Taylor Swift White's Only Feminist Analysis

Taylor Swift, a pop icon and polarizing figure, is often known for her empowering music, feminist attitude, and meaningful lyrics. Many of her fans praise the feminist messages some of her songs deliver, however others say she comes from a position of privilege and only advocates for white women. Still, a common perception of Swift is that she has evolved from an innocent country singer into a more controversial and sometimes provocative pop singer. What is ignored though, is that despite this perception, themes depicted in “old” Taylor’s music still displayed highly problematic concepts about gender, just in less obvious ways. Particularly in her music video for “You Belong With Me,” the audience if presented with a fulfilling love story involving a nerdy girl getting the popular. On its surface, this concept may seem normal, but the narrative of this video unintentionally conveys significant gender issues in today’s society. Thus, through her 2008 music video for “You Belong With Me,” Taylor Swift ironically presents herself as the ideal nerdy girl next door who gets the guy when she suddenly turns beautiful while demonizing a cheerleader, revealing problematic notions of how women are supposed to look and behave in society, as well as reinforcing negative female stereotypes.

Recently, 24- year old country singer/popstar Taylor Swift released a music video “Shake it Off” which was I sort of introduction to her newest album 1989. The video received some backlash for it was seen by many as offensive, and stereotypical to African American Culture. In the video Swift dresses in what some may consider Hip Hop attire, attempts to “twerk” and even has a section where she partially sings as well as raps. She even uses talks about

Underlying the feminism movement of the 1960s and 1970s was the “white racist ideology.” The women’s movement of the 1960s was in fact the white women’s movement. It was an opportunity for white feminists to raise their voices, but they only spoke about the plight of the white woman and excluded themselves from the collective group of women across all races and social standings. White women assumed that their experience was the experience of all women. When black women proclaimed that the movement was focused on the oppression of white women, the white feminists asserted “common oppression” and retorted with “oppression cannot be measured.” Ironically, feminists in the 1960s compared their oppression to the oppression of African Americans as

Taylor Swift really knows how to have hidden messages and secrets throughout her lyrics and music videos. Taylor Swift also likes to trash talk other celebrities including Kim Kardashian and Katy Perry. Which gives a viewer a good chance to critic her lyrics and videos.

Thesis statement: Taylor Swift is one of the most successful female artists in the world who portrays her personal experiences through her music.

The empowerment and the continual push for equal status for women has become widely popular and successful in recent history. Women have stepped out of traditional roles of the housewife, the mother and the submissive doormat to more assertive natures. Many controversial issues surround women’s crusade of freedoms including the widely debated right to choose what she does with her body, referring to an abortion. In 1927 Ernest Hemingway wrote a short story titled, “Hills Like White Elephants” that expressed a feminist movement focusing on this issue. Through the character’s development and ability to come to her own decision despite her boyfriend’s constant pressure suggests a shift towards a powerful feminist theme in a society dominated by men. The story, “Hills Like White Elephants,” reflects how men and women are compared with power and dominance regarding their stereotypical behavior in relation to gender norms; however, this story portrays how a woman steps out of the expectations and takes a stance for what she wants.

The difference between white feminism and black feminidm is clear. White feminism hurtss black women in ways you would have never thought. Feminism in general Has Not Passed Any Laws That Have Directly Or Indirectly Helped Black Women The majority of the opportunities, rights and benefits black women appreciate today such as governmental policy regarding minorities in society "twofers", expanded open security , access to conception prevention and fetus removal since it hasbeen ade clear that black women get the most premature births among American women when all is said in done, decreased social shame for being young moms , access to school instructions, and so on, have originate from white women's activists. Roe v. Wade, the Sexual Revolution, Norma Rae, the greater part of that happened from white women's activists. Black women haven't had an immediate hand in making any laws, campaigning for the same, or notwithstanding raising any essential issues that would specifically

The lyrics can make one happy, confused, or relate to Swift’s situation. This appeal to pathos is used in different ways here. Whenever one sees the scene with Swift holding the cat, it forces them to emote and feel terrible or sad for the cat because it is adorable and by extension for the person holding it. Also, Swift sums up all that has been said about her in one climatic boy crazy video. The video’s setting resembles that of a fairy tale where all is well, but then Swift goes into a fit of anger after her supposed one true love hurts her. Throughout her video, she tries to tell young women that boys are dumb and can break their hearts to the point that they go crazy after a breakup and that is okay as long as they do not go

In an article called ‘ladies first’: Queen Latifah’s Afrocentric feminist music, it talks about issues raised by feminist rap; rap that focuses on women’s importance, and the demand for equal treatment, and for the need to encourage each other. “Queen Latifah's feminism draws on the patterns of rap to assert the importance of women promoting themselves and other women. Rap, like all other forms of popular music, is not inherently feminist, but in this genre, as in other popular genres, female performers use specific generic qualities to promote a feminist message. Rap is noted for its emphasis on lyrics, and through the lyrics, female rappers make explicit assertions of female strength and autonomy.” Women talk about how they need to be seen as equal to a man through their lyrics and for women to encourage other women. That will push back the negativity from the male rappers toward the female rappers. For an example in a song called U.N.I.T.Y by Queen Latifah she said “Every time I hear a brother call a girl a b*** or a h*, trying to make a sister feel low, you know all of that got to go” Throughout her song she is letting male rappers know that they can’t be calling women those types of names, no matter what. Through time, the hip hop community is and will keep pushing back the misogyny and violence that rap

While the media has brought more attention to movements such as the “Me Too” movement as well as giving victims a voice, it is still very evident that women of color are not treated the same as the white women who have talked about their horrendous events. In the 1900’s , “good” women were middle class white women. “Bad” women were immigrants and racial minorities. Although it had changed over the past few years, media still finds something to point out about minorities to discredit their accomplishments or greatness. When women of color specifically black women speak about injustice people try to point out that they are making their problems a “race thing” rather than focusing on the problem that she is actually addressing. Statistics show that black women have to work two times as harder at everything they do and the injustice and discrimination is prevalent everywhere. Events like these could be labeled as “white feminism” meaning, certain people are only willing to support women who are white or white passing.“In the 1980’s feminism entered mainstream with new levels of community activism…”( Evans, 411). The community involvement of feminists in the 1980’s helped feminists today with organizing events such as the women’s marches held across the nation. Women using their voices and platforms to speak about events have helped other women to feel more comfortable getting involved and coming out about situations that have happened to them in their lives. When the testimony of Anita Hill occured, “the sight of a black woman being grilled by a committee of white men who made light of this “sexual harassment crap” mobilized thousands of women to run for office and contribute to campaigns” ( Evans, 411). In January of 2018, Aly Raisman spoke about her experience with sexual abuse cause by Larry Nassar. Due to Aly and a few

In terms of sexuality, if a white woman is living that “single in the big city” lifestyle, people assume she is a strong and independent woman, but women of color who are living a single lifestyle are not seen as someone who is choosing to be single, but as someone that is not married because of the fact that African Americans marry at lower rates than whites due to situations like poverty and high incarceration rates for black males. (Winfrey Harris, 2012) These facts put a stereotype on all African Americans. If a white women is a single, working mother, she is praised by society for being a strong and independent woman that doesn't need a man to support her, but if a back woman was a single, working mother, society would be pitied and would be wondering what happened to her husband

In musical superstar Taylor Swift’s music video for her song “Blank Space,” she is portraying herself as the high maintenance and dramatic girlfriend that the media believes she is. The speaker of this text is the media’s perception of Taylor Swift and her message is about the disconnect between who Swift really is and who the media sees her as. I believe Swift has two purposes for this music video. One is for her character in the music video to warn her audience about the type of love that boys want, and the other for real life Taylor herself to poke holes into the media’s concept of her love life. The video is filled with satire and paradoxes to convince us that our idea of Taylor Swift is not an accurate opinion of her.

Pop feminist women seem to fit in the category of an unladylike manner of being aggressive. Such aggressive behavior often being related getting something that they want and standing up for themselves. In different level, the ladies in Sex and the City possess such aggressiveness and they do not show any signs of hiding it. An example is when Samantha yells at her real estate agent for not showing her an apartment. (Sex and the City, “The Monogamists”) She wanted to see the apartment and she was angry because she could not get what she wanted. Another example is when Miranda yells at a street harasser. (Sex and the City, “The Drought”) She stood up for her rights and she did not that she deserved to be harassed. Not only in actions, they also showed aggressiveness in the use of profane words, which is more common in men than women like when Samantha said “What’s the point of being in the suburbs if you're not going to fuck a gardener?" (Sex and the City, “What Goes Around, Comes Around”)

In an attempt to define Black Feminism, Collins clarifies that it must “avoid the idealist position that ideas can be evaluated in isolation from the groups that create them (Collins 385).” This clarification forms her basis for why Black Feminism is necessary, and who it serves. Thinking about feminism historically, the concerns of black women were pushed aside in favor of fighting sexism; a notable example occurs within the Suffrage movement, where votes for white women were prioritized over women of color in order to push such legislation through. And even when feminism began looking at other social injustices, such as racism and class issues, often only prominent feminists were invited to the discussion. What resulted was, and often continues to be, a problem of white women speaking for oppressed people. It’s impossible, Collins argues, to have Black Feminist thought without examining the experiences and positions of African American women. Therefore, Black Feminism must be a movement that “encompasses theoretical interpretations of Black women’s reality by those who live in it (Collins 386).” However, such a definition brings about many questions:

In an attempt to define Black Feminism, Collins clarifies that it must “avoid the idealist position that ideas can be evaluated in isolation from the groups that create them (Collins 385).” In reality, this forms her basis for why Black Feminism is necessary, and who it serves. Thinking about feminism historically, the concerns of black women were pushed aside in favor of fighting sexism, most notably during the Suffrage movement. And even when feminism began looking at other social injustices, such as racism and class issues, only prominent feminists were invited to the discussion. What resulted was, and often continues to be, a problem of white women speaking for oppressed people. It’s impossible, Collins argues, to have Black Feminist thought without examining the experiences and positions of African American women. Therefore, Black Feminism must be a movement that “encompasses theoretical interpretations of Black women’s reality by those who live in it (Collins 386).” However, such a definition brings about many questions: who’s experiences are valued, how do black women take their voice back, and how can they center feminist thinking on their own unique standpoint?