Reading this profile of Katy Perry, I had a moment of regret that her faith doesn't actually play a more prominent role in her public presentation and music. One of the things I find vexing about coverage of evangelical Christianity is that it consistently expresses shock that individual observant Christians can also be thoughtful and witty about sex and sexual presentation in ways that don't involve extreme moralism about sexual expression and sexual contact outside of marriage. It's a silly, and not exceptionally thoughtful stereotype to assume that evangelical Christians are inherently, and necessarily, prudes.
I think one of the reasons Perry's presentation has been so commercially successful is that she gets at the fact that trying to come across as a bombshell is an inherently slightly silly enterprise. Unlike Dita Von Teese, who is an actual, honest-to-God pinup, Katy Perry is playing one, pretending just as much as the Vanity Fair Vanities Girls are. As annoying and as disrespectful to gay people as "I Kissed A Girl" is, the sentiment "just wanna try you on" in one of the lyrics speaks to some genuine, and I think not necessarily condemnable, sexual curiosity. There's no reason that being an evangelical Christian, which Perry seems to be, precludes you from that kind of curiosity or play, and though I think most thinking, reasonable people both inside that faith and outside it understand that, I think it's easy to forget. I'd like to see Perry drawing out the contradictions she lives in more, because they're interesting, and useful to talk about, and I think it would be useful for people, whether they come from any faith or none at all, to recognize that the beliefs of people who adhere to any one set of practices come in a spectrum, and one that's consistently expanding and contracting.