Swiftly Realizing the Negativity of Taylor Swift As a Role Model

Taylor Swift is one of the most successful artists in her industry, having sold over 26 million albums by the age of twenty three. She is a young woman who worked her way to the top, achieving power through her own talents. So she must be a perfect female role model, right? Not exactly.

Before I explain my issues with Swift, I want to clarify a few things.

• The reason Taylor Swift is not a positive role model is not because of her dating or sexual history. No one has the right to base personal judgements of women based solely on their relationships with men.
• Once again, my issues with her have nothing to do with her dating history.
• I am not suggesting that Ms. Swift should alter her music. I am simply promoting awareness of the extremely negative and possibly detrimental messages her lyrics send to the young girls who listen to her music.

So, let's look at a few examples...

1. "I'm only up when you're not down. Don't wanna fly if you're still on the ground."-I'm Only Me When I'm With You

In this song, Swift sings a seemingly cute song about her overwhelming love for her boyfriend or friend, it really doesn't matter. The point is, she hitches her entire happiness and self definition onto another person. Which is fine. However, what is not fine, is 13-year-old girls listening to this song and getting the idea that one's self worth and personality should be determined based on a boy or any other human being besides themselves. 

2. "She's not a saint, and she's not what you think She's an actress, whoa

She's better known for the things that she does On the mattress, whoa"-Better Than Revenge

In this song, Swift blames the girl who her boyfriend cheated with and alludes to her "sluttiness." She places no blame on her boyfriend. Girl hate is one of the strongest forces in keeping women down and the slut-shaming message of this song feeds into that negative mentality

3. "I ain't jealous of you Just thought you should know

You were never good enough for him or anything like me So you might as well sit back 'cause I ain't tryin to show maturity X is the shape I drew through your face In permanent marker"-Permanent Marker

Girl hate alert. These lyrics are just one example of the extreme girl hate Taylor Swift exemplifies in her music. The vilification of other women is a common theme in Swift's lyrics. She is better than they are, and the involved male is stupid if he doesn't realize this. Even worse, Swift is commonly referenced as an anti-bullying activist based on her song "Mean" where she condemns "mean girls"who push her and others around. In fact, Taylor Swift is this mean girl, with many of her songs, including the famous "You Belong With me" vilifying her (romantic) rivals: other girls.

4. "I am not the kind of girl

Who should be rudely barging in on a white veil occasion

But you are not the kind of boy 

Who should be marrying the wrong girl

I sneak in see your friends

And her snotty little family all dressed in pastel

And she is yelling at a bridesmaid

Somewhere back inside a room

Wearing a gown shaped like a pastry"-Speak Now

Her snotty little family, her pastry shaped gown. Does anything more need to be said? Girl hate.

5. "If you leave I'll be crawling back for more

if you need love I"ll be standing at your door

I'll be be sick inside if baby you'd be my cure"-My Cure

It might be a stretch to say these lyrics feed into the detrimental culture of abuse in our world today, but is it really? What is being "sick"? Whether a relationship involves physical or mental abuse or if it is unhealthy in a plethora of different ways, the point is that it is unhealthy. It might be argued that this message is common in pop music; however, other pop music is not glorified by young girls and performed by someone who is considered a positive role model.

6. "It's not like I'm giving up who I am for you but for someone like you it's just so easy to do I could be your little beauty queen

Just a little outta reach

Or the girl living next door

I'll be your angel giving up her wings

If that's what you need"-Your Anything

Should a role model for young girls be sending the message that giving up your dreams for a guy is a legitimate and positive course of action? That's up to you to decide. However, it is clear that Swift's lyrics normalize and promote the reliance of young girls on young men and relationships as their only means of achieving happiness.

Taylor Swift's lyrics promote girl hate and reliance on men for self definition, adding to the already hostile social environment young girls are immersed in while deciding who they want to be in the world.

I am not suggesting that Swift should change the way she treats her relationships or personal affairs made public through her songs, I am simply suggesting we heighten our awareness. Once we are aware of the messages her lyrics send us, we can judge whether or not we deem them appropriate.

(This post was written by myself and fellow co-president of the Palo Alto High School Gender Equality Club, Kelly Patterson. She rocks.)

A Letter to Seventeen Magazine

I started subscribing to Seventeen Magazine when I was about 11 or 12 years old. Out of habit, I have constantly renewed my subscription. While unfortunately the magazine isn't the greatest source of young female empowerment, I am generally okay with most of its articles. However, today I received the April Issue in the mail, and was shocked after reading an article about halfway through the magazine. I decided to write an email to the magazine and unfortunately got an automated response.
(There is a picture of the article underneath the letter)

Here is my letter:

Dear Seventeen,

I have subscribed to your magazine for a few years now.

I was flipping through the pages of the April Issue, when I came across an article titled "do you fall too fast?". Interested, I saw that I was meant to check statements to determine whether I should "slooow down!" or "pick up the pace!". I was already concerned with the wording, considering I find no situation in which preteen/teen girls should be told to pick up the pace regarding any decision they make, especially those made in relationships with boys. I read through the statements and was shocked when I read "The guy you've been flirting with asks for a racy pic on Snapchat. Rather than send him one, your response would be, "Coming right up...in your dreams!" highlighted in orange, telling me that meant I needed to "pick up the pace". The implication is that refusing to send nudes to a boy (as a minor) means that I am moving too slowly in my relationship because I'm "worried about things not working out". However, I believe that not sending nude pictures to boys is simply following the law (child pornography is illegal). This article uses pressure to essentially tell girls that if they do not feel comfortable breaking the law and objectifying themselves by sending nude pictures, that they need to "pick up the pace!" in order to get a boy to like them. 

While these few sentences in your magazine may seem inconsequential, they play into the already ever present pressure put on young girls to become more and more sexualized at a young age in order to be accepted by society. As a magazine that young girls read, I would hope that you can see the flaw in this article and take this opportunity to remind your readers that any decision they make to move slower in relationships is completely okay.

Thank you,
Lande Watson

(You can contact Seventeen at dearseventeen@seventeen.com or mail@seventeen.com)

Lana Del Rey: "What Makes Us Girls" is our attachment to men?

I've been a moderate fan of Lana Del Rey's music for a year or two now, however it wasn't until a few minutes ago while listening to "This Is What Makes Us Girls" that I realized the completely anti-feminist persona Del Rey conveys in her music. In almost all of her songs, Del Rey portrays herself as completely subservient to the powerful men in her life. This is done not only through her self-representation as a sex object but very directly in lines where she literally says I have nothing without you All my dreams and all the lights mean Nothing without you", in songs like "Without You". In "Off to the Races", she says "My old man is a bad man, but I can't deny the way he holds my hand

and he grabs me, he has me by my heart." Yes, she just romanticized a BAD relationship with someone she head on describes as a BAD man. It gets even worse as the song progresses to the chorus and Del Rey repeats the line "I need you to come here and save me."

Here are a few more of my favorite Lana Del Rey lyrics: "I'm not afraid to say that I'd die without him.", "I told you that no matter what you did I'd be by your side", "Loving you forever, can't be wrong Even though you're not here, won't move on", "And you can't keep your hands off. Me, or your pants on. See what you've done to me?"

Okay, so she doesn't value herself as an individual. This attachment of self to a man is common in music created by young women today. So what's the problem? "Whatever dude calm down it's just music", is the type of response I would expect if I told a lot of people my criticism of Lana Del Rey's lyrics. What makes Lana Del Rey's music  dangerous, is the perception of many girls that she is "perfect" or "a complete role model". As young women we are constantly bombarded with different messages about our self worth, and the subconscious message that being some guys "China doll" (from "Without You") is positive can be detrimental to self esteem and thoughts of general self. If we are to raise young girls up in an environment beneficial to the creation of future politicians and CEO's, powerful women who stand alone, we need to stop supporting this crap. What "Makes Us Girls" is not our undying search for love, it's all the other amazing things we do. What "Makes Us Girls" is our ability to become Secretary of State, or the CEO of a company, maybe even president someday.