Taylor Swift's Reputation
- Hannah Davis
- Mar 12, 2021
- 4 min read
Taylor Swift’s career has spanned over a decade, beginning when she was only 16 years old. Now, at 31, she continues to face scrutiny which cast a shadow over her career. Swift’s unrelenting backlash illustrates the medias misogyny which targets talented young women and routinely picks apart their every move. Nowhere is this better demonstrated than the consistent focus on her dating life. The inane shaming of Swift’s romantic life has hidden the true hatred of her which stems from a patriarchal industry that historically shames successful young women.
Swift’s late teens and 20s were documented in the public eye and her dating habits were ruthlessly scrutinised. Hundreds of articles must have been written over the last decade commenting on the number of men she has dated and pitying these poor men who would now suffer the fate of having a song written about them. It, unfortunately, did not end with repetitive articles written online though. Her dating life became a common joke amongst interviewers, on TV shows and even award show hosts who joked that she should ‘stay away’ from certain men. The recurring commentary on the number of men Swift has dated appears to be nothing more than veiled slut-shaming. They question the number of dates she goes on and shame her for it.
The response to Swift’s dating history also reveals hypocrisy which she has pointed out. In interviews, Swift has correctly commented on criticism that she only writes songs about her ex-boyfriends, stating that ‘no-one says that about Ed Sheeran. No-one says that about Bruno Mars’. The media continually questioned who Taylor had written songs about and whether she had the right to do that. However, the questioning was not as rigorous towards male artists like Ed Sheeran, particularly when Sheeran openly admitted his song, ‘Don’t’, was based on his real-life and allowed the media to speculate about whether a certain female artist had cheated on him (even though she denied they were ever in a relationship). Songwriters using life experiences, such as breakups, to inspire their music is not unusual. However, when Swift utilised her relationships in her music she was portrayed as a ‘crazy ex-girlfriend’.
The hypocrisy is further perpetuated through the media coverage of Swift’s relationships. Her dating history has continually been subject to criticism and is portrayed as abnormal and harmful, rather than the behaviour of many adults, particularly adults in their 20s. Sadly, the media has not progressed past shaming women for dating while they praise and look up to men who do the same thing. This is apparent as comments on Swift’s dating are still be made in 2021, namely in the Netflix show ‘Ginny and Georgia' which includes the line ‘you go through men faster than Taylor Swift’. The show, which is disappointingly written by a woman, perpetuates the idea that Swift should be shamed for merely dating.
Swift herself addresses this criticism in ‘The Man’, a song that also recognises the wider issues of misogyny in the music industry and society in general. She suggests that if she were a man, her dating history would deem her a ‘boss’. Further, she includes a line where she states that she would be ‘just like Leo in Saint-Tropez’. The line references Leonardo DiCaprio, who despite being 46 has never publicly dated a woman over the age of 25 with his current girlfriend being only 23 years old. Despite the media coverage of DiCaprio’s dating life, he is applauded and retains his status as an acclaimed actor. DiCaprio is just one example of many men who are praised for their dating habits, whereas Swift’s dating became a valid excuse to dislike her.
It is worrying that countless articles continue to be written surrounding which celebrities Swift has dated. That there are several examples of Swift being slut-shamed on TV and in interviews. That many hated her whilst praising a man for calling her a ‘bitch’ and claiming responsibility for her success. These responses to Swift are, without a doubt, sexist. The views continue to be perpetuated while ignoring the good that she has done by utilises her platform.
In 2017, Swift won a lawsuit against a Radio DJ who sexually assaulted her. She openly spoke about how, despite the photographic evidence of the assault and the 7 witnesses, she was still questioned about whether she was telling the truth. She spoke of the anger she felt for other people who were not believed and encouraged others to come forward if they had been sexually assaulted. In 2018, despite many of her ‘team’ telling her it was a mistake and would have a detrimental effect on her career, she spoke out against Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn. She stated that ‘I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love’. More recently, Swift has been re-recording her older music after her Big Machine Label Group catalogue was sold to and then sold by, Scooter Braun, both times without her knowledge. She described Braun as an ‘incessant, manipulative bully’ and would not allow him to make money from her success.
This is not to say Swift is the perfect feminist without any fault. She has made mistakes and even admits to ‘trying to deprogram the misogyny in [her] own brain’. She is a white cisgender woman in the music industry who has benefited from her privilege in ways others could not. This is demonstrated as, despite all the attempts to cancel her, she has always been allowed to return and her success never stopped, an opportunity that was not extended to artists like Janet Jackson.
However, the treatment of her throughout the different stages of her career illustrates the intrinsic misogyny within the music industry and the media. For many points in her career, Swift could do little right. She has been centre stage and she has disappeared; she has been vocal, and she has been silent, she has been single, and she has been in a committed relationship, and all these actions still led to hate. It is easy to see the misogyny and the double standards that are still rife in the music industry and the society at large.
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