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Original poster

Taylor Swift positioned as Time Person of the Year?

111 replies

Squirrler · 06/12/2017 17:49

Moral courage can be found everywhere. There are stories everyday - large and small - of vulnerable people risking their jobs, their reputations, even their lives, to take a stand against abuses of power. If, to reflect the zeitgeist, Time wants to make it about women standing up to sexual abuse, who would argue against that.

But Taylor Swift? One of the most powerful people in modern music, with a personal fortune of millions... that's a choice for the front cover? What did she risk? What was on the line? A man grabbed her bottom and she won a dollar in court. And this is supposed to be inspiration for women to put their own jobs and reputations on the line?

Do me a favour.

I am not questioning the validity of Taylor’s experience or her story. What I have a problem with is what Taylor is being positioned as the face of a movement by being placed on this cover, because she won a lawsuit. She lost nothing when others have lost everything when they break silence, but don’t get visibility. Just look at Ke$ha, whose abuser was her record label boss. She took him to court and lost everything, including her career. She broke silence when there was zero room for it and got shamed into hiding. He even put a gag order on her. Why is she not on the cover?

Why is Tarana Burke not on this cover, when she’s been doing this work for 10 years? Yes, she is on the inside and gets to tell her story but she deserves to be on this cover, because if there is a face for the movement, hers is it.

What about, say, Terry Crews, who is a man who decided to break silence and that shit was major. In this culture of toxic masculinity, men speaking up about their victimhood is revolutionary.

www.awesomelyluvvie.com/2017/12/time-person-of-year-taylor-swift.html

OP posts:
Original poster
Squirrler · 08/12/2017 15:30

OP. Do you agree that Taylor Swift’s assault case gained a large amount of publicity and contributed to public discussion about the constant levels of sexual harassment/assault that almost all women are subject to but mostly expected to put up with?

Yes, I do agree.

And why did it gain that huge publicity: because of what it was she was doing, or because of who it was doing it?

Answer that and you get my point. She's on the cover because she's TS.

You can say she's representing the battle, but I'm disagreeing.

Speaking out is inherently about rocking your own boat: it's about your employer, your friend's husband, a member of your own family. Whilst it's someone else that was abusive, in that moment before you speak, all is calm. It's not your fault, but it feels like the decision to bring chaos and recrimination to your world is yours to make. And it is, in a way. So much easier to be silent. That's why they get away with it, isn't it? And that's why women feel guilt when they do speak. That's why it takes strength and moral courage. That's why I'm talking about risk, and that's the dynamic as I see it - and no, TS is not representative of that dynamic.

OP posts:
Nyx1 · 08/12/2017 09:49

OP "she is one of the most powerful people in the world "

and some guy still thought he'd put his hand her on ass and get away with it.

NSEA · 08/12/2017 08:43

Are you suggesting that someone’s experience of sexual assault is somehow lessened because they’re very wealthy?

QuentinSummers · 08/12/2017 08:01

You think Rosa Parks' risk was comparable with TS's? Are you for real?

I don't think the risks were comparable. I think that both acts could be described as "simple things" if one wanted to be particularly dickish and minimise women's contributions Hmm

SleepingInYourFlowerbed · 08/12/2017 07:37

The point of the Time article is that sexual harassment affects every woman, from movie and pop stars to women working in fields or cleaning hotels. It literally states that. So as far as I'm concerned, it makes perfect sense to have the most famous woman who has been affected and spoken out about it on the cover.

EvilRingahBitch · 08/12/2017 07:10

OP. Do you agree that Taylor Swift’s assault case gained a large amount of publicity and contributed to public discussion about the constant levels of sexual harassment/assault that almost all women are subject to but mostly expected to put up with?

If so then she should be on the cover regardless of whether you personally think she’s too rich, white or pretty to be admirable. It’s not a reward for good behaviour. Trump was probably runner up.

InvisibleKittenAttack · 08/12/2017 06:54

I haven't seen anything that suggests the narrative is that Taylor swift is a weak and vulnerable woman, quite the opposite. She's presented as tough and resilient by her fans.

Are you thinking of the little girl image she had when she first broken into the business? She was very young then and probably was quite vulnerable, but all her more recent media image has been about strength and independence.

Your problem seems to be that you think she's not enough of a victim to merit her place. But she was a victim of a sexual assault, and then the creep tried to get money out of her. I wonder just how shocked his team were when she didn't just quietly settle to avoid bad publicity. (If she'd lost her case, the publicity would have been terrible.) woman in her position are supposed to accept low level abuse.

Datun · 08/12/2017 06:42

Are there other women more deserving of celebration and acknowledgement? Of course.

Taylor Swift an icon. What she says and does is influential. Putting her on the cover of Time is nailing home the point she was trying to make. Again.

It’s keeping what she did in the limelight.

In terms of raising awareness, the fact that she already has influence and fame is key.

I also don’t see her in isolation, as a person whose circumstances count against her. I see her as representative of women. And it gives me a sense of solidarity. Not separation.

Taylor Swift, with all her fame, money and influence is subjected to exactly the same sexual harassment as anyone else.

It shows that male sexual harassment is across-the-board. Nothing protects you.

MrsTerryPratchett · 08/12/2017 05:31

I just read an article about the cover. There's an elbow featured because one woman said she couldn't be seen or she'd lose her job. It supposedly represents the women who can't stand up publicly. So that is being acknowledged.

Is your major issue that she is painting herself as powerless although she is powerful? Or that she is rich and white so doesn't represent most women? Or that other women risked more so deserve more credit?

I see her as one of many. Literally in the case of the cover. They are a group representing many women.

Original poster
Squirrler · 08/12/2017 02:17

Incidentally, I do wonder if Rose MacGowan not being on the Silence Breakers cover was anything to do with her reportedly taking $100k and signing a non-disclosure agreement.

OP posts:
Original poster
Squirrler · 08/12/2017 02:12

Rosa Parks is hailed in the civil rights movement for the "simple" act of sitting on a particular bus seat. Yet what Taylor did is insignificant.

You think Rosa Parks' risk was comparable with TS's? Are you for real?

This is exactly my point: TS is not Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks was arrested, lost her job, was subject to death threats in an age where they literally lynched blacks. TS went home to her mansion. That is not me having an issue with successful women. That's not me having a pop. That's a plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face observation.

TS is being painted as a historically significant heroine. The narrative is that she's a weak vulnerable woman standing up to the greater power of a misogynist patriarchy. Yeah, sure. To some extent, that is true. But it excludes two rather obvious basic facts: she is one of the most powerful people in the world and she risked very little to do what she did. (See, not backtracking: It's. The. Same. Point.)

Evilringabitch - you've almost got it: it received huge attention because of who she is Exactly! It was significant because she was a powerful person doing it. Her voice was heard because of who she is. Voices have been raised before and since and not heard. And she's on Time cover for doing the same damn thing from a position of guaranteed safety.

OP posts:
Nyx1 · 07/12/2017 23:28

There was also a question in court like "do you blame your bodyguard" and she had to keep saying "no, I blame the guy who put his hand on my ass". I'm genuinely amazed it's still okay to ask some of the questions that are asked in court, whole system needs overhauling but that's another one for another day.

LivingInTheSeventies · 07/12/2017 22:55

I’m possibly wrong (can’t say I’ve done any research) but she also stood up to Kanye West and Kim.
His lyrics said they might have sex and I made that bitch famous.

She was angry at the lyrics so they released a very heavily edited recording (cut out all his ramble) and tried to shame her that she knew about the sex line.

She explained her issue was with being called a bitch and having him claim ownership of her success.

KERALA1 · 07/12/2017 22:54

Some of her early stuff is pretty good. Not many mainstream female singers writing about the reality of young girls. Listen to "Best Day" a song she wrote for her mother:

I'm thirteen now
And don't know how my friends could be so mean
I come home crying and you hold me tight and grab your keys

And we drive and drive
Until we find a town far enough away
And we talk and window shop
Until I've forgotten all their names

I don't know who I'm going to talk to now in school
But I know I'm laughing on the car ride home with you

BLUB!

Datun · 07/12/2017 22:50

Plus Taylor gets it. There was an attempt to place some kind of culpability on her, during the case, I seem to remember. A hint of victim blaming.

She didn’t think twice, she wasn’t having any of it. She absolutely gets it.

EvilRingahBitch · 07/12/2017 22:45

I rather like TS, but quite apart from that the OP is missing the point about Person Of The Year. It’s not an award for the bestest person, it’s a declaration of the person who changed the world the most for good or ill in that year. Stalin and Hitler leap to mind.

So yes, Taylor’s bloodyminded countersuit against that nasty little sleazebag didn’t necessarily take superhuman courage, because she was insulated by extraordinary wealth and fame at that point. But it received huge attention because of who she is, and as a P.P. has said, the fact that it was the first big case of the year where a woman called out a sleazebag in detail, in public, with evidence, and didn’t let anyone minimise it, meant she took a key role in this year’s international conversation about endemic sexual harassment and assault.

LipstickHandbagCoffee · 07/12/2017 22:35

Taylor initiated and resolved the sexual assault case before #metoo and Weinstein
Taylor not jumped any bandwagon or been self serving.she spoke up before Weinstein broke
It suggests you expect appropriate feminist role models to be a certain type
Not Ms Swift judging by your post.
Doesn’t that say a lot about you,that you don’t regard Taylor as worthy of recognition

SonicBoomBoom · 07/12/2017 22:27

Some people really don't like a successful woman, do they OP.

LipstickHandbagCoffee · 07/12/2017 22:22

I love Taylor Swift,hardworking,has been writing performing own material since teens
She’s a prime example of how sexually active strong women are misrepresented in media
She successfully sued the man who assaulted her.that took courage

Love TS

SenecaFalls · 07/12/2017 22:16

Time Magazine is not exactly targeted to the demographic that eagerly consumes information about Taylor Swift. So, no, it wasn't done to sell magazines.

Tinycitrus · 07/12/2017 22:08

Taylor swift sells magazines.

That’s all it’s about.

KERALA1 · 07/12/2017 22:07

She's fab. My pre teen girls adore her. She stood up for herself against a pervert. She also took a stand against streaming services paying artists properly. Of all the people in the world to resent Hmm. Odd op.

Gacapa · 07/12/2017 20:50

Well it is what it is. I'm wondering why the risk factor is the focus for you here, OP?

Would you rather she apologised for her wealth and success and use it as an excuse to not be arsed to take the guy on?

Any woman, regardless of circumstance, should be applauded for standing up to male sexual misconduct.

Or can wealthy and successful women never be worthy of such recognition?

SenecaFalls · 07/12/2017 19:15

Taylor acknowledged after the trial that her relative privilege did make it easier for her to fight back. She is a survivor and an ally. I say well done and more power to you, Taylor.

QuentinSummers · 07/12/2017 18:46

it's demeaning to the women that actually put everything on the line to face up against far greater powers.

Rosa Parks is hailed in the civil rights movement for the "simple" act of sitting on a particular bus seat.
Yet what Taylor did is insignificant. Hmm

The patriarchy is the greatest threat to women and Taylor stuck one to it by not letting that twerp get away with his behaviour. She stood up in court and said her piece clearly and persuasively. She did this purely for the greater Good, not for herself.

op you are being a knob about this