So, are we talking about Lana Del Rey's new video yet?

The feminist blog world has been largely silent over Lana Del Rey's latest video "Ride ." She dons a war bonnet. Need I say more?

The headdress is only part of the problem (granted a pretty ominous one that needs to be addressed because obviously hipster racism is still alive and well in 2012). While I've been blandly supportive of her -- or at least her right to exist in the music industry --   the blogospehere's championing of her work has always puzzled me, with criticism routinely shut down or blamed on "haters." Even some bloggers whom I respect refuse to see anything negative about her "brand." Because that's what it really means when we like an artist: we like the brand behind the person, the thing they are selling. Of course we like their music, too, but in today's visual culture, it's nearly impossible to divorce the image from the product. And if they're selling an outmoded, and at times harmful, brand of femininity, why is it so anathema to say so?

This post is a good example. By the time the link was reblogged to a larger celebrity gossip site, the discussion unraveled and became more a volley of "yes she is," and "no she isn't." The original post isn't perfect by any standards, but what it does is add a much needed critique of this woman's work, why her image is so appealing, and we're hesitant to call out the problematic aspects of it:

"What’s more, it bothers me that there’s very little conversation surrounding such sinister portrayals of women by women. Of course,everyone was up in arms when Kanye West publicly called his girlfriend Kim Kardashian a “bitch”, and rightly so. The discourse surrounding the gaffe even prompted Kanye to (predictably) take to his Twitter to (unpredictably) philosophize that maybe he was wrong using such anachronistic vernacular to describe a woman. When Lana shows an equally sexist outpouring however, by comparison, there’s relative silence. And this is more dangerous; the assumption that just because a woman does it, it can’t actually be detrimental to women."

Part of me feels like a huge hypocrite. I know what it's like to be a fan of someone who's work is more often than not problematic, and  how hard it is to parse that while still being a fan. I also know well enough that there are those who are always going to get a pass. Still, I wonder if the reluctance to find fault with any part of Lana Del Rey is, however subconscious, rooted in popular music's ability to too easily find fault in its female performers.