When someone insults your role model it stings. When a bunch of people continually hate on
your role model it enlists a certain kind of expression; jutted out jaw, pursed lips, scrunched nose,
and furrowed brows. Hands on my hips I
stomp my foot and say, “nuh-uhhh!” My
petty, knee-jerk reaction sadly does nothing to challenge the other person’s opinion. I’m hoping this piece accomplishes more than
my hissy fits.
A
couple of songs of Taylor Swift’s have ruffled some feathers. Her song “Picture to Burn” is one such song
and is about being dumped by a boy and declaring the relationship a waste of
time. The line that is often critiqued
is, “So go and tell your friends that I’m obsessive and crazy, that’s fine,
I’ll tell mine that you’re gay.” Let me
just say I am totally against bigoted lyrics.
That being said I want to explore this.
Though Swift uses gay as a treat she makes no obvious implications that
the word gay should or does mean anything inherently negative. In a different part of the song she discusses
getting revenge by dating “all of your best friends.” I believe Swift is threatening to tell her
friends her ex-boyfriend is gay because it would eliminate or at least decrease
the chance of him avenging her in the same method she considers using. Even if Taylor Swift is being homophobic in
this song, at least she is using the term accurately instead of as slang for
stupid. There are many worse and
irredeemable songs we should be taking issue with before this one, which,
depending on Swift’s intentions, might not have anything wrong with it in the
first place.
As much
as I adore Miss Swift she does have a few songs that, despite being catchy and
dance worthy, have less than stellar aspects.
Her song “Revenge” objectifies her boyfriend and “Shake It Off” has a
good message but the video is almost completely based on racial stereotypes in
dance. She is not perfect. No one is.
The
song “15” is written in the point of view of a senior reflecting on herself as
a freshman, an if-only-I’d-known sort of song.
One line in this song has upset many people. The line is, “Abigail gave everything she had
to a boy who changed his mind.” The
assumption that Abigail might’ve been sexually active isn’t outlandish if the
lyrics and music video are considered. That
is not what’s upsetting people. What has
gotten the most panties into bunches is the belief that Taylor Swift considers
a teen girl’s virginity to be her “everything,” implying that the love, time,
effort, and trust she brings to a relationship isn’t worth anything. Knowing her songs as well as I do and having
listened to many interviews I highly doubt that was Taylor Swift’s intention
when writing this song. Even if that was
Swift’s belief at the time she never clarifies for listeners exactly what
constitutes Abigail’s “everything.”
Every person claiming Swift means Abigail’s virginity needs to pause
here a moment and consider why that conclusion was made. I believe this interpretation is so popular
because of the cultural regime we live under.
For a long time I was guilty of making the same quick assumption about
Abigail too. It’s almost a sort of
Rorschach test. Our assumptions about
Taylor Swift’s implications reveal more about us than about one particular song
or singer. We know enough to be
disgusted when someone claims a girl’s virginity is her entire worth, yet we
are ignorant and oblivious enough not to realize we are the ones making such
claims.Taylor Swift is a talented young person. She has been voted Most Charitable Celebrity for the past three years on dosomething.org. She gave some of her fans personalized holiday presents. She gives personal advice to lucky fans on Tumblr. She calls out gender based double standards. She is just an awesome person overall.
(stomp.)
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