She’s gone from a country music staple to a supposed
feminist role model for millions of teenage girls; Taylor Swift is none other
than this year’s pop music ‘it girl’. From Adele to Katy Perry, it seems as
though each year a female popstar is promoted non-stop on radios, televisions
and blogs for the world to see. However, one of the major appeals of Taylor
Swift is her image as a feminist. There are a lot of titles you can apply to
Swift; the current pop princess, multi Grammy award winner, hopeless romantic,
but is Taylor really a feminist? Or do some of her recent actions (i.e. Bad
Blood) suggest otherwise.
While her thirteen-year-old, unlucky in love fans may be
swift to defend Taylor as a feminist, Taylor herself has previously avoided the
label of being a feminist. In a 2012 interview for The Daily Beast’s Ramin
Setoodeh, Swift claimed “I don’t really think about things as guys versus
girls. I never have. I was raised by parents who brought me up to think if you
work as hard as guys, you can go far in life."
However, in an interview with The Guardian in August 2014,
Swift spoke about her newly formed famous friendship with fellow feminist Lena
Dunham leading to her ‘feminist awakening’.
Swift told the guardian:
“As a teenager, I didn’t understand that saying you’re a
feminist is just saying that you hope women and men will have equal rights and
equal opportunities. What it seemed to me, the way it was phrased in culture,
society, was that you hate men. And now, I think a lot of girls have had a
feminist awakening because they understand what the word means. For so long
it’s been made to seem like something where you’d picket against the opposite
sex, whereas it’s not about that at all. Becoming friends with Lena – without
her preaching to me, but just seeing why she believes what she believes, why
she says what she says, why she stands for what she stands for – has made me
realize that I’ve been taking a feminist stance without actually saying so.”
According to Swift, she avoided adopting the title of being
a feminist due to not knowing what the term meant. Swift avoided feminism until
recently, now it seems Swift has not only assumed the identity of a pop star,
but also a feminist. Possibly to increase her stance in the saturated world of
female dominated pop.
Swift’s squeaky clean, non-quirky, non-sexualised, awkward,
heartbroken and newly feminist image is seemingly refreshing although her new
hit single “Bad Blood” contradicts Swift’s stance on feminism.
“Bad Blood” was written about an undisclosed female musical
artist. In a interview for Rolling Stone in September 2014 with Josh Eells,
Swift revealed the artist attempted
to sabotage one of her concert tours by hiring people who worked for her.
Numerous publications ranging from Billboard
to Time suggested Katy Perry as the subject of the song.
Arguably, Taylor
Swift’s success, not only with her young female fans but also worldwide media
can be attributed to her songs always having an anonymous subject (usually an
ex-boyfriend). Once the songs are released to the public, rumors and gossip
surrounding the possible subject of the song spread across social media, news
websites, and teen blogs and between teenage girls trying to figure out whom
Swift is ‘shading’. Therefore, any irate song directed at another female
popstar who is rumored to have sabotaged America’s sweet heart would cause a
frenzy among fandoms and the media.
But, I thought
when Taylor faced adversity; she would ‘Shake It Off’? rather than hold ill,
negative and unfriendly feelings towards another female artist.
The lyrical
content of “Bad Blood” is not the only controversial aspect of the song. The
music video which features several female “celebrity” (albeit D-list) special
guests who all happen to be Swift’s friends. Taylor (as Catastrophe) and her
friends are seen forming an all-female gang including the likes of Lena Dunham,
Zendaya and Jessica Alba as they arm themselves for battle against Arsyn
(Selena Gomez) who betrayed Swift. As the Swifty gang approach their nemesis,
the video ends not with Arsysn and Catastrophe solving their problems with a
friendly feminist fist bump, but slapping each other’s faces suggesting the
continuation of “Bad Blood” between them.
“Bad Blood” is a
faux feminist statement. Swift’s young female fans are sure to admire the
strong and tough personas Taylor and her friends adopt to go to war with their
nemesis. The array of weapons and violence can be seen as a ‘rejection of subjugated
roles of women are portrayed in the media’ but a closer look reveals a more juvenile
and threatening motif.
Bad Blood is a
primary school playground anthem for petty fights after someone steals your favorite
colored crayon and you want revenge. Thus, contradicting Swift’s previous
’Shake It Off’ message to her haters, instead, you use your friends as a weapon
to scare your opponent. You form a gang to enforce your stance. You manipulate your friends to also have “Bad
Blood” with your ‘nemesis’ despite them not having a problem with that person
themselves.
In what way is
pitting yourself, your friends, your fans and the media against another female
celebrity feminism? In response to Emma Watson’s feminist speech for the United
Nations, Taylor was quizzed about her views on Emma’s during an appearance on
French TV show Tout Le Monde En Parle
Swift stated:
"So many
girls out there say, 'I'm not a feminist', because they think it means
something angry, or disgruntled, or complaining, or they picture rioting and
picketing. It is not that at all. It simply means you believe that women and
men should have equal rights and opportunities."
Taylor also hit
back at the way the media pits women against each other in comparison to men.
Swift said,
“Females are kind of pinned up against each other. For example, you'll never see online 'Vote for who has the better butt: this actor or
this actor'. It's always this female singer and this female singer.”
"One thing I
do believe, as a feminist, is that in order for us to have gender equality, we
have to stop making it a girl fight, and we have to stop being so interested in
seeing girls try to tear each other down."
Now it seems
Swift is contradicting herself. Not only do the media pit women against each
other, especially female popstars, but females also pit themselves against each
other. Swift has now assumed the role as a feminist as claims ‘girl fights’ and
society’s interest in ‘seeing girls trying to tear each other down’ as one
aspect preventing gender equality. On the other hand, “Bad Blood” is the
epitome of pitting Swift’s female popstar nemesis against herself and causing a
very public and unreserved ‘girl fight’ between Swift, Katy Perry heir female
fans and the media.
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