Chappell Roan, Camp, & Gender Norms

Chappell Roan is an act of camp, specifically lesbian camp. Camp meaning an aesthetic sensibility characterized by, among other things, irony, playfulness, exaggeration, and theatricality (see Susan Sontag’s Notes on “Camp”, 1964). Lesbian camp involves camp’s irony, playfulness, and exaggeration with the norms and expectations of women in a patriarchal and heteronormative society. Patriarchal meaning a society controlled by and constructed around men, and heteronormative meaning the attitude that heterosexuality is the normal and preferred sexual orientation (accompanied by related attitudes about the gender roles of men and women in those relationships).

Chappell’s persona and music clearly align with camp, she has said so herself. Her musical persona is a “drag queen” version of herself, her costumes and make-up are over the top, glittery, costume-y, and nearly clown-like at times. Her attitude in her performances is sassy and flirty, sometimes with child-like impatience. This act is clearly stylized, theatrical, and playful.

Beyond just the standards of camp, however, Chappell and her music plays with gender norms. Women in a heteronormative, patriarchal society are expected to behave according to the standards of men; to be objects of desire but not outwardly desire themselves, to be passive and deferential to men, and to enhance their “natural” beauty (even if one must do so through unnatural ways).

Lesbian camp picks apart these gender norms for women, disregarding some, ironically taking part in others, and engaging with them on their own terms. Gender non-conforming women, masculine women, and butches challenge the gender norms of women in a particularly subversive way. Their refusal to abide by the behavioural and beauty standards for women is rebellious and risky and should be considered in its own context. But women who engage with masculinity are not the only lesbians who can take part in lesbian camp. Even for lesbians who seemingly abide by gendered expectations of femininity, it is still a mockery because they do not align with the core rationale for all gender norms for women which is their relationship to men.

Lesbian camp denaturalizes gender norms. It acknowledges that there is no inherent, biological basis for gender norms. Being a “woman” is an act that can be engaged with in more ways than one.

Lesbian camp can look like hyperfemininity, taking gendered expectations of femininity and exaggerating them to the point that they no longer align with those expectations. The make-up that is meant to “enhance” our natural beauty while obscuring our human imperfections becomes exaggerated into full-on face paint, explicit in its artifice, unable to be mistaken as “natural” beauty. Typically feminine styles of clothing get inflated into cupcake-like grandeur or vintage frumpy modestness. Archetypes get re-appropriated and contorted: virgin, mother, whore, madonna, housewife, bimbo, and so on.

Beyond Chappell’s aesthetic, her lyrics are also acts of lesbian camp as they play with gender norms that expect women to be virginal, passive, polite, and devoted to men. In songs like HOT TO GO!, Naked in Manhattan, and Red Wine Supernova, she makes her desires clear. For the latter two, the subjects of her desire are explicitly other women.

In songs like Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl and Femininomenon she speaks of her dissatisfaction with men and heterosexual relationships and encourages others to notice the same. In a heteronormative society that encourages women to unquestionably support men and their interests, that tells women it is normal and expected to not have their needs met by men, Chappell is calling attention to these norms and disregarding their validity.

Sexuality has long been a central part of pop stars’ image, met with both appreciation and condemnation. But what Chappell does with her innuendo-filled lyrics and revealing costumes is different because, unlike in previous cases, this sexuality is not for men. I’m not making Jojo Siwa-like claims that there have been no other lesbians who make pop music but I cannot think of any other mainstream pop stars that are lesbians or even any whose music and persona do not intentionally involve being a subject of attraction for men.

And though there are other pop songs that call out men’s bad behaviour in relationships, they are in tracklists sandwiched between love songs about heterosexual relationships. Dissent from these gender norms that allow men to be bad romantic partners and expect women to tolerate it do not pose a proper challenge when they are considered a normal part of heterosexual relationships.

Refusing to dress or act for men, reclaiming agency in one’s sexuality, and seeking relationships outside of heterosexual ones breaks away from these norms, it calls into question why they are important or necessary in the first place. This is what lesbian camp accommodates in a playful, ironic, and exaggerated way. Chappell Roan and other practitioners of lesbian camp are not mocking women or femininity, they are appreciating them. They are inviting them in on the fun.

Silverman (1993) writes in regards to lesbian camp exercised through hyperfemininity,

“As always there is a danger of misreading, but risk is part of any challenge to sexual conventions. And this is precisely why there must be a sleight of hand, the joke of not being on the heterosexual market, for a female drag performance to work. If not, it is read as performance for heterosexual titillation…Thus female drag as hyperbolic femininity must be femininity with a difference for it to be drag at all.”

There may be some people that do not recognize Chappell Roan as lesbian camp. She may still appeal to some through the hegemonic norms and expectations of women. But I do not believe that those readings negate the intentions of the project.

Here are some sources that I read when making this video:

Andrade, Sofia. (2023, October 14). Chappell Roan doesn’t care if she’s going to hell. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/2023/10/14/chappell-roan-queer-pop/

Bell, David, Binnie, Jon, Cream, Julia, & Valentine, Gill. (1994). All hyped up and no place to go. Gender, Place and Culture, 1(1), 31-47.

Butler, Judith. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge.

Fromson, Audrey. (2023, September 18). Chappell Roan on Making Pop Music and Giving Back. Vanity Fair. https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2023/09/chappell-roan-on-making-pop-music-and-giving-back

Hemmings, Clare. (2007). Rescuing lesbian camp. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 11(1-2), 159-166.

Horowitz, Katie R. (2013). The trouble with ‘queerness’: Drag and the making of two cultures. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 38(2), 303-326.

Levine, Nick. (2024, February 5). Chappell Roan: The pop supernova who feels like on of the ‘Drag Race’ girls. NME. https://www.nme.com/features/the-cover/the-cover-chapell-roan-interview-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-midwest-princess-3582467

Mier, Tomas. (2024, March 21). Chappell Roan’s campy, glittery music is the future of pop. Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/chappell-roan-pop-lgbtq-olivia-rodrigo-1234981099/

Robinson, Otis. (2023, July 28). Chappell Roan: ‘There’s nothing more exciting than a drag show’. DIY Mag. https://diymag.com/interview/chappell-roan

Silverman, D. (1993). Making a spectacle, or is there female drag? Critical Matrix, 7(2), 69-89.

Sontag, Susan. (1964). Notes on ‘camp’. https://monoskop.org/images/5/59/Sontag_Susan_1964_Notes_on_Camp.pdf