It’s no secret that I am a huge Taylor Swift fan. (Proof.)
It’s also not a secret that I am critical of the feminist movement.
So, I’ll admit that I was a bit shocked when Taylor “came out” as a feminist. (For years, she has denied being one.) At first, I was like, “Why Taylor? Why?!”
Then I thought about it more.
Taylor Swift can call herself whatever she dang well pleases. And besides, I’m not offended by her brand of feminism.
No, I won’t call myself a feminist just because Taylor does. I still don’t identify with the label. I think it’s way too tainted and there’s too many people in the feminist movement that I do not wish to associate with.
Taylor isn’t one of those people.
Many feminists (if not nearly all) support big government. Their brand of feminism is pushing their liberal ideology. Taylor, however, doesn’t talk about politics. She keeps her views to herself, which is a wise business decision and makes it difficult to guess her political leanings.
Rather than pushing a political agenda, her brand of feminism seems to be more about pointing out the double standards for men and women. It’s a topic that she knows well. One does not need to be a hardcore feminist to realize that the media has been unfair to Taylor Swift, particularly when it comes to her love life.
Taylor isn’t a whiner, though.
She shut the critics up with her satirical song, Blank Space. To those not in on the joke, she’s making fun of the way that the gossip magazines have sensationalized her relationships with men. She says,
The media has portrayed me as this crazy, desperate serial dater. I decided that I was just going to kind of continue the joke and take back the narrative and so I wrote ‘Blank Space.’ We decided we just had to go absolutely crazy with the video.
That’s the way to handle it!
One of my main beefs with many feminists is their victim mentality. I took several women’s studies type classes in college. It seemed that every.single.thing was a patriarchal conspiracy to them. My God. They treated women like helpless beings who needed to be dependent on the government.
It was miserable.
I don’t get those feelings with Taylor.
Taylor Swift uplifts me.
I’ve been following her career since 2006 (I believe) when her biggest fan base was on MySpace. To think that she is now the biggest celebrity in the freaking world is mind blowing.
And let me tell you, she did that on her own.
She had a dream and she chased it. She’s been writing her own songs and playing guitar since she was 12. She visited Nashville and had doors shut in her face. She eventually moved to Nashville when she was 14.
There, she secured an artist development deal with a major record label. This was huge! But at 15, she did the unthinkable. She didn’t renew her contract. She walked away.
Why?
Because the label wanted her to record songs written by other songwriters.
Taylor, thinking of herself as a songwriter first, felt she was ready to release an album with her own songs.
So, she did. At age 16.
That’s what I love so much about Taylor. She has full control over her own image and career. It’s super rare. Usually, record labels manage an artist’s “brand.” This is particularly true in Nashville, as of late, with their bro country phase.
Any good Swiftie knows that Taylor plans her own tours, award show performances, and music videos. She even produced her new video, Bad Blood. There’s many examples of her standing her ground against the advice of music industry professionals.
Taylor Swift doesn’t scream, “I’m a victim!”
Yes, she’s written some breakup songs. LOTS OF PEOPLE HAVE WRITTEN BREAKUP SONGS. She writes about her own experiences and breakups are a part of life. That’s not all she writes about, people! Have you heard Long Live, Change, The Best Day, Fearless, Never Grow Up, Shake It Off, Enchanted, Sparks Fly, and others?
Moreover, Taylor doesn’t promote self destruction behavior.
Another beef I have with many feminists is that they use the label to justify their degenerate behavior. They say that women should be able to do whatever men do. But then, they often choose to act like the worst men: drunken debaucherous frat boys.
Taylor, on the other hand, is someone to be proud of. She knows that she’s a role model and takes that responsibility seriously. She’s never been arrested. She’s never gotten a DUI. She doesn’t cuss or sing about sex in her songs. She hasn’t humped anything on stage. There are no drunken pictures of her. There are really no “bad” pictures of her at all. And she’s photographed a million times everywhere she goes.
The “worst” thing about her? She’s a 25 year old who has dated a handful of people over the past nine years. (She isn’t dating every male that she is seen with out in public, media.) Big whoop.
It’s honestly kind of rare that a millennial even dates these days! With apps like Tinder, most young people are jumping from one meaningless hook up to the next. On hooking up, Taylor says, “I just think it’s pointless if you’re not in love.”
If Taylor wants to identify as a feminist, that’s her business. I still choose not to call myself one.
