Taylor Swift And Feminism

Abstract

Taylor Swift has been marked by her many fans as an icon of feminism and empowerment. Inspiring girls on how their own experiences and personal truths are something worth singing about. Illustrating what she claims to be female empowerment through ‘squads’ and award speeches. With the rapidly increasing influence of mainstream media, it is imperative to highlight how big icons such as Taylor Swift are manipulating and being manipulated by the masses, society and the market itself for profit and personal gains.

This paper will discuss how Taylor Swift exemplifies an icon who uses feminism as an embellishment for her own personal brand. First it will discuss how feminism is defined and construed in mainstream popular culture. With this

There was a time when feminism was avoided by artists, saying that they believed that women and men are and should be treated as equals in society, yet being a feminist was yet again too aggressive a term to be. But all of a sudden feminism became cool. It moved from first being accepted by society as a word that resonated with placards and street rallies to chic, fierce and edgy. An example for this would be 2014 when Beyoncé was at one of MTV’s biggest music awards night, Video Music Awards (VMA’s). After her performance the word “FEMINIST” in big bold shining letters was flashed and like a virus spreading, artist per artist claimed to be a feminist. Using it as if it were a brand that lead to profit. One particular artist stood out among the crowd, Taylor Swift.

Taylor Swift started out her career as the doe-eyed country girl who sang about fantasies and woes of most teenage girls. Despite this, when asked in one of her interviews with ______ as to whether she would consider herself as a feminist given that she is giving voice to girls around the world, she answered with a resounding no. Yet as with change in trends her answer and even attitude towards feminism changed as

It encourages violence as opposed and oppression as opposed to the equality that the feminist movement intended.

IV. How the Current State of the Market Encouraged Taylor Swift’s Feel-Good Feminism Selling sex to selling activism as a strategy

Taylor Swift wasn’t always the ‘feminist’ that she claims to be, before her ‘empowering’ award speeches and squads, the young icon said in an interview that she does not want to be called a feminist.

Marketplace feminism, based on Zeisler’s book, We Were Feminists Once, is a form of “branding feminism as an identity that anyone can and could consume.”

The boom of feminism in pop culture led Taylor Swift and many artists went with the ‘trend’ that is feminism. Yet, majority fail to discuss sensitive issues that the media might think will not go well the audiences. Thus only selected issues are identified with in mass media.

V. Profits in Feminism

Yet there is always a fine line that artists tread between actual activism and self-serving opportunism.

Feminism as a commodity

Taylor Swift rides the wave of ‘feel-good’ feminism in order to brand herself and gain the attention of