"Obsess Yourself"
Pokorny published numerous articles in Boston's Gay Community News. One of her contributions, cultural criticism on Madonna and "the lesbian gaze" called "Obsess Yourself" was published in the Gay Community News in 1989. It became an oft-cited work in the then growing field of "Madonna Studies." "Obsess Yourself" attempted to blend autobiography, cultural studies, minority cultures, issues of identity and Madonna. Quotations from "Obsess Yourself" may be found in essay collections as diverse as: AIDS and the National Body by Thomas E. Yingling and Robyn Wiegman, Acting Out: Lesbian Performances by Lynda Hart and Peggy Phelan, The Madonna Connection: Representational Politics, Subcultural Identities, and Cultural Theory, edited by Cathy Schwichtenberg and I Dream of Madonna, edited by Kay Turner. Arlene Stein references the article in her book Sisters, Sexperts, Queers: Beyond the Lesbian Nation, noting Pokorny's observance that Madonna was both "lothed in the language of heterosexuality" but "soliciting a lesbian gaze." It was also part of the syllabus used in the University of Liverpool's course on Voice, Fragmentation, and Subjectivity in Popular Music.
Read more about this topic: Sydney Pokorny