> I found it annoying how lesbianism is portrayed as a liberating choice for
> all or most women when lesbian culture is stratified just as heterosexual
> culture is. Removing men from the equation does not, for instance,
> necessarily guarantee a full escape from traditional masculine/feminine
> gender roles, objectification or abuse. It's almost like Morrissey is
> saying the only choices one has as a woman are either to be just
> "somebody's wife" or to be a lesbian. Of course, the song can
> also be interpreted as a call to closeted lesbians who have chosen to live
> as straight women to accept themselves and their true orientation, which
> is fine.
I take the latter interpretation. I don't see why anyone would think he'd be suggesting that heterosexual women would be "freeing themselves" by NOT being themselves.
Perhaps the line "They pity how you live, just 'somebody's wife', you give, and you give" could be seen as them looking down on ALL wives everywhere, but that would only be because they're so happy themselves, and in truth all they really mean is that perhaps they've been down the road of living a lie before they found their new lives.
"Free yourself, Be yourself, Come to the Palms and see yourself, and at last your life begins" is the key line. Specific to the scene, it's saying there are others out there who would see themselves if they saw these dykes. More universally, it's saying that everyone should free themselves and be themselves if they want to be happy and really live. It doesn't have to apply just to the context of homosexuality.
>However, it seems a bit odd for somebody who would not seem to
> have come to grips with his own sexuality to be telling others to get
> their act together.
I wonder how confused Morrissey is about his sexuality, and how much he just wants to keep his private life private and his music not filed under a "music for gay people" category.
But assuming that he hasn't come to grips fully with his sexuality, did you ever think that he observed a scene at the Palms and admired and even envied the people he saw, wishing HE could be more like them? Maybe he's telling HIMSELF he wishes he could free himself, too?