3:41 am - 01/21/2013
I've finally reached my breaking point. LEAVEBRITNEY TAYLOR ALONE.
To give you some background, it seems that people are especially mad at T Swizzle this month. They are upset with her for many reasons, like ostensibly being asexual, having an out-of-control interest in antique shopping, dating too many men, and not being sufficiently feminist. Let me repeat. Asexual. Antique shopping. Too many men. Anti-feminist.
First of all, judging a young person's perceived sexual orientation? Just stop. And I'm not going to touch the antiquing thing with a 10 foot pole.
In terms of slut-shaming her for having multiple boyfriends, I think it's pretty obvious why we shouldn't be doing it to a 23-year-old girl, whether she's a mega-star or just out of college from small town Pennsylvania. No one deserves that. Not Taylor and not her young fans, who are probably internalizing these critiques as we speak.
Even Michael J. Fox joined the chorus this week. He said: "Taylor Swift writes songs about everybody she goes out with [...] What a way to build a career." (Sidenote: Taylor tweeted that he got in touch and they were "good.")
Now, I have a lot to say about this "Taylor Swift is sexist" argument. There was one particularly jarring article recently published on Buzzfeed that got to the heart of the issue for me. The piece analyzed lyrics from her songs and asked us: "Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women?"
But what I'd like to know from Buzzfeed is: "Why do you?"
I'm not arguing that her songs are perfect feminist anthems that romanticize healthy romantic relationships. Few, if any, mainstream musicians today (male or female) write songs that are not problematic in that sense, and this probably says more about our preferences as an audience than their talent as artists.
Why, suddenly, do we all feel it's her responsibility to carry our political banner for us?
It's one thing to have a feminist analysis of Taylor Swift's songs and to find them wanting. It's another to dismiss her because her music doesn't achieve feminism perfection in a vacuum where no one does. The more we focus on and disapprove of the few female singers who dare do their own writing, the more we are creating a hostile environment for empowered female artists to exist, period. Moreover, Taylor Swift has actually negotiated interesting -- and arguably, unprecedented -- ways to retain her agency in an industry that would rather she didn't.
That's what makes her a feminist role model. When any young singer writes a love song after being in a high-profile relationship, there will always be salacious speculation. Taylor Swift participates in the guessing game -- she drops actual code words in her song titles to help guide her fans -- and in doing so, she coopts the conversation. Some people even accuse her of manufacturing paparazzi photo-ops of public dates she has with her boyfriends.
Even though there's little she can do to change the system that puts her private life as a young, female celebrity on display, Taylor Swift appears to have created a model where she can manipulate it. She has preemptively created a narrative for herself that she has power over and, for the most part, has benefitted her career ("Red" has broken how many sales records?).
In an industry that is known for targeting young, successful women and attempting to strip them of their agency, Taylor Swift serves as a powerful example of someone who has fought back in ways that are smart, complicated, and unapologetic. And that's pretty badass, in my humble feminist opinion.
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, for the sake of my sanity, I would like it very much if you would all take a moment to think about why it is that you hate her and other successful women in our viciously sexist celebrity culture. (Also, why you seem to think shopping for old furniture is such a reprehensible habit. Seriously, what?)
It's also probably worth mentioning that Taylor Swift clearly doesn't need my defense. She's got this.
Follow Elizabeth Perle on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lizperle
Source
*I don't fully agree that Taylor is some kind of feminist role model, because she doesn't label herself as one. However, I do find that some of the critiques of her and her music are very telling. Criticizing Taylor Swift for her life choices says more about those criticizing her than it does about Taylor.
Defending Taylor Swift
I've finally reached my breaking point. LEAVE
To give you some background, it seems that people are especially mad at T Swizzle this month. They are upset with her for many reasons, like ostensibly being asexual, having an out-of-control interest in antique shopping, dating too many men, and not being sufficiently feminist. Let me repeat. Asexual. Antique shopping. Too many men. Anti-feminist.
First of all, judging a young person's perceived sexual orientation? Just stop. And I'm not going to touch the antiquing thing with a 10 foot pole.
In terms of slut-shaming her for having multiple boyfriends, I think it's pretty obvious why we shouldn't be doing it to a 23-year-old girl, whether she's a mega-star or just out of college from small town Pennsylvania. No one deserves that. Not Taylor and not her young fans, who are probably internalizing these critiques as we speak.
Even Michael J. Fox joined the chorus this week. He said: "Taylor Swift writes songs about everybody she goes out with [...] What a way to build a career." (Sidenote: Taylor tweeted that he got in touch and they were "good.")
Now, I have a lot to say about this "Taylor Swift is sexist" argument. There was one particularly jarring article recently published on Buzzfeed that got to the heart of the issue for me. The piece analyzed lyrics from her songs and asked us: "Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women?"
But what I'd like to know from Buzzfeed is: "Why do you?"
I'm not arguing that her songs are perfect feminist anthems that romanticize healthy romantic relationships. Few, if any, mainstream musicians today (male or female) write songs that are not problematic in that sense, and this probably says more about our preferences as an audience than their talent as artists.
Why, suddenly, do we all feel it's her responsibility to carry our political banner for us?
It's one thing to have a feminist analysis of Taylor Swift's songs and to find them wanting. It's another to dismiss her because her music doesn't achieve feminism perfection in a vacuum where no one does. The more we focus on and disapprove of the few female singers who dare do their own writing, the more we are creating a hostile environment for empowered female artists to exist, period. Moreover, Taylor Swift has actually negotiated interesting -- and arguably, unprecedented -- ways to retain her agency in an industry that would rather she didn't.
That's what makes her a feminist role model. When any young singer writes a love song after being in a high-profile relationship, there will always be salacious speculation. Taylor Swift participates in the guessing game -- she drops actual code words in her song titles to help guide her fans -- and in doing so, she coopts the conversation. Some people even accuse her of manufacturing paparazzi photo-ops of public dates she has with her boyfriends.
Even though there's little she can do to change the system that puts her private life as a young, female celebrity on display, Taylor Swift appears to have created a model where she can manipulate it. She has preemptively created a narrative for herself that she has power over and, for the most part, has benefitted her career ("Red" has broken how many sales records?).
In an industry that is known for targeting young, successful women and attempting to strip them of their agency, Taylor Swift serves as a powerful example of someone who has fought back in ways that are smart, complicated, and unapologetic. And that's pretty badass, in my humble feminist opinion.
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, for the sake of my sanity, I would like it very much if you would all take a moment to think about why it is that you hate her and other successful women in our viciously sexist celebrity culture. (Also, why you seem to think shopping for old furniture is such a reprehensible habit. Seriously, what?)
It's also probably worth mentioning that Taylor Swift clearly doesn't need my defense. She's got this.
Follow Elizabeth Perle on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lizperle
Source
*I don't fully agree that Taylor is some kind of feminist role model, because she doesn't label herself as one. However, I do find that some of the critiques of her and her music are very telling. Criticizing Taylor Swift for her life choices says more about those criticizing her than it does about Taylor.
'innocent' is one of the only taylor songs i can't listen to because it gives me so much second-hand embarrassment. but kanye was also talking a lot of shit around that time too (during his comeback). about how taylor shouldn't have won her grammys, how he was responsible for her sales, how it was 'retarded' that she was in the same category as beyonce, how it was racist for her to have won the vma etc etc.
kanye was obviously going through a rough time and that sucks, but it's really no excuse. i mean i know ontd loves to suck his dick but he acted like the entitled asshole he's always been, end of. also, didn't he make "retarded" comments about the incident not long after? i really can't believe people defend him over this.
w/e they're both awful and need to fade away for good.
Edited at 2013-01-21 07:11 pm (UTC)
she beat beyonce in an award show when he interrupted her... he didn't delay anything, he definitely didn't make her career, yes the whole drama may have given her a little bit of more exposure and him a lot of backlash, but he got that bc he was a dumb asshole who decided to pull a shitty move on a girl who had just won an award that meant a lot to her and said that basically she didnt deserve it
every action has a consequence and im sure if he had pulled that shit on someone else yall wouldve flipped shit and turned on him
but oh no its taylor swift, a successful woman
god forbid people defend her from an asshole
also what the fuck was she supposed to do???? she has no control over news articles, magazines, media, other people... so its not like she caused the backlash, it was all on him
Edited at 2013-01-21 08:10 pm (UTC)
and saying stuff like "lol whatever it was true" doesn't really speak to what actually happened which is that he fucking ran on stage like an idiot in the middle of an awards show and grabbed her mic and told her she didn't deserve her award and then flipped off the audience. the reaction would have been the same if he had done it to beyonce`, pink, katy perry, anyone.
i know there were people who hated taylor who thought the entire thing was hilarious and i thought it was kind of funny on my own, but i'm sure to taylor that was probably the most embarrassing moment of her life. for racists, yes they connected what he did with being black, but to be honest kanye just acted like an asshole and he totally deserved to get called out on it and that didn't really have shit to do with taylor. other than "innocent" taylor wasn't the one bringing the incident up at every turn, reporters were. i think people confuse what articles say with the celebrity themselves actually say or do sometimes.
kanye should have just saved that shit for twitter, tbh.
WINNING AN AWARD
1.) I cringe at a lot of her music just as much as anyone else does, but I remember a lot of interviews where she refused to speak about Kanye and said it was in the past. I don't think she "let" anything go on, and blaming her for that when CLEARLY she was the wronged party to begin with is bullshit. And before anyone says something to me about the color of Kanye's skin, let me make one thing clear: black, white, red, yellow, purple, or chartreuse, an asshole is an asshole is an asshole. And he was the BIGGEST asshole in that moment.
2.) I don't give a fuck who died, you don't act like that, period. I just lost my stepmother--who might as well have been my real mother--and I think enough of her memory not to shame her or my family in any way, ESPECIALLY in public, when we're ALL having a rough time. I don't wanna hear any poor Kanye shit, he knew better, he was just an asshole.
Final point: Taylor Swift might be just as big an asshole for slut shaming in the past, and for having the mentality of a 14 year old girl when she's writing songs, but Kanye West is no saint, and defending him for stepping in and ruining the moment of a young artist accepting a pretty big award, just because "he was having a hard time"? Makes you an asshole, too. Please sit down.