With her recent album announcement along with the single “Look What You Made Me Do” hitting the charts and exciting fans everywhere, Taylor Swift became America’s red-lipped, country-goes-pop, girl-next-door, sweetheart.
Recently, Taylor Swift was taken to court by DJ David Mueller, after Swift stated that Mueller groped her underneath her skirt during a meet and greet back in 2013.
Swift won the case and multiple radio stations in the Hampton Roads area and media outlets deemed her to be the "all-time feminist icon."
This label, in-and-of itself, goes against what feminism is about by making an important social movement a hot topic to make some girls and their struggles (Taylor Swift) more courageous and brave than someone else’s.
This title given to Taylor Swift could not be more wrong.
Feminism is defined as equality between men and women. A simple enough definition, one that could make people believe that simply believing in equality is enough to proclaim the feminist title but many fail to realize what the ideal feminist is and the different points to feminism.
Feminism is about women empowerment. It’s about political, financial, and social equality since we do live in a patriarchal society that values men and their opinions and living more than a woman's. This means that it is all women: black, brown, non-binary, transgender, gay, bisexual, straight, fat, skinny- you get the idea. Which brings me back to Taylor Swift.
Taylor Swift’s recent marketing scheme is her “girl squad” which premiered itself with her Bad Blood music video, a song all about dissing and calling out another female musician, Katy Perry. Totally feminist right? But I digress.
When looking at T-Swift's “squad” you notice one thing, there is one black woman. Only one minority.
Something might seem harmless but really think about it.
Swift is looked at as a role model for young girls so, a young white girl looks at Taylor Swift’s friend group and sees primarily rich, white, beautiful women. This is not feminism.
Swift also shows that she does not speak on her feminist ideals until it has to do with something that involves her or pushes her forward.
This is someone who rarely spoke about the Women's March in Washington D.C. This is someone who does not participate politically, someone whose voice could do a lot of good given its possessor's large platform.
Pop artists like Logic, Demi Lovato and Lady Gaga are all examples of individuals using their platform to convey a message. Logic brought attention to suicide awareness, Demi Lovato with depression and eating disorders and Lady Gaga with sexual assault.
Taylor Swift has shown us that she is more concerned with her girl next door, innocent aesthetic than use her platform to speak out on a topic that might make her lose fans.
This is also someone who makes diss videos about fellow female musician Katy Perry, while having only spoken out against the use of derogatory terms towards women after it directly happened to her, specifically after Kanye West’s derogatory lyrics about Swift in his song "Famous."
Most importantly, during the Kesha case where Kesha battled for her legal rights to make music after being assaulted by her producer, many media sources and the public shamed Kesha during the case for “being a party girl anyway” or saying “she’s just a slut, I’m sure she’s lying.”
Where is Taylor Swift? Why is she not telling people to stop praising her for taking DJ Mueller to court when those same people are shaming others for doing the same?
So, Taylor Swift, from a proud feminist, please, keep your white-washed pseudo-feminism, we do not need you slowing us down.
