We all know Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl,” and, if you’re a fellow zillennial, you + probably remember the controversy it surrounded. On one end, people complained about the song “exposing” kids to the dreaded LGBTQIA+ community; on the other, allies and queer folks alike criticized the song for appropriating bisexuality, using it for shock value, and treating bisexuality as nothing more than a trend (“I kissed a girl just to try it/Hope my boyfriend don’t mind it). It didn’t help that Perry had a history of homophobic or questionable queer-coded lyrics.
As a bisexual person, I have mixed feelings about the song.
The way “I Kissed A Girl’ treats bisexuality like an experimentation doesn’t sit well with me. The song is catchy the song is but the chorus has a line about the kiss not meaning “I’m in love tonight,” but did the person she kissed feel that way? Or did they think it was serious? And why didn’t she tell her boyfriend beforehand?
There’s nothing wrong with experimenting.
If you’re in a relationship, though, you need to discuss that with your partner – especially if you don’t have an open relationship. And, before you kiss someone, you should make your intentions clear, so they don’t think you mean more than what it is – experimentation. But the song treats it like a big “oopsie,” a drunken thing to do.
(And don’t get me started on the music video. It screams the male gaze, further solidified by the fact that the music video doesn’t show any girls kissing each other. Just girls “hanging out” and having a sleepover with a homoerotic undertone, but nothing more. As a budding sapphic at the time that I saw it, I was very disappointed.)
As you can see, I have many problems with “I Kissed a Girl.”
It doesn’t provide positive representation for bisexuals or anyone in the queer community. I can’t help but feel that Perry wrote and released the song for shock value – homophobia was even worse back then than it is now.
To Perry’s credit, she did say she would have written the song differently than she did in 2008. They do say hindsight is 20/20, and I know people change, notwithstanding the recent controversy Perry has found herself in. I can’t hold too much of a grudge for a song someone wrote back in 2008. Still, it represents how homophobic our society is, and how it was even worse in 2018.
I also can’t deny that the song brought some awareness to bisexuality.
There’s a reason I played the song growing up. As a teen, I struggled to understand my sexuality, not knowing that bisexuality even existed. Even now, I play it from time to time. I can say what I want about Perry, but she knows how to write a catchy song that you can’t help but dance too.
I also feel a sense of camaraderie in the comments in the “I Kissed a Girl” music video. Fellow sapphics confessed that the song helped them, too, realize that they were bi. The way we watched the music video and listened to the song on repeat spoke to our inner identity, the one the public refused to talk about, but that we knew existed deep down.
Like most things released by non queer artists, “I Kissed a Girl” poorly represents bisexuality overall. But at least it sparked conversation. Yes, some of it involved homophobic backlash, but others stood up for the queer community, as evidenced by the ways they validly criticized the song.
We all know 2008 was a different time.
I have mixed feelings about the song, and that’s okay. I think we should critique all media, not to be a downer, but to recognize the ways pop culture mimics real life and vice versa. Yes, the song reinforces stereotypes and misunderstandings about bi people. The song also offers visibility for bi people. Those two things are true.
Featured image via screenshot from “I Kissed A Girl” music video
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://www.readunwritten.com/2025/09/15/katy-perry-kissed-a-girl-means-bisexual/&media=https://www.readunwritten.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-14-at-5.39.14-PM.jpg&description="I Kissed A Girl" caused a lot of controversy, both from homophobic insults and people within the queer community. Here's my take.){kind=link}
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I felt every word of this. It’s so validating to see others express what that song meant — it wasn’t just pop, it was representation. https://www.solitaire247.com/
This sounds like a fascinating read! It’s true how certain things really make you think about identity and experience. It’s a journey! For a lighter kind of self-exploration, I sometimes enjoy taking an online personality test just for fun. Eager to hear your perspective!
Oh, I’m so eager to read your take on ‘I Kissed A Girl’! That song definitely stirred up a lot of feelings and discussions. It makes me wonder what kind of images Image-2 GPT (https://www.gptimage2ai.com) would generate if you fed it prompts about the song’s impact. It’s wild how AI can visualize ideas now!
It’s wild how a song can spark conversations about bisexuality while also being controversial in its portrayal. doodle baseball game
The visibility was important, but the “just for fun” narrative didn’t help with bi-erasure.Polaroid AI Photo Generator
Reading this article made me reflect on how media representation evolves over time. While “I Kissed A Girl” wasn’t perfect, it opened doors for more nuanced discussions about bisexuality.heic convert to pdf online
I often revisit music videos and live clips to think about how representation has changed over time, and lately I’ve been using a MOV to MP3 converter to pull audio from my favorite performances so I can listen while I reflect. Music and self-discovery definitely go hand in hand.
Interesting article! It’s great to see discussions about how media impacts identity. Thanks for sharing.
Interesting article! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I totally get what you mean about “I Kissed a Girl.” It’s such a complicated song for many of us in the LGBTQIA+ community. While it definitely had its problematic aspects, I can’t deny it also sparked some important conversations at the time, even if imperfectly. Sometimes you just need to play a fun game to unwind after thinking about these things.
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Interesting article! For anyone into AI image creation, here’s a tool I’ve been using lately: check out GPT Image 2.
I appreciate how the author balances critique with acknowledging the song’s role in their self-discovery. It’s not easy to hold both truths at once. The bananaGen tool lets you generate images from text prompts, which feels like a more intentional way to create queer visual representation than what Perry’s video offered.
The discussion about how the song treats bisexuality as just experimentation is spot on. That line about hoping the boyfriend doesn’t mind always rubbed me the wrong way too. The gpt image 2 prompts site has a collection of prompts that actually explore queer themes more thoughtfully, which is a nice contrast to the shallow representation Perry gave us.
I really liked this perspective. Media representation is rarely perfect, but it can still help people reflect on identity and culture. I’ve been thinking about that with manga too, where translation needs to preserve not just words but the feeling of the original. This AI manga translator is useful for reading manga across languages while keeping the layout intact: https://mangatranslator.me
Interesting perspective on how “I Kissed A Girl” handles bisexuality. The song definitely oversimplifies complex feelings and relationship dynamics.
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Interesting article! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Interesting article! It’s great to see discussions about bisexuality and representation in media.
Interesting perspective on Katy Perry’s song. The article raises valid points about bisexuality representation in media.
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