W.W.M.D: What Would Madonna Do

 By Jami Morain

    Madonna is the Queen of Pop, known for being innovative and powerful. 

    New York Times wrote this about her, "Madonna was a pioneer of welding her voice to her image, and in a culture consumed with critiquing how women look, and controlling how they use their bodies, she’s been on the front lines — a seductress and a battering ram." 

    I was first exposed to Madonna 12 years ago while watching my favorite TV show, Glee. The antagonist of the show, Sue Sylvester, is a national cheerleading champion and the show dedicates an entire episode to her idol, Madonna. A few years later I saw what she looked like for the first time while watching A League of Their Own. She plays Manny Velazquez, who was my favorite character and when my mom told me that the actress was the Queen of Pop my favorite Glee covers flashed through my mind.

    She believed art should be controversial. In her music video for "Like a Prayer," she watches a group of white men sexually assault a white woman but the cops arrest an African American man, so she runs into a church, seems to have an orgasm, then goes to the police station and testifies that it was the white men and the African American man was set free. The video has burning crosses and black saints. Pepsi pulled their sponsorship from her world tour because of the controversary. 

    She wasn't afraid to be bold or to embrace sexuality. Picture her performing, in a wedding dress, songs about having and enjoying sex. She wasn't afraid to have nude photos, being in Playboy, Penthouse and her coffee table book, Sex. In 1985, when Madonna performed at Live Aid, she was wearing more clothes than expected and when she told the audience she wouldn't be removing her coat, they booed at her and some even shouted "slut." 

    Nothing stands in her way, she kept breaking the rules and standing her ground. Michael Jackson invented the "crotch grab," but Madonna reclaimed it as hers to show ownership and empowerment of sexuality. At the peak time of H.I.V. she spoke about having safe sex and used positive sex terms while other celebrities abstained.

    New York Times wrote about her, "Nowadays, nobody talks about their work and influences — about themselves — as vastly as she does."

Note: The New York Times link above lists 60 reasons how Madonna has changed culture and is a good read. The Glee episode is season one episode fifteen. A League of Their Own is streaming on Hulu or available to rent on Amazon Prime.

In my senior year of high school I dressed as a mixture of Madonna and my favorite movie character, Julie Richmond from Valley Girl (2020).