271. There’s A Problem With Taylor Swift

There’s a problem with Taylor Swift.
The problem is not her music.
The problem is her success.

You see, the way you think about Taylor Swift is the way you think about all professional women.

You may disagree with me, but you’re wrong. I feel pretty confident about that.

How about we start this conversation with a little bit of music history.

Elvis Presley was one of the most popular and best-selling artists of all time.
I know that.
You know that.

Elvis, however, did not write any of his songs.
None of them.

Do you think any less of him because of it?
I didn’t think so.

Oh, and remember, Elton John didn’t write any of his lyrics. He got the words from Bernie Taupin and then just wrote the melodies behind them.

Does that make you think any less of his success?
Yeah, I thought that wouldn’t change anything either.

So riddle me this Batman… when I talk about Taylor Swift’s massive songwriting success, why the heck do so many men try to devalue it by saying something like “It’s easy when you don’t write your own songs.”

First of all, it’s not easy.

Second of all, she does write her songs. Yes, she sometimes collaborates, just like every other major artist this side of Bob Dylan.

And third, she has written more Top 10 hits than Elvis, Sinatra, Whitney and Aretha Franklin combined.

But that’s not even my point. So stop trying to throw me off track.

My point is to point out the way people minimize women’s success.

Why do we think it’s ok for a male to achieve success, regardless of how he got there, but females are trivialized for receiving help in their climb to the top?

That’s a rhetorical question. But, you know what, I’m going to answer it for you anyway.

In a second.

First, let’s talk about the local economy.

The Local Economy And Taylor Swift

DreamForce is one of the largest tech conferences in the world. It is put on by SalesForce and brings in about $90m to the local economy over 4 days. That’s $22m/day.

Impressive, right?!
I thought so too.

The NBA All-Star Game is even bigger. It generates a whopping $33m per day for the local economy.

But wait. We haven’t even talked about the granddaddy of them all: the Super Bowl. This shindig generates about $64 million smackers per day for the host city.

Holy hotcakes!

Then there’s this gal named Taylor Swift, who apparently doesn’t write her own songs so maybe she doesn’t count, but you should tell the local economies that.

During her most recent tour, local economies experienced a $70-93m impact from just one 3-hour show! That’s practically the size of the combined daily take by both the Super Bowl AND the NBA All-Star Game!

Taylor Swift is one of the largest and most influential global corporations in existence. She, alone, is a market mover.

So maybe you can help me understand why men so often refer to her as “just a whiney brat who can’t keep a boyfriend.”

Did these same people devalue Steve Jobs’ success as “just a spoiled hippie nerd who ignored an illegitimate child”? Cause if they did, I missed that stage in his career.

It makes me wonder why people treat Taylor’s success differently.
Oh, maybe it’s because she’s a woman?

[Editor’s Note: rhetorical]

Speaking of women, let’s talk about their bodies. After all, how good can an article about successful women be if it doesn’t comment on their looks?

Let’s Talk About Body-Shaming

I just did a Google search for “Travis Kelce body shaming.” It turns out there are 154,000 websites that are body-shaming him.

That’s a lot. Especially for a guy

So I looked up Lizzo, who I’d imagine gets a lot of body shaming press. I was right… 199,000 results.

Oh, I almost forgot Adele. Adele’s weight became public fodder. That explains why she has a whopping 303,000 results.

Then I looked up “Taylor Swift body shaming.”

There are 2.79 MILLION articles related to her body.
What the…

Here’s what I discovered.

When a woman is highly successful, men find ways to berate them in order to assert their dominance.

Usually, it’s about physical appearance cause, hey, that’s an easy way to make somebody feel like shit about themselves. Might as well just go right for the jugular. Or the thighs, whichever you like.

It’s Not Just About Taylor Swift

Caitlin Clark is the best female college basketball player in history. In fact, she may be the best college basketball player ever – male or female.

She beat Steph Curry’s record for most 3-pointers in a season and she is the all-time top scorer in NCAA basketball history, beating the 54-year-old record set by Pete Maravich.

There are many things you can say to describe Caitlin Clark, all of which have to do with sports. Recently, however, I heard a well-known man describe her differently. His description started like this:

“She is tall, flat-chested, and not a particularly attractive girl.”

Ummm…

Do you think the same guy would describe Larry Bird as “tall, flat-chested, and not a particularly attractive boy”?

Prolly not.

My Beautiful Life With My Beautiful Wife

While I’m on the subject of objectifying women, last week I was listening to an interview with a very famous, well-known author. This fella was talking about how lucky he felt in life.

“I consider myself wildly successful,” he said. “I have a great job, a beautiful wife, a wonderful family…” and he continued on with his list.

I really don’t remember much beyond “a beautiful wife,” because that was the comment that caused me to stop listening. Is a woman’s appearance still considered a barometer of success?

Are we still cavemen?

Mind you, there’s nothing wrong with having a beautiful wife. But would life not be successful if you didn’t land one of those, like landing a prized fish? Is your life still successful if your beautiful wife gets in a bad accident?

I need some answers here so I know when to trade in my wife for a different model.

The Problem With Taylor Swift As A Successful Woman

I’d like to say we have a double standard in this world, but we don’t. It’s just a standard. There is no double.

When it comes to success, most men want men to succeed more than women. They celebrate men’s achievements while they look for ways to justify a woman’s. Or to invalidate it, as the case may be.

It could be done consciously or not. It comes out when they say things like:

• It’s only because of her looks, or…
• She must’ve slept her way to the top, or…
• She couldn’t have done that without a man, husband, co-writer, whatever.

Listen, I really don’t give a shitake mushroom whether or not you like Taylor Swift’s music. Similarly, I also don’t care if you like Kamala Harris’ politics or Oprah Winfrey’s talk show. Their performance is not my point.

What I do care about is that you take a gosh darn moment to think about how you think about Taylor Swift as a successful woman.

Do you respect her or revile her?
Do you admire her success or demean it?

Because if you can’t accept success with Taylor Swift, you won’t be able to accept it with any woman.

And that’s the problem.