One of the joys of a new Taylor Swift album — besides the thumping beat and hidden lyrics — is the way politically liberal feminists bemoan that she’s just not one of them yet. Alas, she likely is a feminist of sorts, she just may not espouse their version of man-bashing girl power. Watching feminists rage over this is as fun as watching Swift succeed.
Recently Marie Claire tweeted this gem:
We’re still waiting for an explanation of Taylor Swift’s decision to remain apolitical during the 2016 election. #Reputationhttps://t.co/s69OdERtc7
— Marie Claire (@marieclaire) November 14, 2017
On a similar note, at Mashable an author writes, “Taylor Swift will never be your feminist hero but who cares.”
Swift’s politics, best described as ¯_(ツ)_/¯, have been the cause of an unending febrile pop culture battle ever since the artist first emerged a decade ago, reaching its apotheosis in 2017. If you’re interested in getting into a fight with a friend, might I suggest bringing up the topic of Swift’s feminism. Watch the unfollows commence.
Her latest album, reputation, is no exception. And it’s well past the time I and my fellow feminist friends face the facts. Swift will never, ever be the nasty woman of our left-to-neoliberal political dreams, and no amount of subtweeting will ever change that.
Feminists decry Swift’s supposed lack of feminist values not because she doesn’t have them but because they don’t look progressive enough. Contrary to third-wave feminism which hails gender over merit, liberal ideology over conservative, and women over men just for gender’s sake, that’s not the original meaning of feminism. Feminism, when it began, was about recognizing women as equal to men, with equal rights and values, legally politically, and in society.
Not only does Swift rarely foray into the political sphere, which is certainly her prerogative, in many ways she is more of a traditional feminist: She advocates women’s equality, she forms strong bonds with women as friends—holla to her “squad”–and finally, she really, really likes men (unless they’ve burned her).
I suspect, as much as Mashable or Marie Claire wants her to wax eloquent about her political ideology, or use her platform to demand entitlement for women, they’re probably most annoyed that she continually falls in love, writes seven songs about it, and then banks a huge profit. While that might not look like third-wave feminism, it certainly is a form of traditional feminism. If anything, it’s actually a beacon of feminism: Swift thinks for herself, is pursuing a vocation she loves, and she pursues loving relationships. That’s not progressive feminism but it is the original intent. Eat your heart out, feminists, Swift might be a traditional feminist after all.
Nicole Russell is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist in Washington, D.C., who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota. She was the 2010 recipient of the American Spectator’s Young Journalist Award.
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