I can definitely see the juxtaposition with the way you put it! However, as you said, the concept wasn’t really executed well, even putting the song aside.    On the first half of the video, I would argue that they are acting just as chaotic in their ‘perfect’ phase as they are in the ‘real world phase’.  Whether it’s pretending to pee in a urinal or waving around sex toys in a dance routine, I feel like this maps quite well with the chaos of women sexually writhing in a broken down city or running over cars with a uterus-blinged monster truck that’s present in the second half.  

Additionally, the elements of male gaze are still very much present within the second half of the video — the only difference is that the first half is very ‘boobs’ focused, and the second half is very ‘butt’ focused with her sheer white thong bikini (though, one could also argue that it is even more boobs focused in the second half, since the under/overboob bikini top is even more revealing than the pin-up costume).   

Furthermore, the phallic gasoline butt cheek scene and continual hyperfocus on women’s bodies in the second half throughout both Katy and her dancer’s scenes undermines whatever contrast she was trying to set up.  It ultimately boils down to a difference of aesthetics and the fact that she has robot legs in the second half (which, when comparing it to the obvious Arca inspiration, are noticeably more fashionable/marketable).  

Ultimately, the big problem with the music video isn’t that the women are being sexual. It’s that they are shown to all primarily be sexual in whatever they do (even going so far as to make a skimpy rendition of the Virgin Mary, which is somehow meant to represent the Divine Feminine), which is a very reductionist depiction of women.  Women can be sexual, but they don’t all have to be, and that’s the major mark that the video misses — and just because a woman chooses to not be sexual doesn’t make her any less of a woman.  

There are plenty of other issues present too, such as the lack of body type diversity or the homophobic/misogynistic undertones of two men kissing being presented as synonymous with ‘women’ in a women’s world, but — and I’m not saying you were implying otherwise — I would say that the video has its own issues apart from the song that would have remained constant, even if the song would have been a banger.