Is Taylor Swift bad for women? The F-Bomb says she is not a feminist dream! Because, well, she is maybe not so talented and she writes pretty much just about boys and she relies pretty heavily on the virgin/whore thing in her songs and videos. My one quibble is the idea that Swift isn’t a feminist dream because there are lots of better female artists out there, like La Gaga, and they should be getting more of the credit. That is true, but this is not a zero-sum game! The music industry is chock-full of really really crappy male artists to balance out the handful of really really good male artists, so I’m cool with having a bunch of really really crappy female artists, too. And yes, I would put Taylor Swift in that category, even though I think she is completely adorable. And for the record, I like my share of really really crappy artists, so if you like Taylor Swift? That’s ok! But songs with painfully trite lyrics like that over sweet little melodies? Entertaining no doubt, but not exactly Musical Genius. But again, that’s ok — women should have just as much room as men to make easily-marketable and widely-palatable musical Big Macs. The problem, of course, is that women don’t have as much room as men in the music industry, and so even the really talented ones either get funneled into the Sweet Girl With a Guitar box or dressed in a latex bikini. The fact that Swift plays the virgin isn’t her fault, personally, but it is a problem with her branding — which is why it’s important to keep the ensuing flame-age focused on the idea that we’re criticizing Taylor Swift as a musical brand created and marketed in a particular cultural context, and not Taylor Swift the surely very sweet and smart young woman.
Anyway, apparently not all feminists are in agreement that Taylor Swift is bad. The point, though, isn’t that we should feel bad for liking Taylor Swift because it somehow damages our feminist creds (did anyone say that?). Just that, you know, as feminists who write on the internet we analyze pop culture and stuff. And maybe Taylor Swift is not the best thing, feminism-wise. Kind of like how Nickleback is not the best thing, humanity-wise.
All of which is to say, I’m with what our girl Sady wrote way back in ’09. And also Kate Harding, because, of course. Autostraddle also has kind of an amazing post.
Although I’ll add that, despite my feeling that Swift is completely precious, I will always sort of hate her for allowing that travesty of a duet with Stevie Nicks to go on at the Grammy Awards. That is Stevie Nicks. Stevie Nicks does not sing back-up. And if she does back you up, you had better not be out of tune.