Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women?
Here’s everything you need to know about the growing feminist backlash against the country pop star and her music.
Taylor Swift may be best known for writing songs that portray her as a wholesome, virginal sweetheart who is victimized by sexualized, boyfriend-stealing “other women.” Within this, there has been increasing critical discussion of the role gender-based stereotypes play in her music.
3. This Her Campus article sums up the issue neatly:
“Part of Taylor Swift’s shtick is to slut-shame in her lyrics. In ‘Better Than Revenge’, she takes a swipe at a girl who apparently stole her boyfriend, ‘She’s an actress/But she’s better known for the things that she does on the mattress.’ The Queen of Wholesome often employs guilt-mongering tactics to put down the mean girl/cheerleader types who, she assures us, are more sexual than her.”
4. Tumblr users have also noticed that Swift’s lyrics frequently villify the sexuality of other women, as in this post by Sherlocks:
“As shown through her songs that feature comments about ‘the other woman’ this other woman is always sexually available, dresses provocatively, and is DEFINITELY NOT A VIRGIN. Because obviously, a woman’s worth is based purely on the amount of sex she has had.”
5. Sady Doyle, for the feminist magazine Bitch, says Taylor Swift organizes the women in her music into two camps:
“Teen Girls of America, here are your choices: have sex and wind up broken and sad and feeling as if you’ve lost ‘everything you had,’ or wait until your untouched vagina accumulates enough charge to make you rich and famous. Because your sexuality should never be an end in and of itself; it should be something you strategically employ to get what you want.”
7. Here’s every song Taylor Swift has written about having a romantic rival:
“Teardrops on My Guitar”
I’ll bet she’s beautiful, that girl he talks about
And she’s got everything that I have to live without
She better hold him tight, give him all her love
Look in those beautiful eyes and know she’s lucky ‘cause
“Should’ve Said No”
I can’t resist
Before you go tell me this:
Was it worth it?
Was she worth this?
You should’ve known that word, with what you did with her
Get back to me… (get back to me)
“Invisible”
She can’t see the way your eyes
Light up when you smile.
She’ll never notice how you stop and stare
Whenever she walks by.
She don’t even know you,
She’s never gonna love you like I want to.
She’s never gonna see the light
No matter what you do.
She don’t even know you.
Baby, let me love you,
She can’t see the way your eyes
Light up when you smile.
“The Other Side of the Door”
And I broke down crying, was she worth this mess?
After everything and that little black dress
“You Belong with Me”
You’re on the phone with your girlfriend ‒ she’s upset,
She’s going off about something that you said
‘Cause she doesn’t get your humor like I do.
I’m in the room ‒ it’s a typical Tuesday night.
I’m listening to the kind of music she doesn’t like.
She’ll never know your story like I do.
But she wears short skirts
I wear t-shirts
She’s cheer captain
And I’m on the bleachers
Dreaming about the day when you wake up and find
That what you’re looking for has been here the whole time.
“Speak Now”
I sneak in and see your friends
And her snotty little family all dressed in pastel
And she is yelling at a bridesmaid
Somewhere back inside a room
Wearing a gown shaped like a pastry
She floats down the aisle like a pageant queen
But I know you wish it was me,
“Better Than Revenge”
She came along, got him alone and let’s hear the applause
She took him faster than you could say “sabotage”
I never saw it coming, wouldn’t have suspected it
I underestimated just who I was dealing with
She had to know the pain was beating on me like a drum
She underestimated just who she was stealing from
She’s not a saint
And she’s not what you think
She’s an actress, whoa
She’s better known
For the things that she does
On the mattress, whoa
Soon she’s gonna find
Stealing other people’s toys
On the playground won’t
Make you many friends
She should keep in mind
She should keep in mind
There is nothing I do better than revenge
She looks at life like it’s a party and she’s on the list
She looks at me like I’m a trend and she’s so over it
I think her ever-present frown is a little troubling
And she thinks I’m psycho ‘cause I like to rhyme her name with things
“I Knew You Were Trouble”
And the saddest fear comes creeping in
That you never loved me or her, or anyone, or anything, yeah
17. The “other woman”-as-enemy trope is visually represented in many of Swift’s music videos, as well. Tumblr user Sexistculture points out the recurrence of villains played by evil brunettes:
Taylor Swift the Product (who I’m sure varies a great deal from Taylor Swift the Person) strikes again with “Mine” which will no doubt be played 12 times an hour on every friggin’ station from now until the next time she comes out with another single about being pure and innocent while wanting a boy who is an angelic being filled with light and winning his heart from the evil girl who wears colors and probably fucks.
Seven out of 15 of Taylor Swift’s music videos feature brunette bad girls who use their feminine wiles to steal Taylor’s Prince Charming. And what’s even weirder is that sometimes, the “other woman” in a video isn’t even mentioned in the accompanying song’s lyrics.
19. “The Story of Us” — A brunette makes out with a guy in the library, unrelated to anything else in the video.
20. “Teardrops on My Guitar” — The boy Taylor likes makes out with a brunette in the hallway.
21. “Picture to Burn” — The boy Taylor likes is now dating an edgy-looking brunette.
22. “White Horse” — The woman who tells Taylor about her boyfriend cheating is a dark-haired girl who is later implied in the video to be the “other woman.”
23. “We Are Never Ever Ever Getting Back Together” — Taylor’s boyfriend is being groped by a brunette at a bar.
24. “You Belong With Me” — The mean, popular girl is played by Taylor Swift in a black wig.
25. “I Knew You Were Trouble” — There’s a montage of Taylor’s boyfriend making out with dark-haired girls in a nightclub.
It’s important to note that Swift doesn’t think of herself as a feminist. When asked whether she considers her music empowering to women in an interview with Ramin Setoodeh of The Daily Beast, she said this:
“When people say things about me empowering women, that’s an amazing compliment. It’s not necessarily what I thought I was doing, because I write songs about what I feel. I think there’s strength when you’re baring your emotions.”
In a follow-up question, Setoodeh asked whether Swift thought of herself as a feminist. This was her answer:
“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.”
27. Swift might not think of her songs as “guys versus girls,” but many of her songs make much of “girls versus girls.” And that’s much of the source of the backlash against a singer who actively presents herself as a role model for young women.
(Source)
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christopheranthonyb 4 months agoSeriously, all the things said in rap music and we won’t to target Taylor Swift? Leave the girl be. Damn
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- jjessohh Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women?
- yannanoronha thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is WTF
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amymacwilliamss 4 months agoMaybe she’s someone my girls can look up to instead of girls out drinking, partying, and bragging about having sex. What’s wrong with being a virgin until you’re married? If more girls stuck to that, we’d have so many fewer problems in this country.
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rachelob 4 months agoAnd if MEN stayed virgins until they’re married too. There is nothing worse than being out with a guy and wondering if you need to dip his dick in some milton fluid before you get intimate with him. It’s very off putting if a man is used goods.. NO GIRL WANTS SOILED GOODS!
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feistychick 3 months agoTaylor never said that she was waiting until marriage to have sex. Hate to break it to you (not really), but she’s already had sex. There are a few songs of hers that have a subtle, sexual nature (Sparks Fly, Treacherous, I Knew You Were Trouble, etc). Also, there’s nothing wrong with anyone drinking or partying unless it’s excessive and those individuals who are doing those things are too young. I bet you don’t have these same standards when it comes to men. No one ever pressures men NOT to drink and NOT to have sex. Fucking bullshit double standards.
- xsmall thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Ew & Fail
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- kathyc14 Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women?
- Erin F. thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Fail
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- lindseyl7 thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Fail
- hermitina thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Trashy & Fail
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- daniellejustinaj thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Win
- chroniclettes Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? and thinks it’s Trashy, WTF & Fail
- monyta thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Fail
- saram25 thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Win
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chroniclettes 4 months agoPeople need to lighten up. It’s emotion-based pop/country music by a 23-year-old girl. There are far more atrocious things being written and sung and promoted. It isn’t sexuality she shames, it’s c-h-e-a-t-i-n-g. Also, all her girlfriends have dark hair (though wtf is with that whole analysis?), she has many, and gushes about them all the time.
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- trevorb6 thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Fail & WTF
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m. 4 months agoWell at least she’s concious of her position and isn’t writing about sex constantly. Like Lady Gaga who writes lyrics “I’ll make him hard, show him what I got” “I want to ride your disco stick” etc etc etc and Katy Perry “I want to see your peacock cock cock” etc etc etc. I’d rather my kid singing Taylor Swift songs then the other crap.
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- marinark Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? and thinks it’s Win
- MagmaTron thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Fail
- kaylaw11 thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Trashy
- angelwest9 thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Fail & Trashy
- cassiei2 Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women?
- Alejandra V. thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Win
- sheac2 thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Fail
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sarahm89 4 months agoUhh Taylor Swift does not “slut shame” or hate women. Her songs that sing about “other women” are just jealousy, which is a perfectly acceptable feeling, especially for a young woman. She doesn’t hate the girl, she hates that the guy is with the girl. It may be a bit more dramatic, but that’s how everyone feels when they’re in the situation. Saying she’s not a feminist also doesn’t mean she doesn’t believe in feminism. Clearly, as a woman who started her extremely successful career at sixteen and has done it all on her own, she understands women can do more than stay in the kitchen. This article is absurd. What’s the point of demonizing her for supposedly demonizing others? Hypocrisy is never the way to go.
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volleyballgirl 4 months ago
Seriously people? Taylor is without a doubt one of the most classy celebrities of our generation. One whom you never see on magazine covers drinking, smoking, cheating, or in jail for that matter. Sure she has had trouble with her past relationships, but so do half the people in the world. And if she can make great songs and sell millions from them, go for it! As far as the hating fellow females goes, that is just plain rediculous. What’s the problem with not sleeping with every guy you date and waiting til marriage anyway? Also, in several of Taylor’s videos featuring a brunette, the girl is actually a member of her own band, Liz! Like We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, and The Story of Us. Taylor is one of the most genuine people in the public eye, and people should not bash her for illegitamate reasons.
Go Swifties! -
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volleyballgirl 4 months ago
First of all, I never said that people who drink or smoke are losers by any means or that it is wrong to do so. However, when I think of being classy, doing drugs and drinking are not really the first things that come to my mind. And if people like to do those things, I have no problem with that! Also, I am about the biggest Taylor Swift fan and know lots about her, therefore I do know that she is a real person. And if you watch interviews with any other fellow celebrities commenting on Taylor’s personality, you would find the same. Anyone that really believes that Taylor hates other women is quite confused.
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PerishMotherland 4 months ago
>So this article implies that taylor swift understands what feminism is and should champion it.
>it implies taylor swift shouldn’t write about the bullshiat drama that 12-year old girls love to indulge and choose something less profitable like the queer deconstruction of heteronormative identity (omg, those lyrics sound boring).
>Misses the fact that girls and women who criticize her probably feel oh so squicky in their panties because they’ve probably been just as catty and bitchy with other women for offenses less grievous that the pilfering of a boyfriend (or gf). Taylor Swift probably just serves as the amplifier to drama and the solemn fact that WE NEVER GRow out of it.
>Implies that women (people) who take offense to Swift don’t know where the volume/mute/off button on the TV or radio is.
>that the women who post this don’t slut-shame. They “you-don’t-fit-into my-neat-littlefeminist box-shame.”
>Did I mention that there’s an assumption that you can watch or listen to something else? Maybe perforate your kids eardrums if you’re so concerned?
This article is stupid. You’re stupid for picking this battle. And I’m stupid for typing this response.
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- kelseym8 thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Win
- ladypaddlesnooker thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is WTF
- lah8e thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Fail
- michelleadrockn thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Fail
- Matt Saccaro Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women?
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at23 4 months agoThis article and everyone indulging in conversation about it are way over reacting. She is a young girl who got lucky and got famous. She is doing what her label, managers, producers and writers tell her (shocker.. the girl doesn’t write all her music on her lonesome). She is nothing more, nothing less.
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- samc3 Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? and thinks it’s Win
- xlinzymmm thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Fail
- bkolek thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is WTF, OMG & Win
- odaliss thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Ew & Fail
- natalietalib thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Win
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KleeIrwinRocks! 4 months agoHonestly, this just makes me think about something I learned in high school when I was a young lad. Apparently, in 1886, a man by the name of Swipe Thirst located the first remnants of a fallen ship. Of course, we can always look towards the sky when we need to remind ourselves about our clocks and how they’ve spun farther than before, but isn’t that just convoluting the problem? What we must do is consider the following: Is there anything more precious than a dog embarrassed by its own need to shit? I remember a time when most people were dazed and confused for real, not like in that movie, but for real. If anyone dresses sharper than Will Smith, I’d like to hear about ‘em. Then again, slapping various creams into the inner thigh may relieve some tension, but obviously that’s not what this is about. This about how you’re always late and how you don’t take anyone else’s feelings into account. I can’t begin to laugh so heartily. HA! HA! HA! Anyone else get the feeling that we’re just jumping rope with no one counting here, in this crazy, topsy-turvy world? Phyllis Lamb was one of God’s finest features. She used to find the nearest shrubbery and lay within it; contemplating the lost arts that we’ve all fomented within our finest moments. No, she wasn’t a saint. But she was a saint. And if that’s all there is to it, I’ll be damned if I’m giving up my guns! If it hurts, it’s probably working. At that moment, Harold walked in on Amber watching TV for the umpteenth time. “Turn off that racket!” he yelled. “Okay! Fine!” she yelled back. Oh ho! So we’ve come to crux of the situation! But by now, everything was smoldering in acid and what the fuck man? What the fuck? That’s my girl, man. My girl. Damn man. What the hell, man? Yes, but only for a fortnight, you stupid but droll individual. Only tomorrow can we pleasantly laugh.
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stephalina 4 months ago
Taylor swift isn’t a role model for young girls… she IS a young girl. She’s doing the things that pretty, popular young girls do, dating tons of guys, falling in love every 10 seconds, being emotionally distraught when these “relationships” don’t work out, being bitchy about other girls, the list goes on and on. Lauding her as some kind of figure for girls her age and younger to look up to is misguided.
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A.Leigh 4 months ago
She’s 23. That’s not exactly what I would consider “a young girl.” Most 23 year olds don’t “fall in love every 10 seconds,” I would hope. That’s behavior I would expect from a 13 year old. Even when I was in high school, many people had relationships that lasted well over a year. Now, to be fair, she is famous. That puts a LOT of pressure on any relationships she, and anyone else in her situation, has. It’s not easy to date a famous person, nor is it easy to be in a relationship as a famous person. Everything she does is in the public eye, and she has a high risk of people dating her just because she’s Taylor Swift, rather than because they like her for her. I get that, and I am completely willing to concede that she should be allowed to date differently than a typical woman her age would. But she’s had, what, 5 boyfriends in the past year? Even for a celebrity, that’s a bit over the top. Part of the problem, in my opinion, is that she’s stuck in the high school-esque mindset that if you like someone and they like you back, you’re “boyfriend and girlfriend.” If she would just DATE people, casually, with no labels attached, she’d be far better off.
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- ravenp thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Win
- elvisdepressley thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Fail, Trashy & Ew
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Wendy Clark 4 months ago
The only one feeling “victimized” is the slut being a slut. It’s nice to actually have a wholesome role model for tweens and the younger generation. It’s idiotic that the author of this idiotic article would rather youngsters have a role model that promotes sleeping around being a slut catching every sexually transmitted disease known. She may not care to be a nasty disease carrying “feminist” or her young daughter be one, but myself, I prefer and wholesome role model that will promote abstinence as opposed to the latter thank you very much!
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A.Leigh 4 months ago
It’s entirely possible to have sex without getting an STD. People do it all the time. It’s also entirely possible to wait until you’re married to have sex, only ever have sex with your spouse, and contract an STD from them. There’s not as much of a connection between promiscuity and STDs as you might think—for one thing, people are generally more likely to use protection with a one night stand than they are in a relationship, even a new one. And I have to wonder if Taylor Swift is really the role model for abstinence that people seem to want her to be. I don’t (and can’t) know whether she’s had sex, or with how many people, nor do I particularly care. Judging from some of the guys she’s dated, though, it seems improbable that she hasn’t. Let’s face it, there really are guys who won’t date a girl who won’t have sex with them, at least not for very long (and that time limit only gets shorter when they’re adults who can find someone who’ll sleep with them on the first date). And really, that’s okay. You should have just as much right to expect to date someone who will have sex with you as you should someone who won’t, but you can’t be in a relationship with someone who expects the opposite. But even if Taylor hasn’t had sex, she dates A LOT of guys. There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with that, in and of itself, but that is highly incompatible with the sort of lifestyle most pro-abstinence people tend to promote (which is, typically, only dating with the intent to marry and trying to keep heartbreak to an absolute minimum).
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- anacristinai thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Win
- Maria R. Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? and thinks it’s Win
- Montebello thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Fail
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clayc4 4 months agoIt’s kind of trashy to post a photo of Taylor with Manti Te’o’s girlfriend at the top of the article…
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- lsmed Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women?
- uhbeibi thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Trashy, WTF & Fail
- y.cat Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women?
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Montebello 4 months agoI just want to say I don’t understand how someone as boring as her can be so successful. And aparently she thinks brunettes are evil.
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- daveg20 Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women?
- ezgio thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Vom
- bekahjean Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women?
- meredithmo Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women?
- joshp16 thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Fail
- caseyk2 Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? and thinks it’s Win
- enricob thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Old & Fail
- Heather Denise thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is Trashy, Ew & Fail
- roxm Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? and thinks it’s OMG, LOL & Win
- chuyb thinks Does Taylor Swift Hate Other Women? is LOL
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enricob 4 months agoThis is seriously such a ridiculous statement and the ‘evidence’ in this article is so weak. While “You Belong With Me” and “Better Than Revenge” are two songs with problematic lyrics/music videos when it comes to feminism, she wrote these songs before she turned 21! It’s completely absurd to say that a teenage girl talking smack about a girl who stole her boyfriend makes her “hate all women.” Do you know how many teenagers are in this situation and wish death on the “other woman”? Being angry at a woman for stealing your man does not make you anti-feminist. Let’s look at other ‘woman-bashing’ songs by females. Does Hayley Williams hate all females because in “Misery Business” she sings about another woman stealing her man? This woman “has a body like an hourglass” and is “a whore” according to the lyrics. Much more damning than Taylor’s lyrics. Does Carrie Underwood hate all females because she sings about a “bleached-blond tramp” in “Before He Cheats”? And what about Amy Winehouse, whose man left her and “kept his d*ck wet” in “Back to Black”? (Meaning he left her and had sex… much more explicitly than in Taylor’s “Revenge.”) No one has ever called these women anti-feminist, but somehow Taylor is repeatedly attacked for it. Everyone who attacks Taylor for being anti-feminist is just showing off that they know the finer points of feminism that they learned in college. Taylor is a young woman writing personal songs that very rarely cast other females in a negative light. Is it true that a little feminist education would benefit it? Based on her response to whether or not she’s a feminist, yes. But remember, most people don’t understand what real feminism is and if you poll a hundred random strangers, I guarantee that 90+ will say that it’s about men vs. women. Now you all know that Taylor does not hate every woman and does not believe that women and men should not have equal rights. Get it together.
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