Reactions to my last Post

I was entertained at Dr. Stiltner describing my writing as "bracing" in my last post about Taylor Swift...I wanted to respond to his comments and questions and elaborate more on some of my ideas for my paper. It might move into the "scathing" category :)

Just to start, some definitions that you might need clarification on from my last post, as Dr. Stiltner pointed out!

Slut shaming: Simply put, the idea of shaming or attacking a women or girl for being sexual, acknowledging sexual feelings and pleasure, having sexual partners, or acting on sexual feelings.  From Alon Levy's "Slut Shaming," he puts it as "The implication that if a woman has sex that traditional society disapproves of, she should be shamed or made to feel guilty or inferior."  Though you've probably never heard the term before reading this (unless you're into feminism or sociology like I am), I'm willing to bet you've probably called a girl a slut at some point in your life, haven't you?

Rape Culture: We live in a rape culture.  To understand what this means (well, first you can re-read my post from the beginning of the semester on sexual assault), let's look at the explanation found in "Transforming a Rape Culture" by Emilie Buchwald, Martha Roth, and Pamela R. Fletcher:

A rape culture is a complex of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression and supports violence against women. It is a society where violence is seen as sexy and sexuality as violent. In a rape culture, women perceive a continuum of threatened violence that ranges from sexual remarks to sexual touching to rape itself. A rape culture condones physical and emotional terrorism against women as the norm.

In a rape culture both men and women assume that sexual violence is a fact of life, inevitable as death or taxes. This violence, however, is neither biologically nor divinely ordained. Much of what we accept as inevitable is in fact the expression of values and attitudes that can change.

You probably don't automatically connect these ideas with the songs of Taylor Swift, but I will be expanding a lot further on these ideas as I continue to work on my paper.

Dr. Stiltner also asked: But what about the video?

In case you've never seen the music video to You Belong With Me (not that you're missing out), you can check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bKAaKwX5aA

As Dr. Stiltner pointed out after watching it, "It seems to be more about the nerdy girl trying to find her self-confidence. It doesn't make the "girlfriend" slutty, but certain very attractive, cool, and popular."

So, I'm going to point out what I find to be problematic about the video and how it connects to the ideas I discussed in my last post.

In the video (and in most of her other songs/videos), Swift casts herself as the proverbial outcast - in this case, "the girl in the bleachers." How does she do this in this video? By...oh, wow. Putting on a pair of very round, large glasses! Certainly these "dorky" glasses erase everything else that make Taylor attractive: long blonde hair, fair (read: white) and clear skin, big doe eyes, and thin.

But didn't you know?  Taylor Swift is just an average girl: don't worry, awkward adolescent girls, boys don't notice this hugely famous and gorgeous pop star either!

...Right, that's why almost all of Taylor's songs are about a different guy she dated.

And that's just it: all of Taylor Swift's songs are about boys. That is all she writes about.  That is all she pines over, all she desires.  Without a boy, Swift feels incomplete, and she's waiting around for the day she meets her prince charming and then she'll never have any problems ever again.  All Taylor Swift loves is boys. And you know what she doesn't love? Other girls. Know why? Because they steal her men.

How do they steal her men? Their seductive good looks and sexual availability.  Swift clearly lacks these things: she sings about how all she has to offer is her quirkiness, which means that though she's not beautiful, she can understand these boys in a way that these other beautiful, superficial, popular girls can't.

Here's the thing: Taylor Swift is beautiful. She, like many supermodels found in magazines, on television and the rest of pop culture, does not represent anything "average" about girls. 

In her single "Hey Stephen," Swift sings: "All those other girls, well they're beautiful, but would they write a song for you?"

What? Beautiful girls can't write songs? Is that what you're saying here, Taylor? I beg to differ: beautiful girls can write songs, but most beautiful girls (unlike you) don't have the supportive wealthy parents and resources that you were privileged with that allowed her to move from Pennsylvania to Nashville when they were 14 so they could get a record deal...

But do you want to know what part of Taylor Swift really allowed her to become as famous as she is?

She didn't (and allegedly still doesn't) have sex.

That's right! Just listen to her song "Fifteen."  First of all, this song is the only one (that I can find, anyway) where Taylor actually has a female friend.  Because in all of her other songs, girls are just obstacles in the way of her finding true love.  But what happens to this female friend of Swift's? Clearly she didn't end up a famous pop star like Swift did. Why is that? She had sex. Before she was married. And then they broke up.

It's true: "Abigail gave everything she had to a boy, who changed his mind, and we both cried."

All Abigail had was her virginity.  And she gave that away before she was married, so she was destined to lose her boyfriend because of it.

Didn't you know? Relationships where a couple are having pre-marital sex never work out. They certainly never work out for reasons completely unrelated to and other than the fact that the couple is having sex.  Just don't have sex, and your relationship is set to last.  And you, too, can write songs about your sexually active friends who never become pop stars while you continue on your way to virginal success. 

And trust me, "Fifteen" is hardly the worst of Taylor's slut shaming songs that perpetuate society's virgin/whore dichotomy (exclusive to women, by the way. No one ever cares that the boys Taylor wants but can't have because they are too busy being seduced by these harlots must, then, also be having sex...odd). No, I give that award to her song "Better Than Revenge."

Let me tell you something - good luck finding Taylor in any color dress but white. It doesn't matter if it's award shows or her music videos. White. Because she is perfect and pure and virginal. Just like in Better Than Revenge's music video, which I can sum up for you: Taylor shows up to a party looking awestruck and doe-eyed in a white dress, where her innocence and purity makes the boy realize that she is actually what he deserves, and he leaves his date (girlfriend) who is wearing a red, more revealing dress for Swift and her virginal beauty.

This is literally the virgin/whore dichotomy. Images, colors and everything. There is nowhere for women to fall but on one side of this spectrum. 

Don't forget the wonderful lyrics to this song either, you don't even need the music video:

The story starts when it was hot and it was summer and...
I had it all, I had him right where I wanted him
She came along, got him alone and let's hear the applause
She took him faster than you could say "sabotage"

Oh, yeah. This guy was completely powerless to say no to this girl's sexual prowess. No fault lies with him. And sex is sabotage.

I never saw it coming, wouldn't have suspected it
I underestimated just who I was dealing with
She had to know the pain was beating on me like a drum
She underestimated just who she was stealing from

Read: Boyfriends are possession. Girls own them, and other girls can steal them. Boys are completely powerless, have no autonomy, and can't turn down sex, ever.

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

That's right. Women who are sexually active are always deceitful. You can't be good in bed and have othe redeeming qualities, either.

Soon she's gonna find
Stealing other people's toys
On the playground won't
Make you many friends
She should keep in mind
She should keep in mind
There is nothing I do better than revenge

Boys are toys. Need I say more?


Here's the thing: these implications are not harmless.

Swift is perpetuating the idea that choice of dress and sexuality are intertwined, and that sexuality is something to be shamed.  The consequence of slut shaming is that this conception contributes and encourages rape culture, by supporting a rapist over a victim on the defense that the victim was "asking for it." The very idea of "asking for it" comes from clothing.  If a victim was wearing clothes considered to be revealing, then it is often claimed that she was purposefully drawing attention to herself and did not have the right to turn away sexual advances. Also prevelant in Swift's lyrics is the idea that men, when given the chance to have sex, literally cannot turn it down.  Though in her songs, Swift blames other girls for ruining her perfect relationship, in society this equates to men not being able to turn down sex even when the victim cannot give consent, thus leading to assault.

I'd also like to let Taylor Swift know that not all girls like boys, and not all boys like girls. Guess you can't relate to everyone, Taylor.

I'll take Nicki Minaj lyrics any day: "But fuck who you want, and fuck who you like" - as long as you get consent first. And don't let anyone make you feel bad about it either.

Feminism & Taylor Swift

The beginning of breaking down why I and many other people can't stand stand Taylor Swift. Specifically for this post, "You Belong With Me"...and this is only the beginning.


Swift’s song illustrates the concept discussed in class of the sexual double standard
surrounding men and women. Her comparison between herself and the object of affection of her desired boy is consistently made by slut shaming, the degradation of a woman based on her
actual or perceived sexual activity. Essentially, Swift advocates the fact through her lyrics that a women’s sexuality makes her less credible. This idea has no male counterpart; in fact society often praises men for their sexual histories, associating it with the desired masculinity. The consequence of slut shaming is that this perception contributes and encourages rape culture, by supporting a rapist over a victim on the defense that the victim was “asking for it.” This idea of
“asking for it” often comes from clothing. If a victim was wearing clothes considered to be revealing, then it is often claimed that she was purposefully drawing attention to herself and did
not have the right to turn away sexual advances. Clothing is an important part of Swift’s lyrics in this song, as she implies that the differences in dress between her and this other girl justify her credibility as a more desirable, authentic partner.

Swift is propagated to be an example of an average girl held as a role model for young girls. This song portrays her as a jealous friend who directs her anger at another girl because she is dating the boy Swift wants, and in doing so she encourages young girls to do the
same. By idealizing a certain type of clothing and behavior, Swift is perpetuating the idea that a women’s choice of dress and her sexuality are intertwined, and that sexuality is something to be
shamed. These ideas are dangerous in that they perpetuate rape culture and encourage of double standard of what is considered acceptable behavior for men and women.

SHU Women's Bowling: Shamelessly Promoting Myself

For those of you who don't know, Sacred Heart women's bowling won the Northeast Conference championship this weekend! I had a great weekend and was named SHU athlete of the week. Here's some information about it, including me looking like a goof on camera.

Northeast Conference News: Women's Bowling Champions

SHU Athlete of the Week

Comments on my PI essay?

So I'm pretty sure we were supposed to make a post so people could review our PI essays?...If so, that's what this is for hahaha.

Health Insurance Isn't Sexist?

A follow-up to our brief contraception discussion in class.

Source: someecards.com

Trayvon Martin's Murder: Where are the activists now?

I mean, it was only two weeks ago when almost every white person I knew was tweeting about stopping a brutal African warlord from killing more innocent children. And they even took thirty minutes out of their busy schedules to watch a movie about dude. They bought t-shirts. Some bracelets. Even tweeted at Rihanna to take a stance. But, a 17 year old American kid is followed and then ultimately killed by a neighborhood vigilante who happens to be carrying a semi-automatic weapon and my white friends are quiet. Eerily quiet. Not even a trending topic for the young man.


—- Michael Skolnik.

Kony 2012: Research Your Cause

As I'm sure everyone knows, last week the Invisible Children Project put out a video then went viral within a matter of hours. Millions of individuls watched the half-hour documentary to "raise awareness" about Joseph Kony and children soldiers in Uganda. Many were moved enough to donate to the cause and were very vocal in their support. Unfortunately, it can be easy to be swept up in media frenzies: how much of this actually benefits the so-called cause?

I want to focus on the Kony 2012 campaign as well as Invisible Children as a whole, but from a more critical perspective. To be sure, social justice is a worthy cause and I am glad that more people are beginning to look into what life is like in other parts of the world. However, I am frankly disgusted by IC's portrayal of Africans as essentially helpless children in desperate need of a more civilized white Western culture to save them from themselves.

Think of this: is Kony 2012 really impacting Uganda...or is it really just impacting America? Specifically, wealthy white youth looking to feel good about themselves? The media frenzy, and its response, has been completely Westernized. Where are the African voices who are actually there? Kony 2012 is nothing more than a tactic for America to increase their military presence and control over Africa: the video makes it clear that military action is the clear way to solve the Kony conflict. What I (after a lot of research on my own, and many share my opinion) think is that the conflicts in places like Uganda are so incredibly complex, that Kony 2012 and its ramifications are dangerous oversimplifications. That is what I want to focus on for our project for the next half of the semester.

If you are interested in researching this issues further - which I highly suggest you do before supporting any cause - there is so much information out there from perspectives besides that of Invisible Children's. Many of these sources are from people who either live or have worked extensively in Uganda and have experienced daily life there. I highly suggest the following:

Dangerous Ignorance: The Hysteria of Kony 2012
Kony 2012: My response to the Invisible Children Campaign
Kony 2012 and Invisible Children are Funded by Antigay Creationist Groups
The Daily What: More on Kony 2012
We Are Not Invisible: 5 African Women Respond to the Kony 2012 Campaign

Finally, I think this quote (taken from the video in my second link) puts a lot of things about this situation in perspective that we as Westerners need to keep in mind when choosing to support a cause:

“How you tell the stories of Africans is much more important that what the story is; because if you are showing me as voiceless, as hopeless [then] you have no space telling my story. You shouldn’t be telling my story if you don’t believe that I also have the power to change what is going on.” -Rosebell Kagumire