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There is nothing wrong with liking Taylor Swift; that is, until a Swiftie equates disliking Taylor Swift to inherently being misogynistic. Given her rapid rise to new levels of world fame, it is worth examining the integrity behind her own feminism, as well as the feminism of her fans. When a popstar is named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year—after years of the title going to environmental activists, such as Greta Thunberg, and influential politicians, such as the U.S. President—it should make people wonder if it is healthy to worship a celebrity in this way. Our world today is facing unprecedented times, and we need those in power to deserve their positions and platforms; is Taylor Swift really the person whose influence we need to serve our current world?
The worship of Taylor Swift has taken many forms over the years; her songwriting has drawn comparisons to the legendary Joni Mitchell, and her guitar playing has provoked opinions such as Guitar World’s 2016 article, “Is Taylor Swift the New Eddie Van Halen?” These claims have felt strange and even insulting to many, but I would not say that they are necessarily harmful. The public eye’s recently formed opinions of her being a feminist icon, however, cross the line.
Feminists in history have typically risen to fame due to some sort of feat; activism, or a notable instance of resistance, or resilience. They have traditionally faced oppression that has genuinely impacted their quality of life, as well as that of others, making their voices important for the public to hear. But Taylor Swift is a widely loved billionaire at the top of her career game, and thus her voice is not a particularly oppressed one. Opinions of her being a feminist icon would make sense if she worked to uplift more oppressed women, if she steered away from white feminism and used her platform to do more good. But in interviews, Taylor Swift often only talks about feminism in the lens of her own life; “You’re always gonna have people going, ‘did she write all her own songs?’ Talking about your personal life; talking about your dating life; there’s a different vocabulary for men and women in the music industry, right […] A man does something, it’s strategic; a woman does the same thing, it’s calculated. A man is allowed to react; a woman can only overreact.”
This is a real issue in the pop music industry, and it makes sense for Taylor Swift to be talking about this. However, when the instances of her talking about how feminism impacts her own life outweigh the instances of her attempts to uplift a greater community, she is not a feminist icon as much as she is someone who talks publicly and openly about sexism. In a recent interview with Time Magazine, Swift said, “So actually, if we’re going to look at this in the most cynical way possible, feminine ideas becoming lucrative means that more female art will get made. It’s extremely heartening.” When someone equates “feminine ideas” to only their own ideas, they are not a feminist icon, but someone who takes advantage of this guise to further their own career.
In Swift’s song “The Man,” she sings about the issues she has faced as a woman in the music industry.
“They’d say I hustled, put in the work. They wouldn’t shake their heads and question how much of this I deserve. What I was wearing. If I was rude. Could all be separated from my good ideas and power moves […] What’s it like to brag about raking in dollars, and getting bitches and models, and it’s all good if you’re bad, and it’s okay if you’re mad. If I was out flashing my dollars I’d be a bitch, not a baller, they paint me out to be bad, so it’s okay that I’m mad […] ‘Cause if I was a man, then I’d be the man.”
This song shines a light on the problematic and patriarchal standards that surround women who are in positions of extreme fame; but who else is this working for?
The Taylor Swift fandom has crossed a line into some harmful territory; so much of it is no longer about Taylor Swift’s music but is about worshipping her as a godlike activist. It is time to separate art from the artist and re-evaluate our culture’s normalization of worshipping celebrities as people who should be of an influence akin to that of historical figures.