Page - 35 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 06/02

Combating Gender Norms with a Lipstick-Gun | 35www.jrfm.eu 2020, 6/2, 34–39 Katharina Luise Merkert Combating Gender Norms with a Lipstick-Gun Lady Gaga’s JUDAS Keywords Pop Music, Gender Norms, Religious Symbols, Criticism, Lady Gaga, Judas Biography Katharina Luise Merkert is attending a master’s degree program in the study of religion at the University of Munich (LMU). She concluded her BA degree in religion as well as in language, literatures, and cultures at the same university. This article is inspired by her BA thesis. Lady Gaga was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in 1986 in New York. Ever since her breakthrough in 2008 with the album The Fame, she has been an international pop star and a vital part of the music scene. “Judas”, a track on her album Born This Way, released in 2011,1 has attracted attention not only in popular media but also amongst scholars.2 Many questions were raised, including whether the message of the song is critical of religion and whether “Judas” is blasphemous.3 As Fritz Stolz has argued, following Clifford Geertz’s definition of religion as a “system of symbols”,4 religious symbols have a communicative role.5 In this example, communication takes place within popular media, specifically within a pop song. The song “Judas” deals with the biblical story of Jesus of Nazareth and his discipline Judas Iscariot, who identified Jesus for his ene- 1 Born This Way (Lady Gaga, US 2011, Interscope Records). 2 Hawkins 2014. 3 Sun 2011. 4 Geertz 1985. 5 Stolz 2004.