Originally Posted by
Dan Druff
There has been some debate on Twitter recently whether Taylor Swift is a good or bad role model for girls and young women.
The points raised in her favor:
- She is a self-made billionaire
- She is authentic, and had a big hand in writing her own songs
- She is known to treat her assistants/staff very well, and is friendly/accessible to fans
- She has a wholesome look, and her songs do not promote promiscuity, drug use, or any destructive behavior
- She will occasionally use her influence to stand up for the little guy, such as when she threatened to pull her music from Apple iTunes unless they treated small artists more fairly
The points against her:
- She is almost 33, childless, never married, and does not seem to be headed to settle down, despite having an insane amount of money already
- Her songs often present a depressing and sometimes hopeless look into romantic relationships
- Despite her wealth and fame, she somewhat projects a perpetual unhappiness and frustration with life
- She has sold out to the Hollywood left and started parroting left wing propaganda, after many years of staying outwardly apolitical
So it's an interesting debate. On one hand, she seems kind, hardworking, immensely successful, wholesome and empathetic -- all great attributes for a role model. However, she also comes with an underlying depression and negativity which isn't healthy to emulate.
I also felt she shouldn't have caved in to the critics demanding she speak up about left wing politics. There's no reason she had to do that, and you can tell she's doing it reluctantly and saying what her friends/colleagues want her to say. Someone so influential and powerful in the industry should have told the political critics to fuck off. I do believe she's probably naturally on the left, but it was clear for a long time that she did not want that to infect her public persona, yet here we are.
But that aside, I think she actually is a good role model -- at least by today's standards, where girls and young women could do a lot worse. I also think her string of failed relationships isn't necessarily a bad thing for people to see. It's better to keep trying relationships and terminating them when they don't work, than to marry quickly and then regret it later.
I do think her critics have a point that she brings somewhat of a depressing presence -- the kind of person who can simply never be happy no matter what good fortunes they find. That's not the best look for a role model, but nobody's perfect, and if that's the biggest knock against her, it's not too bad.
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