• Closeted Taylor Swift Fan Confessional: Feminist Guilt Alert

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    So let me start off with the disclaimer that a) I am a Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies minor at the moment, so my head is constantly being filled with the feminine and the feminist. I know these topics probably aren’t on everybody’s list of daily thoughts and to-do’s, but they are most definitely on mine, whether they are always welcome or not. and b) my personal definition of feminism is that it is a movement toward liberty, justice and equality for all. I know that’s not everyone’s definition of feminism, but it is mine. Other definitions are welcome, of course, but this is the one that I’ve adopted – I know people often fear the “F word” (in this case, “feminism”), but…you know…hater’s gonna hate…and the haters also tend to be misinformed/uninformed, but that’s a whole other conversation.

    Which brings me to an explanation regarding why on earth I am writing a blog post about Taylor Swift and feminism: in my Feminism and Pop Culture class, we were asked to write about a music video with a “feminist lens.” So here’s the confession: I LOVE TAYLOR SWIFT. Like a lot. It’s pretty embarrassing. But whatever. Back to the discussion. I picked a Taylor Swift song. “Fifteen” to be exact.

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    I’ve always been conflicted and at times closeted about my love for Taylor Swift – especially as a feminist who believes that gender is learned and that gender roles are unnatural societal norms. I often feel guilty about how much I love Taylor Swift – how funny I think she is, how smart I think she is, how much I enjoy dancing around and singing at the top of my lungs to her music. I think this guilt comes from the fact that much of her music reinforces gender norms and gender roles, something that I don’t support, but something I know I reinforce, too, as a girlfriend, as a woman-identifying female, and as a person who is not ashamed to admit that I fantasize about marriage and children one day. Those things make me feel guilty, too, because maybe my enjoying these norms causes me to be less of an activist or feminist in regard to them. I was fifteen when Taylor Swift came out with “Fifteen,” a song that examines the heartbreak and experiences of Taylor’s own experiences as…well, a 15-year-old girl. For all of the reasons listed above, I chose to examine and reflect upon her music video for “Fifteen.” The lyrics in and of themselves illustrate heteronormative behaviors, relationships and the emotions that come from relationships in general, as well as early heartbreak. The video depicts the lyrics in a way that also enforces these heteronormative experiences and behaviors. It is also an illustration of a stereotypical teenage heartbreak from the point of view of a straight, young girl. I can remember watching this video and listening to these lyrics when I was fifteen. It used to make me cry; I can remember the heartache and the pain that the song and video conjured up for me when I was this age. I also remember sort of enjoying the emotions that came along with hearing the song and watching the video.

    I thought viewing the video now, at 22 years old, would make me angry at my teenage self. Oddly enough, however, I wasn’t. I wanted to pat myself on the back and give myself a hug and tell myself that it would get better and I would be happy someday soon. Feeling this way brought about the same conflicts I have always felt in regard to Taylor Swift: was it OK to feel this way? Should I have been an angry feminist right at that moment instead? Is it OK to be a straight feminist who values the idea of marrying her voyfriend and starting a family? The answers to those questions are always blurred for me; I often have to remind myself that my postitionality is OK as long as I value, cherish and fight to protect the positionalities, preferences and experiences of other people whose gender identities, sexual identities and life experiences in general differ from my own; it’s OK if I feel the way I do as long as I am informed about my feelings, acknowledge the way those feelings impact my postitionality and influence my privilege.

    For the assignment, the class was asked to watch a video titled, “Dreamworlds 3”

    I can see how Jhally would be up in arms about this video. The video and the song itself do not challenge patriarchy, reinforce gender norms, depict a heteronormative relationship of a white couple, and although the video and song are not pornographic in any way, they do reinforce societal values and white, heterosexual privilege.  It is easy for me to see why feminists and feminist critics would be disturbed by the Taylor Swift phenomenon and her impact on young girls all around the globe. For me, the question I struggle with as both a feminist and a Taylor Swift fan is: “What are the consequences of this?” Honestly, I am tempted to argue that maybe young girls are smarter than we think – but at the same time, I know Swift’s music reinforces patriarchy and gender roles, even if she is singing about being stronger and smarter than men – but do you really think teenage girls are going to listen to her music and think, ‘My only worth is what I can offer and give to boys, and I should not challenge male privilege!’ Admittedly, I listened to Taylor Swift’s music on repeat for my entire time in high school, but I turned out to be a pretty blatant feminist. I know plenty of feminists who are closeted Swift fans, too – which makes me wonder whether or not this epidemic of Taylor Swift feminist guilt is warranted. I’d even venture to say that for every feminist who bashes and criticizes Taylor Swift, there is another feminist who secretly enjoys her. From my point of view, however, this only adds to my confusion in regard to whether or not all of this is OK.I’m not going to deny that male privilege exists in the Hollywood and the entertainment industry: female celebrities are often expected to take their clothes off in magazines and then are criticized for it. There’s a very prevailent case of “Slut and Virgin” syndrome going on, especially where people in the public eye are concerned. However, in regard to Taylor Swift, I don’t see it as a bad thing that most of her songs are about her relationships. I don’t think she is trying to reinforce patriarchy or male dominance; she has said in the past that she views her songs as a diary. She doesn’t use her music as a means to tell people how they should think about the world. She’s just telling her stories and experiences, nothing more, nothing less. 

    I know Jhally would most likely disagree with me on this, but I think we need to give teenage girls more credit because once again, I don’t think they’re going to be listening to songs like “Fifteen” and go on to lose their virginity because that’s what Taylor Swift’s best friend did, or renounce their once-feminist views on the social hierarchies that are engrained within high schools all over the world. However, I would like to address a few lyrics that many feminist critics find sexist: “Abigail gave everything she had to a boy who changed his mind. We both cried.”

    The problem here is with the word “everything,” from what I’ve heard and read around the wonderful internet in regard to Taylor Swift. The critics are outraged because, allegedly, the lyrics imply that a woman isn’t more than her body or her virginity. However, I never viewed them as communicating such a message, even as a fifteen-year-old virgin. On the contrary: What I took away from the song and music video – then and now – is that the whole point of “Fifteen” is that having sex is about more than just your body. It’s clear Abigail fell in love with this guy, and that she thought of sex as something personal and emotional.

    So she didn’t just give him her body, she also gave him her trust, but unfortunately she put her trust in the wrong person because he left her. I interpret this as a message from Taylor Swift to her fans that relationships and identities should be more than that; that we mean more than that, and that we are more powerful than that – and that is true for girls and boys, men and women, and males and females of all genders, sexual identities, and positionalities.

    What do you think of Taylor Swift? In fact, I want to know about what you think about pop culture’s effects on young people as a whole. Let me know in a comment below!