My good friend and co-star Matt Dallas and I were killing time on set the other day and perusing MarkusIsTheDrug as we do every day on set together.  Among all of the other wonderful things Markus keeps us abreast of, we get to keep tabs on what Katy Perry is up to and what people are saying about her.  I’m a big fan of Katy’s and an acquaintance of hers whom I have the utmost respect for.  This is the main reason I felt so compelled to express what has been going through my mind ever since I saw the Fox News clip shaming Katy for her supposed poor influence on America’s youth.  Which, might I add, I don’t remember being so sexually pure up until the release of “I Kissed A Girl”.  

Just the day before this “breaking news” (thank God they covered this what with nothing else going on in the world more important to discuss) Matt and I were looking at Katy’s outstanding new website when he turned to me and said “How fun to be Katy Perry.  She gets to carry out her dream by having fun and being herself.”  He was absolutely right.  I’m not sure if I’ve ever met a young woman so authentic and I’ve definitely never met a girl who was so authentic and had this kind of career because of it.  Katy writes her own songs, has her own fabulous sense of style, a tremendous work ethic and all the while has more fun doing it than one could imagine.  She’s a good friend to her friends, a captivating performer, a true artist and happens to be really, really, really good at playing Taboo.  (Is this the proper time to use the word IRONIC?  I’ve been confused since Alanis used the term.)  

And then I see the media is spending its time and energy on discussing how she could be negatively affecting our youth.  And then I think about the songs I heard growing up: “Like a Virgin, Erotica, etc.”  Okay.  What about other songs on the radio today?  I remember being at a 12 year-old’s birthday party and hearing them all sing every word along with the song “Sexy Back.”  Just one of so many examples of songs that tweens and teens listen to obsessively today.  Did any news channel shame Justin Timberlake for that?  If they did, I must have missed it.  Could it be because he’s a man and it’s okay for men to talk and think about sexy things but not women?  Just speculation.  What about ALL those songs that say things like “slap that ass” and even more graphic phrases?  

AND BY THE WAY, Katy’s not saying in her song “kiss other girls so boys will like you and you’ll get lots of attention”!  She’s just telling us about a girl she kissed and that she happened to like it.  If the lyrics went:  “I kissed a girl/ cuz boys like it/ I got so much attention”  Fox News might have a point.    

I talked to a mother of a thirteen-year-old girl today (who happens to be becoming a remarkable, responsible, respectable young woman herself.)  I asked her what she thought of the song and if she worried it might influence the way her daughter might behave around boys.  “Not at all.” She said.  “If anything, a girl that might be genuinely curious about what kissing another girl is like, and is ashamed of those thoughts, might feel like she doesn’t have anything to feel guilty about.  If someone is going to shame someone for influencing young people, what about violent video games and movies and television.  If it’s not in a person to try something, a song is not going to make them want to do it.  If a young girl wants to kiss another girl to get male attention, she’s going to do it with or without Katy’s song.  It’s not Katy’s responsibility to make sure young girls have enough self-respect to not sell themselves short and misinterpret her words.  It’s parents.”

Yes, teenagers today are doing some nasty things.  But I’m pretty sure all of those nasty things were happening before this song came out.  Teenagers are also having sex parties and performing oral sex on each other in the school bathroom.  That must be because of that one song about . . . . .  wait, I can’t think of a song that tells teenagers to suck each other off at school because it’s cool.  If you can, please let me know because I’d love to know who the evil person is putting filthy ideas in the heads of  our otherwise sexually pure youth.

Katy, I know you were really torn up about these people’s opinions.  Hang in there.  (p.s. if you don’t know I’m kidding this is not the blog for you.)              

I encourage you to have a listen to Katy Perry’s album “One of The Boys”.  Among this stellar single that has taken over the nation by storm,  Katy has given us a beautiful album full of stories that are fun, sentimental and above all, honest.  You go girl.  I’m gonna turn it up right now and dance around in my snowman jammies trying to kick this cold!  And then maybe I’ll go down to the pub and make out with some chicks until some quality men notice me and take me home.  Wait.  What?