Ambiguities of Gender Performance in Lou Reed’s Lyrics

Abstract

In this thesis, I discuss the way Lou Reed uses trickster characters in his song lyrics to highlight ambiguities in gender performances. I analyze Reed’s lyrics through Judith Butler’s theoretical framework as they present it in Bodies That Matter (2011). I also offer a definition of the trickster character as presented by William Doty and William Hynes in Mapping the Characteristics of Mythic Tricksters: A Heuristic Guide (1991). I combine this view with Helena Bassil-Morozow’s (2012) analysis of trickster narratives having a three-phased structure. In this thesis, I examine the various ways Reed portrays their conception of gender as being ultimately defined by performance as opposed to a pre-discursive materiality. Most of my analysis is based on two specific songs written by Reed: “Femme Fatale” (1966) and “Lady Godiva’s Operation” (1968). I argue that Reed’s trickster characters are constantly in disagreement with themselves in terms of gender and effectively move freely within the constraints of the gender binary, never truly being granted a departure or freedom to move away from the rigid binary despite attempts at subversion. I find that in Reed’s view true subversion of the gender norm happens not in the subject’s performance but in the reading of the subject’s performance.