“Now, if Rihanna and Houston were white, would the show have gone on? Would Rihanna’s abuser be welcomed back with open arms? As a commenter on Racialicious wrote, “Had Chris Brown assaulted Taylor Swift he’d be working at Mickey D’s now.” In relation to Houston’s drug abuse, when white English singer Amy Winehouse passed away last year, she was revered as a “free spirit” who, because of her loneliness, turned to excessive drink and alcohol. For Houston, no one really could come up with an explanation. After all, she really did have it all: She came from a musical family of superstars; she grew up in the church; she had that God-given talent and physical beauty. Why did she essentially throw that all away? This was HER fault. Winehouse’s personal troubles evoked sympathy; I observed that many of the online obits for Houston lament that her beautiful voice — but not the person — will be missed.”—
—Chris Brown and Whitney Houston: The Entertainment Industry Fails Black Women, by Laina Dawes
*The only thing I will personally disagree with is that Amy Winehouse was universally revered after her death - I saw plenty of people the internet over claiming that it was her own fault and that the world was much better off without, as one commenter so eloquently put it, “another fucking crackwhore”. I will say though that I’ve never heard such things said about men like Kurt Cobain or Jim Morrison.
that my issue with Taylor Swift is not a thing about “Oh, she can’t sing” or “Her music gets played on the radio too much” or whatever.
It’s that I find so many of the messages in her music so incredibly demeaning, and the fact that she claims to “speak for all the girls out…
Disclaimer: This is not meant to be funny. This is meant to satirize how carelessly a serious subject has been handled. It is also not a defense for Kanye; what he did was selfish and Taylor will never get that moment back. However, I felt it necessary to raise the issue of race. Age certainly wasn’t the difference, considering both incidents transpired in 2009 and Rihanna is only one year older than Taylor
I’d also like to add that if Chris Brown beat the shit out of Taylor Swift instead of Rihanna his ass would be in jail right nowxCorrection, He would be UNDER the jail.
There’s something adorable about this belief that any kind of due process would have been involved.
“In fact, Swift loves boys at the exclusion of just about everything else, including other girls. Other girls are obstacles; undeserving enemies who steal Taylor’s soulmates with their bewitching good looks and sexual availability. Unfortunately for these mute yet effortlessly hunky jungle-eyed boys, by choosing the “beautiful” girls over Taylor (who is, suspiciously… also beautiful…), they’re missing out on Taylor’s unique understanding of their heart/inner fireball/angelic rainshower/sweet glory of Jesus. “All those other girls are beautiful,” Taylor pines, “But would they write a song for you?”
This is perhaps her music’s most grating sin: the sex-shaming girl-bashing passed off as outsider insecurity. Boys are angels lit from within with cool hair, fast cars, and eyes that often resemble light sources (stars, sunbeams, etc). These boys never grow beyond metaphor into humanity. If they did, we might have to confront the very idea that Taylor Swift’s entire career is designed to destroy: that teenagers want to have sex. And that wanting is confusing.”
BLESS THIS POST.
This is what I’ve been saying all along. GOD. What the hell is her childish, mediocre voice doing ruining one of my favorite tracks.
![antidisestablishmentarianistic:
[Created by Alexandra Vega for Audiostraddle.com. Click photo for article.]
Taylor Swift has recieved this year’s Billboard Woman of the Year Award. How quaint. Please click the photo above for a great article on why Taylor Swift is a feminist’s nightmare.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltl21rLbKB1qcu0beo1_500.png)
antidisestablishmentarianistic:
[Created by Alexandra Vega for Audiostraddle.com. Click photo for article.]
Taylor Swift has recieved this year’s Billboard Woman of the Year Award. How quaint. Please click the photo above for a great article on why Taylor Swift is a feminist’s nightmare.
feminist slut: Taylor Swift -Feminist Nightmare or Not?
[description: Photo of Taylor Swift playing guitar. Taylor is a white blond girl. Her hair is pinned up in a braid and she is wearing a red, blue, and white plaid shirt. She is playing a wood acoustic guitar and singing into a microphone]
Before I critique Taylor, I want…
Wow this is fucking stupid. Because she doesn’t sing about sex/weed/money, people have to bring her down? She’s a pure girl, and I hope it stays that way, because young girls need role models like her. Or what, would America prefer Miley Cyrus being the role model? Smoking/drinking/doing drugs. The fuck! If you don’t like her music, don’t listen to her. But little girls do and I would rather my future kids listen to Taylor Swift than Lil’ Wayne.
Did you read the damn article? I wasn’t bashing her (I wrote the original article for feminist media). I freaking stated I was a fan of her music (will lose followers for this, for sure). Actually people critique her music for the girl hate (“You Belong With Me,” “Better than Revenge,”) and for pushing the purity shit (“Fifteen”). She is no better a role model than Miley Cyrus. She is problematic, just like every single mainstream artists. I’d rather give my future kids critical thinking skills than ban them from listening to certain types of music. Just sayin’
I find everything that Taylor Swift represents to be incredibly problematic and backwards in thinking. If anything, I just loathe how despite the emergence of so many incredible female musicians out there who don’t whine about girl hate, slut shaming, this backwoods possessiveness in relationships and the virgin/ whore bullshit- the mainstream have kicked any sign of progressiveness in the teeth and put some privileged white girl on a pedestal for what “real” girls should be like. Taylor Swift deserves the criticism she gets. But so should the culture, which put her in this place of popularity.
^^^^^^ thesavagesalad! Everything you just said, I’m with you girl!
These terms and ideas attached to these terms were thrown around a lot yesterday.
Example:
“She doesn’t have to be a whore, wear skimpy clothes, or sing trashy songs that other people write for her in order to be successful.” (This was in reference to Taylor Swift.)
So, if one is sexually confident in themselves and flaunts this confidence it makes them a bad person?
I don’t like the idea that if someone wears clothing that is revealing it somehow downgrades their worth as a person or merits some kind of respect when they choose to wear conservative clothing. It’s basically giving respect to someone with no real reason behind it, which is something I’m profoundly against.
Throwing around terms like slut and whore are both horrendously disrespectful and reveals how uneducated you are. Sure, these terms can have endearing qualities attached to them for certain people or certain circles of friends, but they should never be used as a pejorative to downgrade someone’s worth.
If you choose to wear revealing clothing or be completely covered up, that’s great! Do what you want, but don’t go around berating other people for not corresponding to your personal mode of expression.
Judging someone by their level of modesty is like judging someone because their eyes aren’t the right shade of blue or brown. It’s arbitrary to even try to define what clothing is modest and which isn’t. It should be a non-issue at this point. It’s 2011. If you’re so concerned with someone’s modesty in this day and age, I suggest finding some sort of hobby to distract you from someone’s lack of modesty because frankly it makes you look like an asshole.
BEST. SONG. EVER. <3
I usually never reblog things I don’t like, but I just want to say:
NO, NO, FUCKING NO! It’s NOT classy! It’s slut-shaming, damaging to women, and not something that anyone should ever look up to. Only insecure women could approve of these lyrics, wanting to make themselves feel better by trying to pull another woman down. And the fact that some people think this song is “empowering” is so ridiculous I won’t even bother addressing it.
Swifty’s just mad about her old boyfriend’s new girl being better in bed.
(Source: alettertothewellorganizedmind)
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