3 Taylor Swift as Feminist

If your name is Taylor Swift, your identity will be labeled for you in big, bold letters for all the world to see. Rarely are Swift’s actual opinions taken into consideration when these different labels are slapped on her like clearance stickers at a thrift store, but they somehow manage to stick. One label Swift has embraced is that of feminist, despite dodging the question of her stance on feminism for most of her early career by making vague statements like “feminism isn’t really on my radar” (Pike, 2015). Swift was a young, white, blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl when she entered the country music industry at the age of sixteen. The reality was that she didn’t need to be concerned with feminism because she was America’s golden child. Until she wasn’t. Swift learned quickly how fickle people are and how every single thing she did and said would be picked apart. She also realized that women are held to a different set of standards than men, especially in the entertainment industry; her talent would not be enough to maintain her career. Thus began Swift’s personal journey of trying to discover who she wanted to be as a woman, musician, and feminist while also trying to entertain her fans and prove critics wrong.

When Fearless (Swift’s second studio album) was released in 2008, it immediately broke sales records. Swift ended up releasing five singles out of the thirteen tracks on that album, and she won multiple awards. Swift became the youngest artist to ever win Entertainer of The Year at the Country Music Awards at just nineteen years old (Chilton, 2020). Most people assumed she was on the top of the world and enjoying the ride with such huge success as a teenager. But the reality was that all Swift heard were the critics, who said she wasn’t talented enough to write all of her own music, because she had co-writers on some of the tracks on the album. Not afraid of the challenge presented to her, she pointedly wrote her third album, Speak Now, released in 2010, by herself to prove to those same critics wrong (Hiatt, 2019). That seems to have been the beginning of her fight for women’s equality in the entertainment industry. Even though she didn’t publicly declare that writing all of her own music was a move for feminist rights, she was setting an example to girls everywhere that they didn’t have to be defined by other people’s ideas. The even more powerful message she sent to her fans was that their stories of love, high-school drama, break-ups, and everyday lives mattered and deserved to be talked about. Swift gave a voice to millions of girls that had really never had one before, and those girls began to identify through her music what boundaries, expectations, and respect looked like in their own lives (Armstrong, 2016).

Swift didn’t realize how sexist the music industry was until the industry and the public changed their perception of her as she matured into womanhood. Swift noticed a big shift in how she was treated as an artist, business woman, and person. In the 2020 documentary, Miss Americana, Swift spoke bluntly about the double standards in the music industry. “The female artists have reinvented themselves 20 times more than the male artists. They have to or else you’re out of a job” (Wilson, 2020). Looking back on Swift’s career, it has been a never-ending process of working to stay relevant in a world that can be distracted by the swipe of a finger. These reinventions are part of the feminist project of maintaining control and authority over her image, her work, and her art.

The first time the public witnessed a visible reinvention by Swift was her 2012 release of Red, when she was twenty-two years old. Swift revealed a new, more mature style with her hair, make-up, and clothing, as she turned away from the glitter and sequins of her previous albums. Red took an intimate look inside Swift’s personal life and the heartbreak she had experienced. As the world began to unpack the vulnerable lyrics, critics and the media attacked her for her “excessive” dating history (Donovan, 2016). While Swift may have at one time stayed silent and hoped the bad press would go away, twenty-two-year-old Swift sent a clear message to everyone that she was not “chasing” boys or serial dating as the headlines insisted. She re-characterized her actions as a normal twenty-something woman going on dates, meeting people, and having fun. Swift addressed the criticism of her life and lyrics in a 2013 interview with Vogue magazine: “For a female to write about her feelings,” she said, “and then be portrayed as some clingy, insane, desperate girlfriend in need of making you marry her and have kids with her, I think that’s taking something that potentially should be celebrated—a woman writing about her feelings in a confessional way—that’s taking it and turning it and twisting it into something that is frankly a little sexist” (Bricker, 2021). This was a turning point for Swift personally and professionally, because she was no longer the sweet, innocent girl that would keep her opinions to herself.

Swift has credited much of her feminist awakening to the friendship she developed with artist Lena Dunham in 2012 (Armstrong, 2016). Dunham is well-known for her outspoken activism, and she used to date Swift’s friend and co-writer Jack Antonoff. The song “You Are In Love” from Swift’s album 1989 released in 2014 is reportedly about Dunham and Antonoff (Schwartz, 2021). Dunham helped Swift to understand that feminism looked different than the image Swift had in her head. “Becoming friends with Lena … has made me realize that I’ve been taking a feminist stance without actually saying so” (Vulpo, 214). While Dunham is a controversial figure in feminism and popular culture, Swift was a bridesmaid at Dunham’s 2021 wedding, indicating that the two are still friends (Wiseman, 2022).

Swift has faced backlash to her feminist activism. When the paparazzi take pictures of her with a huge girl group, people speculate if these friendships and support are fabricated for the media. Rowan Blanchard, a feminist activist and musician, has said this about Swift’s girl groups: “Of course female friendship is a beautiful thing. It’s insanely powerful. Sisterhood is something so valid and important when you are growing up that I literally think the essence of it should be taught in schools. But, the ‘squads’ we see in the media are very polarizing. Feminism and friendship are supposed to be inclusive, and most of these ‘squads’ are strictly exclusive. Squad goals’ can polarize anyone who is not white, thin, tall and always happy” (Blanchard).

In August 2017, Swift and her mom, Andrea, went to court to argue against and counter sue a DJ named David Muellar, who sexually assaulted Swift in 2013. Initially, the incident, which involved Muellar putting his hand up Swift’s skirt and fondling her butt, was reported to the radio station where he worked. Muellar was fired for his behavior, and he decided two years later to sue Swift for three million dollars for losing his job. After an emotional six-day trial in which Swift was accused of lying and in which Muellar’s attorneys engaged in victim-blaming tactics, the jury unanimously ruled that Muellar had sexually assaulted Swift. Swift was awarded the one dollar she had asked for in her counter suit (Thulin, 2019). Swift became a voice for victims of sexual assault and an advocate for more programs to help them.

With the release of Lover in 2019, Swift took on LGBTQ+ rights and feminism. With her track “You Need To Calm Down,” she promotes the idea of being less judgmental and more tolerant of others, and the video features many well-known celebrities from the queer community. Arguably, the most talked about track on the album is called “The Man.” In it, Swift disassembles the patriarchy that praises men for the same things it shames women for. She sings lyrics like, “They’d say I played the field before I found someone to commit to / And that would be ok for me to do,” addressing the years and years of relentless slut shaming Swift endured for her romantic life. She goes on to say, “What I was wearing, if I was rude / Could all be separated from my power moves / And they would toast to me, and let the players play / I’d be like Leo in St. Tropez.” Swift’s song references the many ways men have a different set of rules compared to societal expectations for women. The entire song is pointed, addressing how Swift has been picked apart as a woman for the way she dresses, her friendliness levels, her supposed success to talent ratio, and how she wouldn’t have to deal with those things if she were a man (W.S., 2020).

Swift was also named Woman of The Decade by Billboard magazine in December 2019, and in a beautifully delivered and powerful speech, Swift articulated the amount of criticism she and other female artists have endured. She talked about how women are ruthlessly picked apart and constantly questioned about their talent. Swift reiterated the importance of artists being able to control the rights to their own art and how she had been “bought” by Scooter Braun. In short, Swift spoke of the power that women have when they are united and when they see the differences they are making. The speech highlights Swift’s stance on feminism. Swift is not a perfect feminist, but no one is. The feminist movement cannot be defined by perfection; it is instead about progression despite oppression.

References

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(No date) Rowan Blanchard on why ‘squad goals’ are Exclusive & Polarizing (JJJ interview) | Exclusive, girl meets world, interview, Rowan Blanchard | just Jared Jr. Available at: https://www.justjaredjr.com/2015/12/08/rowan-blanchard-on-why-squad-goals-are-exclusive-polarizing-jjj-interview/

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