What does orient mean in Lady Gaga's song Born this Way?

Answer 1

Orient literally refers to the east while occident refers to the west. Western civilization, however, has used the term to refer to Eastern cultures as one entity, lumping East Asian (China, Japan, Korea, etc.), Middle Eastern (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, etc.), South Asian (India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, etc.), Polynesian, North African, and other cultures together in an often derogatory way. The term "orientalism" refers to a school of thought which describes Eastern cultures as exotic with subservient men and hypersexual, manipulable women. For example, oriental paintings popular in the 1500s-1800s often depict Oriental women naked in suggestive poses and surrounded by a collection of items of mixed cultural origins (Moroccan food, Persian rugs, Ming vases).

The terms orient and oriental may be seen as offensive to "Eastern people" as these words evoke the idea that 1) Westerners should be dominant over Easterners (look up colonialism) and 2) Easterners are so insignificant that they can be lumped into one category along with significantly different cultures (i.e. like calling a Japanese person Chinese or like calling a British person French).

It appears that Lady Gaga meant to use Orient to shout out to East Asians. However, she was probably (or hopefully) not aware of the negative historical connotations.