The first time I heard about Katy Perry’s song “I Kissed A Girl” it was being sung by numerous young people.  Whether they liked or disliked it (some of them informed me that they thought it was dumb…) it was still being sung to a degree that made me realize the extent of its catchiness.  Then I contemplated the lyrics.  It dawned on me that a girl was singing about kissing a girl and liking it.  Uh oh!  

The music video for “I Kissed A Girl” is peppered with suggestive images of girls wearing very little clothing and interacting in such a way that causes one to assume that they might like to kiss one another.  Such shots will obviously attract the attention of sexually curious young male viewers, as will the idea of girls being intimate with other girls (Walt Mueller of the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding (CPYU) points out that “our teenage boys increasingly enjoy watching girl-on-girl sexual activity”).  However, the song and its video seem to be more specifically aimed at young girls who are intrigued by what Mueller calls “experimental homosexuality”.  These girls, though they are not lesbians, still possess a desire to be sexually intimate with each other in some way.  Ms. Perry’s lyrics do a lot to encourage girls to try this sort of thing out and enjoy the harmless fun of it.   

Born Katheryn Hudson, Ms. Perry was raised by two Christian pastor parents who, according to a Rolling Stone review of her album “One of the Boys”, “only let her listen to gospel tunes as a kid”.  In light of this information I cannot help but think of her as a once sheltered child gone wild.  In my mind she is yet another warning against keeping children stuck inside bubbles that allow no exposure to realities of the outside world.     

Not only does this song raise the prickly issue of same sex relationships, it also draws attention to a wider issue that any teen with a pulse and half a sex drive is faced with.  I am referring to what Walt Mueller calls “the random and boundary-less nature of sexual experimentation in today’s culture”.  “I Kissed A Girl” focuses on the physical aspects of human interaction, which places it on a purely hedonistic plane that only serves to cheapen how people relate to each other.  Relationships between people are supposed to be about far more than just randomly satisfying desires and curiosities and searching for thrills.  Its profoundly sad that a similar thrill seeking attitude held by those who sky dive and chase after the biggest roller coasters is being adapted and applied to relationships with other people.  The sadness of this is contained within the fact that other people are not inanimate objects that we can just pick up, have some fun with and then put down again without any further repercussions.  I wonder if young people would kiss just about anyone they encounter and like it if they seriously considered the feelings of the other person?  It might be more reasonable to expect teens to understand the detrimental impact they personally face because of these actions, and this is where we parents and mentors should step in to teach and impart wisdom regarding how to react to such relationship and sexuality issues.  

You can watch the video for “I Kissed a Girl” below: