That sound you hear is the sound of Taylor Swift furiously penning a song a la “Bad Blood,” after feminists remained mostly quiet as she defended herself in a Denver court Thursday, after being sued for slander. As it turns out, feminists are only vocal, defensive, and influential when it comes to pet causes and certain celebrities.
For whatever reason, Taylor Swift’s very personal trial, defending her own boundaries, hasn’t made the feminist outrage cut.
Swift claims at a meet and greet in 2013 in Colorado, David Mueller, a radio DJ for KYGO, inappropriately groped her bare bottom. After she and her team informed KYGO staff about the incident, they performed their own investigation and fired Mueller. He sued Swift, her mom, and a radio promotional staff member, alleging he was fired based on a false accusation. Swift countersued for $1 and stood firm on her claims Mueller inappropriately touched her.
On the stand Thursday, Swift did not waver in both her factual claims that Mueller grabbed her, nor in how the event made her feel. CNN reported, on the stand Swift said, “This is what happened, it happened to me, I know it was him […] it was horrifying and shocking.” Mueller’s lawyer informed Swift he had been fired over the alleged incident. Still, she did not back down. “I’m not going to allow you or your client to make me feel in any way that this is my fault, because it isn’t […] I am being blamed for the unfortunate events of his life that are a product of his decisions and not mine.”
While a jury will decide the outcome of the case, it seems if feminists had an opportunity to defend or applaud a woman who is remaining vocal and firm about appropriate boundaries between strangers, this would be it. Sure, Swift has never touted the feminist card like other similar celebrities — she only tweeted about the Women’s March in January; she didn’t claim to attend one — but she’s claiming she was groped, there’s at least enough evidence for a civil trial, she hasn’t changed her story, and she’s literally countersuing for $1. Imagine if this were anyone else, (and even if she’s lying and a jury finds in Mueller’s favor) feminists would still posit, you should “always believe someone who says they’ve been sexually assaulted.”
A few feminists, namely her good friend Lena Dunham, applauded Swift’s “fierce and cutting testimony.” But where is the rest of the feminist squad? The Internet outrage? The applause for being “woke” enough to face a man who allegedly grabbed her rear end — then sued her for complaining about it? Even a writer at HuffPost wondered where all the feminists have gone in a piece dubbed, “Taylor Swift Faces Alleged Assaulter In Trial, Suddenly We Aren’t Feminists Anymore.”
Swift’s songs — hit after country, dubstep, or pop rock hit — are a soundtrack of so many young girls and women. Every girl loves to dance to the idea that they should “shake it off” when they’re snubbed, and every romantic croons to her picture-perfect “Say you’ll remember me/Standing in a nice dress, staring at the sunset, babe.” A lot of women won’t admit it, but they belt out with indignation when they remember a feud with a fellow gal-pal “Cause baby, now we’ve got bad blood/You know it used to be mad love.” Yet as feminists eagerly belt out Swift’s songs driving down the highway, they are silent when she’s actively vocal about an issue they supposedly hold dear.
Are feminists just that catty and jealous that they won’t stick up for a gorgeous, wealthy songstress even if she’s dated half of Hollywood (and Britain’s) most eligible bachelors? Or are they so consumed with scrawling diagrams of vaginas on poster boards for the next women’s march that they can’t defend a starlet when she’s doing the very thing for which they supposedly march?
Whatever the reason — beauty, fame, money, or disbelief — it’s hard to believe the silence of feminists is valid here and even tougher to believe them in the future when they claim to march for all women’s rights.
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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