While Haffner, who holds a degree in public health, believes Perry "obviously is using the whole issue of sexual orientation in a positive way, raising awareness, or she's doing it because it gets attention," AllMusic concludes that, "the problem is not with Katy's gender-bending, it's that her heart isn't in it; she's just using it to get her places, so she sinks to crass, craven depths." "Slant Magazine" agrees, saying, the song, "isn't problematic because it promotes homosexuality, but because its appropriation of the gay lifestyle exists for the sole purpose of garnering attention—both from Perry's boyfriend and her audience."