselves range from
the very religious to the nonbelievers. However, orthodox theological positions and majority
opinions within most of the world’s religions, both outside and within the Christian realm, are
admittedly and frequently opposed to the expression of homosexual feelings and are often
explicitly opposed to gay rights. Many believers, and certainly many Christians, harbor a deep
discomfort with the advancement of the gay rights agenda, which sometimes translates as an
explicit hatred for queer identifying people. Considering country music’s deep connections to
Christianity, the music itself is sometimes (if not often) perceived as homophobic. Since religion
is a staple of country music, and displays of religiosity help establish and prove
the “authenticity” of country musicians through the internalization of this value, then only
through properly displaying and abiding by the religious system and norms will a country singer
27 Wright, Chely. Right in the Middle of It. Chely Wright. PolyGram Records, 1996. CD

be accepted as being “authentic.” In the case of religious value systems, especially for Chely
Wright, there was no room for being a lesbian. Wright notes in her memoir, as well as talks
about throughout various interviews and in her documentary that she felt the religious pressures
to be straight from family, from the Preacher in her church, from her hometown community and
from within the country music community. She recalls attending church on Sunday’s and hearing
the Preacher condemn homosexuals; she even remembers just the word “homosexual” being
used as a bad word that was grouped together with other sins such as taking the Lord’s name in
vein, lying and stealing. To begin her first chapter, Wright repeats a prayer that she said every
day from the third grade on. That prayer is as follows: “Dear God, please don’t let me be gay. I
promise to be a good person. I promise to not lie. I promise to not steal. I promise to always
believe in you. I promise to do all the things you ask me to do. Please take it away. In your name
I pray. Amen (Wright, 3).” Wright was upholding the traditional religious discourse accepted in
country music, but upon coming out she would also be faced with the accepted discourse within
the queer community. If we were to listen to Miranda Lambert’s song “Heart Like Mine”
through this lens, it can be appropriated as a country queer anthem for the religiously inclined. If
we recall the chorus which was included in last the last chapter, the lyrics describe someone who
is usually outcasted or scolded from those within the religious community for their perceived
sins. However the narrator is convinced that despite the general opinion of her character, that
Jesus would understand her, and therefore she is content with herself. The lyric “I bet he’d
understand a heart like mine,” is often used, in so many words, as a part of the queer rhetoric
used to combat homophobia fueled by religious values. This type of rhetoric is in accordance
with “born this way” discourse, but rather than basing the argument in science and biology, it is
based in faith and the belief in God.
In her memoir, as well as in interviews, Wright used common queer discourse by saying

she “always knew she was gay.” She also explains that she felt “trapped” in the closest because
of her strong ties to the county music industry and community. In television and magazine
interviews, as well as in her memoir Like Me and in interviews included in the documentary
about her coming out Wish Me Away she even talks about the gay bashing and outward
homophobia she had due to the fear of someone finding out about her own identity as a lesbian.
Wright explained how she would even find herself angry with women who dressed in more
masculine attire because she felt that their clothing represented lesbian culture and desire. Wright
felt that woman who dressed in such a way threatened her rouse as a straight woman. She wanted
everyone to conform to the norm like she was doing; she wanted everyone to also put on the
same performance that she was.28
Chely Wright would attest to her life off the stage had become as much of a
performance as her life on the stage. Wright was experiencing first hand the way celebrity
performances go beyond what an audience see and hear in front cameras, but that the
performance extends to the act of an audience listening and therefore everyday events can, too,
become moments of staged events. For Wright, this meant that not only was she performing for
an audience while on stage or during an interview, she was also performing for friends, relatives
and coworkers within her everyday life. She had created such a successful persona that she
feared her truth of being a lesbian would ruin the construct of authenticity she had created of
herself. If we recall Christine Gledhill’s theory that authenticity is located between the persona
and the real person then it is safe to say that for Wright, that divide had been getting wider as
time went on, rather than smaller. It has been theorized that “the performer can be fully taken by
his own act; he can be sincerely convinced that the impression of reality which he stages is the
28 "Chely Wright's Childhood Dreams and Secrets - Oprah.com." Oprah.com. 19 May 2010. Web. 20 Feb. 2012

real reality.29” In other words, there is a moment when both the performer and the audience are
similarly convinced of the persona, or the construction of authenticity that is at play during the
performance and therefore any doubts about the “realness” or “authenticity” are almost entirely
erased. For the country music singer, this is likely to happen when the performer embodies the
social value system as closely as possible leading the audience to read them as being “authentic”
or “real.” Relating back to the definition of “authentic,” the country music performer cannot
stray too far from the values in order to preserve the integrity.
However, for Wright this was not the only abstract social value system, or abstract
community to apply a strange set of rules to the performers who fall into their genre- musical
or otherwise (i.e. comedy, reality television, newscaster, ethnic and social groups, etc.). There
was something much larger happening below the surface. Wright had internalized the values of
country music and the idea that acceptance of the queer community (and therefore the rights of
queer individuals) stem from visibility and in doing so, she feared for the fate of her career and
of her fan base if she were to come out as a lesbian. This fear was legitimate. Although, it hasn’t
been said in direct words, it has been implied through action, from more than one religion, that
being gay is the unforgivable sin. Without the fandom and the forgiveness of one's audience, a
performer ceases to perform. While correlation does not equal causation, it is important to note
that Wright’s record sales had dropped since coming out in May of 2010. Maybe this album
simply was not as good, or not as “country,” maybe Wright had lost some of her general appeal
in the five years between albums, but maybe it was because now she was an out lesbian woman,
still trying to make it in country music, despite being queer does not fit into the schema of a
country star.
29 Goffman, Erving. "Chapter 9 Social Life as Drama." The Goffman Reader. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1997. 95-
108. Print.

Religious Influence
One of the longest lasting traditions of country music has been the religious influence.
Whether it is a simple “thank God,” allusions to heaven and hell (lightness and darkness), sin
and forgiveness or a song dedicated to religion and God, there is no doubt that religion is a
driving force in country music. From American country music power couple Miranda Lambert
and Blake Shelton, to Morgan Craig and beyond, there is a lyrical paper trail of the importance
of having faith in a higher power. Maxine L. Grossman, author of the essay “Jesus, Mama, and
the Constraints on Salvific Love in Contemporary Country Music” writes that there are three
components of religion that are expressed within country music song lyrics: “love of home and
family, love for a God who can be understood in intimate familial terms, and above all, the
search for salvation (Grossman, 268).” In other words, religious values are expressed through
family, Jesus as a once living and breathing man, and forgiveness. The reason why the search for
salvation and forgiveness is so ingrained in country music is because, as Grossman
explains, “The first consistent with the dominant Protestant tradition in which so much of
[country] music has been written, is that the human condition is one of imperfection. Humans are
sinful, and on account of their sins and imperfections, they suffer (Grossman, 271).” The
suffering theme is one which is often seen in country music. Usually the suffering is on behalf of
a lover leaving, and then men in this case, almost always turn to alcohol to ease the pain, as we
will see later in the gender roles discussion.
It is unmistakable that religion has a part in mainstream country music. It is also
unmistakable that religious values run deep for many of country music stars and listeners. A
question that that is often asked however is: How often and where does the queer identifying
person fit into the religious spectrum. Obviously not everyone who is religious hates, or is
uncomfortable with queer identifying people, and certainly there are queer identifying people

who are also range from the very religious to the non believers. That being said, there is however
a large contingent of religions, and their followers, both outside and within the Christian realm
who are admittedly anti gay rights, and who harbor a deep uncomfortably which sometimes
translates to hate for queer identifying people. Considering country music’s deep roots in
Christian religions, there is little to no wonder as to why it is commonly thought of as being
generally homophobic.
Since religion is a staple of country music and displays of this value help establish and
prove an artist’s “authenticity” through the internalization of this value, then only through
properly displaying and abiding by the religious system and norms will a country singer be
accepted as “authentic.” For Chely Wright, there was no room for being a lesbian in her
Christian upbringing. Wright notes in her memoir (and in various interviews and in the
documentary film about her) that she felt strong religious pressures to be straight from her
family, from the preacher in her church, from her hometown community, and from within the
country music community. She recalls attending church on Sundays and hearing the preacher
condemn homosexuals; she even remembers just the word “homosexual” being used as a bad
word that was grouped together with other sins such as taking the Lord’s name in vain, lying,
and stealing. To begin her first chapter, Wright repeats a prayer that she said every day from the
third grade on: “Dear God, please don’t let me be gay. I promise to be a good person. I promise
to not lie. I promise to not steal. I promise to always believe in you. I promise to do all the things
you ask me to do. Please take it away. In your name I pray. Amen (Wright, 3).”
Love Everybody
Chely Wright begins her memoir with the confession of putting the barrel of her 9 mm
handgun in her mouth; but what exactly was the chain of events that led her to that point in her

NavigatingtheSocialandSexualPoliticsofCountryMusic

NavigatingtheSocialandSexualPoliticsofCountryMusic

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (16)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (11)

NavigatingtheSocialandSexualPoliticsofCountryMusic