Taylor Swift, feminism that stays at half throttle

In recent years, Taylor Swift has established herself as a feminist reference for many fans and even the media, but there are academics who believe that her speech, focused on white and upper-middle-class women, remains half-hearted because it does not include all women.

The artist has built a notable musical empire in recent years, and part of the press as well as her followers emphasize her business side as something “empowering” and “feminist”, because the woman who managed to acquire great wealth with her is a business.

“It’s surface level, because you see an empowered woman who has broken down a lot of walls to get where she is. But when you dig beyond the surface and see what it does to black women, indigenous women, women of color, women who are not privileged or LGTBI, you think that maybe it could all be ‘performance’, Paola Zamperini tells EFE. Professor of the “Gender and Sexuality Studies” program at the University of Evanston, Illinois.

Swift’s image as a feminist reference intensified in 2017, when she joined the ‘MeToo’ movement – launched as a result of the sexual harassment of American film producer Harvey Weinstein – as well as her complaint against radio DJ David Mueller, who sued her for sexual harassment.

A singer since that year you have used your speaker on special occasions to defend women’s historic struggles such as sexual freedom or the right to abortion, publicly demonstrating against restrictions on the practice of abortion in the United States.

However, Swift’s activism does not reach women who are not part of the upper middle class, and in recent years her already scarce public statements have decreased significantly.

Discussion of the “validity” of his speech and criticism of it to pass out positioning on issues related to more vulnerable populations resurfaced after her media presence at the Super Bowl (where she went to see her partner, Chiefs football player Travis Kelce, play), or her recent selection as “Person of the Year” by of Time magazine.

Swift as an “empowered woman”

Swift’s business side and the fact that she has amassed great wealth through her music work have fueled her image as a feminist and an empowered woman: “She’s seen as a reference for her economic power, but it’s really ‘white feminism,’” says Zamperini.

According to Forbes, the artist has a fortune of 1.1 billion dollars.

“Swift is an example of how feminism in America is connected to capitalism. Financial success equals women’s empowerment, in other words,” Lee Pierce, associate professor of rhetorical communication at the State University of New York (SUNY) and researcher specializing in rhetoric, race and American political culture, told EFE.

Although the singer-songwriter encourages her audience to try to achieve a position of power that has historically been reserved for men, Zamperini believes that this status cannot be obtained without the economic privileges she had before becoming famous, since he comes from a wealthy family.

According to the Evanston professor, Swift’s feminism uses the language of women’s activism and the struggle for equality and justice to label or label her own image and actions, “without realizing that what she has and what she has achieved is not available to blacks, natives, and people of color.”

Feminism at half throttle

In recent years, the singer-songwriter has been outspoken about issues related to politics in the United States, calling for a vote for Democrat Joe Biden, the country’s current president, in the 2020 presidential election.

The artist also spoke on numerous occasions about the double standards by which men and women are judged in the music industry, a problem that materialized in the song ‘The Man’, from her album ‘Lover’ (2019): “I’m sick of running as fast as I can, wondering if I would get to the same place faster if I were a man.”

But aside from American politics and her speaking out against these double standards, the artist has rarely spoken about the reality of less privileged women, which is why her feminism remains half throttle.

“If you defend anti-racist feminism, anti-capitalist and trans-inclusive (which I would do), then Swift wouldn’t be a good feminist icon,” says Lee Pierce.

Some fans believe that the decision not to engage in activism stems from the artist’s fear of losing followers: “She knows that she has some fans, especially in the United States, and they are women like her, white, blonde, blue eyes and from upper-middle-class families who don’t want to know what happens to black women, Palestinians or trans women,” Gonzalo, a follower of the singer since practically the beginning of her musical career, tells EFE.