‘I’ll give you love
I’ll hit you like a truck
I’ll give you love
I’ll teach you how to… aahh’
Madonna,’Erotica’, 1992
+ 1970s Introduced to gay discos by ballet teacher, friends with drag queens and rent boys + 1978 Appears topless and in a rape scene in low-budget movie A Certain Sacrifice. Works as a nude model
+ 1980s One of first celebrities to support AIDS causes 1983 Shows her midriff in ‘Lucky Star’, which causes concern as fans copy the fashion + 1985 Performs ‘Like A Virgin’ at the MTV Music Video Awards on top of a wedding cake, wearing a white wedding dress and ‘Boy Toy’ belt, as she writhes around exposing sexy lingerie and simulating sexual pleasure + 1985 Black and white nude pictures in Playboy and Penthouse bought from a photographer she had once posed for + 1987The Pope calls for boycott of Who’s That Girl World Tour due to
sexual content and costume, including revealing ‘kiss’ on her knickers and flirting with a teenage boy. Debate over portrayal of underage corruption as a minor tries to get into a strip club and kisses her in ‘Open Your Heart’ video
+ 1988 Speculation about sexual assault by husband Sean Penn + 1989 Penn and new partner pregnant; she is reported to have sent a note saying, ‘Silly boy, if you’d given me a baby, we’d still be together’. ‘Like A Prayer’ video mixes sex and religion offending Pope and Pepsi
+1990 ‘Vogue’ inspired by underground dance in gay clubs called ‘voguing’. ‘Hanky Panky’ causes controversy as it implies she enjoys spanking. Blonde Ambition World Tour contains sex and Catholicism themes, as well as simulated masturbation after she is touched up by male dancers. This triggers another call from the Pope for a boycott. Toronto police threaten action if lewd content isn’t changed. It isn’t and there are no charges. Jean-Paul Gaultier’s
cone bra becomes an iconic design. Live on BBC Radio 1, she holds the record for profanities uttered before the watershed, with 24 ‘fucks’, so she’s banned from live performances on the BBC. Provocative video for ‘Justify My Love’ features homosexuality and S&M at a Paris hotel and is one of first to be banned by MTV + 1991 In Bed with Madonna (originally Truth or Dare) film, with the truth-or-dare oral sex with a bottle, showing her breasts and admitting Sean Penn is the love of her life
+1992 Erotica is her first album to get Parental Advisory label. Video is MTV’s second to be banned. ‘Deeper and Deeper’ is about a young man coming out. Sex goes on sale containing adult softcore images, fetishism, lesbianism, homosexuality, S&M, anilingus and rape; it’s the most successful coffee table title ever published +1993 The Girlie Show World Tour is inspired by artist Edward Hopper’s burlesque painting. Madonna dresses as a dominatrix, spanks dancers’ bottoms and is surrounded by topless performers and depictions of orgies. Rubs the
Puerto Rican flag between her legs. Politician in Germany and Orthodox Jews in Israel call for a boycott of shows due to pornographic imagery. Stars in erotic thriller Body of Evidence +1994 Says ‘fuck’ 13 times on The Late Show with David Letterman +1997 ‘You Must Love Me’ from Evita wins Best Original Song Oscar
+ 2002 MTV2 names ‘Justify My Love’ as number two most controversial video ever behind The Prodigy’s number one,’Smack My Bitch Up’
+ 2003 Kisses Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera at the MTV Video Music Awards + 2005 BBC airs Live 8 concert where she begins with ‘Are you fucking ready London?’
+ 2006 Removes middle finger gesture from ‘Sorry’ video to get airplay
+ 2006 Confessions Tour, two dancers, one bearing a Jewish symbol and the other a Muslim symbol painted on their chests kiss as she asks for world peace — this is controversial as homosexuality is a powerful taboo in most of the Middle East