On the other hand, the fact that this performance was so blatantly about sex, not love, does challenge the prevailing notion on television (outside of the Playboy channel) that lesbian relationships are just about romantic love. Shows like ER, All My Children, and even Buffy at times, have emphasized romantic love between their lesbian characters while minimizing sexual desire except as an extension of romantic love. The VMA performance does the opposite.

This distinction, however, is likely to be lost on many viewers, since it's a one-time performance and between straight women, not lesbian or bisexual women, so it's not the best argument for why this kiss improves lesbian visibility.

What is a powerful argument, however, is that the sight of such three well-known women with such large fan bases embracing lesbian sexuality cannot help but normalize it, at least a little, just as Madonna did with gay male sexuality many years ago through her controversial video "Truth or Dare." The fact that photos of Madonna and Britney kissing has been all over the news for several days will also help to desensitize Americans to the image of two women kissing. It probably won't change anyone's minds overnight, but it does (briefly) raise lesbian sexuality to a new level of visibility in a way that may ultimately benefit those of us for whom lesbian sexuality is not just a performance.

Of course, if it had actually been lesbian or bisexual women kissing on national television, it would have been even more powerful--but then, you'd be hard pressed to find any out lesbian pop stars with the collective clout of Madonna, Britney and Christina, either.

Not to mention that all three women have lesbian and bisexual fans for whom this performance was a fantasy fulfilled. And for those lesbian and bisexual women who had previously ignored or dismissed Britney and/or Christina, this performance is likely to make them take a second look.

Some also believe this performance was an endorsement of gay marriage, and while that may be true, that message was likely lost on the audience in the shadow of the kiss and the general spectacle of the awards show itself.

So at the end of the day, the answer to the question appears to be "both": the kiss probably was a publicity stunt to improve the artists' popularity, but for Madonna (who has a twenty-year track record of actively challenging homophobia through her music) and Christina (who has also been very forthright in her support of gay rights), increasing lesbian visibility was likely to be at least some of the motivation.

Fortunately, the performance succeeded at that, even as it also highlighted how far we have to go. The amount of attention the kiss received in the media clearly indicates how much further we have to go before a same-sex kiss is no big deal.

We are clearly not there yet. But next time two women kiss on stage, or in the street, perhaps it won't be quite so shocking.

September 4th, 2003 Update: In a post-kiss appearance on CNN's Crossfire, Britney seemed to be doing some damage control to placate her more conservative fans, and she made it clear that, at least for her, this kiss was just a publicity stunt: