Can you be an American Woman and Apolitical?

In the documentary “Miss Americana”, Taylor Swift takes us through the ups and downs of her career and what led her to partisan political activism. The driving force of this change was her gender, and how she was treated by the media, public and others because of her gender. 

Political activism was never a destination for Swift, but it did mean an end for her. An end to her relevance, her success, and her career. She watched it happen to the Dixie Chicks, and with her management, she polished herself into the image of the “nice girl”. The girl who doesn’t burden others with her opinions. The girl who quietly sits back and smiles. 

We’re taken along for the pit stops of Swift’s career: Kanye West interrupting her 2009 VMAs acceptance speech for Best Female Video, a subsequent feud with West and his wife, Kim Kardashian over West’s lyrics, and the #1 trending worldwide of #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty on Twitter. Rather than reading about the controversies in the tabloids, we are riding along with Swift through the campaigns against her. 

We see West at a concert rapping the lyrics to his song “Famous”, he raps “I think me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous”. The crowd responds with chants of “Fuck Taylor Swift” to no dismissal of West. Headlines flash in large bold font that calling Swift a “liar” and saying that she “played the victim”. Tweets call her “calculated” and a “fake bitch”.

Swift remained in neutral throughout this denigration, opting to be “excluded from this narrative” in a 2016 Instagram post. So, what was the change for Swift?

Countless articles have been published criticizing Swift’s womanhood through her dating history. At the 2016 Grammy Awards, the night Swift became the first female artist to win Album of the Year twice, Entertainment Tonight host Nancy O’Dell in an interview with Swift says, “I just wanted to show the legs … I think you’re going to walk home with more than just a trophy tonight. I think lots of men…”.

In part, this was the backfire of her image as the “nice girl”. Swift’s success in the music industry was second place to the sensationalist appeal of her sexuality as a young woman. Swift’s presentation of her body was not seen as anything but a “calculated” means of ensnaring men. 

Swift was sued for $3 million by the former radio DJ, David Mueller under the claim that her false accusations of groping led to his subsequent loss of his employment. Swift countersued for $1 in assault and battery. The woman the public besmirched as the “liar” was on trial to not only defend her allegations, but also her body.

In 2017, Mueller’s case was dismissed and the jury ruled in favor of Swift, requiring the former radio DJ to pay the $1 in damages. In her testimony, Swift stated that, “He grabbed my ass underneath my skirt” and “I’m not going to let you or your client make me feel in any way that this is my fault”. 

The woman who “played the victim” was believed. Swift was no longer apolitical. Swift explains that now “something is different in my life, completely and unchangeable different since the sexual assault trial last year”. 

The start of Swift’s partisan activism was the 2018 US Senate race in Tennessee between Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn and Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen. Swift announced that she was endorsing Governor Bredesen in an Instagram post a month prior to the November midterm, labeling his opponent Blackburn a “homophobic, racist.” When Blackburn wins the election, Swift is frustrated. 

Swift says, “She gets to be the first female senator in Tennessee and she’s – she’s Trump in a wig. She represents no female interests. She won by being a female applying to the kind of female males want us to be in a horrendous … 1950s world”. 

Swift’s narrative has always been gendered, but instead of the “nice girl” remaining silent, she was speaking loudly. In American society, women and their bodies are inherently political for Swift. Experience has taught her that the United States is a patriarchal system that presupposes that women are to be oppressed through their objectification and sexualization of their bodies. 

While it is necessary to challenge such a system, Swift is toeing a fine line. It is problematic for Swift to decide what a woman should think as a woman. In Swift denouncing the votes of Republican women, she is policing what is acceptable for a woman to stand behind. 

Can a woman be apolitical in our society? 
For Swift, the answer is no.