Comments on: Taylor Swift: Not A Feminist’s Dream

By: amys

amys — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:09:30 +0000

Maybe Taylor Swift has become so popular because she stands her ground and goes against the common thread of women in the media today. OH no, how dare there actually be a girl who is modest, not prerogative, and doesn’t care to gain fame by a nasty sex appeal. She is different because she lives up to a standard of morals- I don’t believe that is such an awful thing to do (like you article says) since just about everyone else in the media is taking their career in the opposite direction. I appreciate Taylor Swift for being different

By: Hannah

Hannah — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:18:28 +0000

Excuse me, bitch.
I’m actually in complete shock at the hatred in this article,.
I sense a case of sour grapes,.

I have been a Taylor Swift fan for years,
she’s beautiful, talented, humbled and she is one of the most amazing people on this planet.

Dreadful live? I’ve seen her live, she not only has amazing vocals but also she plays her own instruments.

This stereotypical idea of the guy always being the football player and her wanting to date him, if you looked at the lyrics of the song Fifteen you’ll find this; “In your life you’ll do things greater than dating the boy on the football team” Taylor is trying to inspire girls everywhere to follow their dreams no matter what,.

A stereotypical good role model?!? How can you be a non-stereotypical good role model “I have sex with multiple guys, I probably have some STDs but it’s alright listen to my music about riding disco sticks and we can all be good little whores and again increase not only teenage pregnancy rates but also the worlds population” – as if this world isn’t crowded enough with assholes like you.

Not a good songwriter?!? She has more talent in her little finger than you have in your entire body. There’s a reason why her latest album Speak Now sold over a million copies worldwide WITHIN a week,. so yeah kthanks.
You really know your stuff (:

songs dependant on guys? I can name quite a few that show that Taylor doesn’t write songs only about guys whom she likes 1) mean 2) innocent 3) never grow up 4) The outside etc the list goes on,.

P.s. Kanye is a dickhead.

And yes her hair is beautiful, a reflection of her soul,.
Wonder what you hair looks like,…

By: L

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 03:02:07 +0000

Woah… whoever wrote this is a total victim/hater…

By: The Art of Scapegoating almost everything « beautiful absurdity

The Art of Scapegoating almost everything « beautiful absurdity — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:23:48 +0000

[...] blogs and columns, and really, some of them are quite entertaining on their own terms. Take (http://thefbomb.org/2010/02/taylor-swift-not-a-feminists-dream/) for example. About a year ago, when this article was written, Maren H, the author of this highly [...]

By: Lorraine

Lorraine — Sat, 21 May 2011 04:31:41 +0000

While I respect your opinion, and applaud your lucid writing, I feel that there are a few holes in your arguments.
First, “Abigail gave all she had to a boy” doesn’t just mean she lost her virginity to mean. I interpreted it as meaning that this Abigail gave a boy her absolute trust and love, then he cheated on her/left her/whatever. This ambiguity is intentional, and you have simply interpreted it in a more sexually-focussed way than was necessarily intended.
Then, your comments of Fifteen. I think you’ve missed the point. Fifteen isn’t supposed to probe deeply into the adolescent female psyche – it’s supposed to be an ode to nostalgic high-school feelings. And, much as I hate to admit it, when you’re fifteen, a boy having a car is definitely a point in his favour.
As for the slut vs virgin message of You Belong With Me, and the accompanying music video, there is no doubt that this is present – it is certainly not what I would consider the pinnacle of feminism. But I think the fact that Swift dressed in white and the other girl in orange has less to do with messages of virginity vs sluttiness and more to do with the fact that Taylor Swift looks good in white. Besides, the story isn’t about Swift being better than the other girl, it’s about her being more suited to the temperament of that one particular boy.
Finally, with regards to Love Story. Firstly, calling a romantic person Romeo, and comparing any romantic situation to Romeo and Juliet has been done by hundreds of authors, poets, songwriters, and ordinary people. Why single out Taylor Swift? She hasn’t done it any worse than Stephenie Meyer, or my own tenth grade English teacher. And if you were to listen carefully to the lyrics of White Horse (which you clearly haven’t done), Taylor Swift clearly denounces the fairy tale notions of romance, and tells the listener that it’s too late for a knight (and his “white horse”) to come save her.
Overall, while I appreciate the message you’re trying to send, I think there are better people for you to rip into. Taylor Swift may not be the image of feminism, but she isn’t actively negating it. Stephenie Meyer is. Go get her.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 19:06:10 +0000

I was Taylor’s friend back in middle school and she was weird, she kept wanting me to show up to school in a dress. Are all girls like that or just her?

By: Shaila

Shaila — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 04:31:40 +0000

Honestly, it sounds like you’re bashing her for no reason. None of your reasons for disliking her are legitamate. It seems like you’re just looking for things to taunt her on. And that, is extremely un-feminist of you. As a woman, you should respect other young women, specially ones following their dreams and being awknowleged as strong female artists in the music industry. However, you are using petty reasons agasint her. Is Taylor the first person to use the Romeo and Juliet story in a romantic sense? Sure they died because of their undying love for one another, and as morbid as that sounds it’s what many people find extremely romantic. Also, Taylor’s song wasn’t a retelling of the Romeo & Juliet Shakespearian play, it was just as the title decipts it, a “love story.” Her use of “Romeo” is simply to allude to a romantic male, which is the general definition of the name now days. She never mentions Juliet. The song is simply one about a forbidden love, it has nothing to do with the Shakespearian play save for the allusion to romanticism. You’re bashing Taylor on not paying attention in English, yet you are clearly not paying attention to her song. You talk about her inability to use a thesaurus, I geuss you don’t take AP English then. If you took a higher level of an English class you would know that the best style of writing is a simple style, the best writers write using simple words that clearly get their meaning across rather than attempting to sound smart by using words from a thesaurus. Ever heard of Stephanie Meyer? She practically throws up the thesaurus and look how well that worked out for her.
I do agree on one part of your arguement though, that lyric from Fifteen about Abigal giving everything she had (refering to her virginity), is not the right message to send to young girls. However, Taylor could simply be talking about all of Abigal’s time, effort and love, not just her virginity. In addition, if you took the time to listen to that song to the end you would realize that it sends the complete opposite message. The song talks about how Taylor realizes there’s more to life than boys and high school, and that following your dreams is more important than crying over heartbreakers. Next you talk about her portrayl of herself as “virginal.” Well that’s just your perception. Taylor never said anything about girls who weren’t virginal or “good.” She never bashed “sluts.” She her self is comfortable with being a “good girl;” being safe and nice. Are you really going to bash her for being her self and not giving into the peer pressure of “bad” Hollywood. Maybe she simply doesn’t feel comfortable dealing with “taboos,” are you really going to hate on her because she has her own niche and is true to her own beliefs. Are you going to hate on her just because she doesn’t act the way you think she should act? Maybe she is a “conservative parent’s wet dream,” what’s wrong with that? Women should be free to be as they are, whether it be conservatively good or liberally rebellious. Then you said Taylor’s songs are all about boys; you are wrong many of her songs deal with other issues including Mean, A Place in This World, The Best Day, The Outside, Never Grow Up and American Girl to name a few. And she doesn’t write about boys, she writes about love, just like every song on the radio. It just happens to be that the object of her affection is male. And even if she did write about boys, what’s wrong with that? She’s a heterosexual female, are you saying that she is not allowed to express her sexuality through her songs? Is she supposed to sing songs about other subjects just because it’s not socially accepted for a woman to express her sexual interest in society? You are repressing her sexuality by saying that. You are being hypocritcal because you were just judging her on doing a similar thing.
Then you went on to talk about how you don’t think she was bullied in high school. First off, many celeberties claim to have been bullied in school. Taylor is not the first or only one. Once again you are just trying to find things to nit pick about her because of your personal dislike of her. How do you know she wasn’t bullied? It’s her personal experience. Saying you don’t think she was bullied because she’s pretty is like saying a woman provocatively dressed can’t be a victim of rape because she was asking for it. We can’t assume things based on people’s appearances. Besides it’s not just looks that cause bullying. And even if it was, Taylor probably had more of a ‘Hollywood makeover’ after she became famous and didn’t always look as put together and cool.
Honestly, you sound extremely bitter and none of your reasons are sound reasons for disliking Taylor. I love reading this blog but I have to say I was disgusted when I saw this page

By: Ty

Ty — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 13:35:50 +0000

Everyone has an opinion. And they are not worth the paper they are printed on. She must be doing something right, should could buy and sell us all. Hard to argue with success I say. Save your sour grapes and go right a trite love song yourself and sell it for millions, if it so easy. Otherwise, get off my screen and quit yer b*tchin.

By: Tiff

Tiff — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 04:37:00 +0000

I agree with most of what you said about Taylor. Those are mostly the reasons why I don’t think she’s a great role model either. She is extremely one dimensional in her music, and a very mediocre musician at best.
I agree that women should not in any way be defined but what a guy thinks of them, or any social stereotypes. (although I personal am a Christian who believes that sex before marriage is a sin.)

I just wanted to point out though, that although she seems pretty innocent, she isn’t all the way. “Love Story” does seem like the perfect good girl fairy tale. But it says she was “a scarlet letter”. Ha. In case you haven’t read the Scarlet Letter that means she got pregnant out of wedlock. And she obviously tries to be sexy. (Which is fine is she likes it that way).
So abstinence isn’t completely what she is a model of.

So I guess I don’t like her because she is all about appearance. Even though I’m not exactly sure what she’s trying to appear to be.

By: hello

hello — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 06:02:24 +0000

You know what, I don’t think this should have anything to do with feminism. After all, Lady Gaga is highly controversial not just because of feminism but also because of other things; her songs are weird and the lyrical content is often inappropriate for young audiences. By contrast, Taylor Swift’s songs are fairly innocent. True, Beyonce was a good artist, but when it comes down to things these contests are often toss-ups. And come on, yes her lyrical quality may be poor, but let’s be honest: no pop music has a tenth of the deep musical value that classical music does. It’s about appeal and not depth in pop music, and Taylor Swift’s songs are easily accessible and quite appealing, whereas controversial artists like Lady Gaga are disliked by some and loved by others. That’s why I think that this article, while interesting, is a bit misguided.