Taylor Swift positioned as Time Person of the Year?

[Squirrler]

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

I can't, for the life of me, think what I said that broke talk guidelines. Perhaps I should have invented some smug little clique-approved acronym for whatever it was.

This is not a criticism of TS. It's a criticism of a narrative that suggests that she's weak and vulnerable and 'isn't she a brave little soul'. It's demeaning to her, and it's demeaning to the women that actually put everything on the line to face up against far greater powers.

"It's a criticism of a narrative that suggests that she's weak and vulnerable and 'isn't she a brave little soul"

nope, can't see that either. She's interview in TIME, it's her own words.

do you feel the narrative is "weak and vulnerable" on the other people?
I think we need to be careful of a "weak and vulnerable" narrative but also recognise how much power bosses have - in all industries - and how acceptable certain behaviour is and how to smash it down.

anyway, you do look like you are backtracking a bit now, or you didn't phrase your OP well at all.

and that article linked to - what do I have in common with any famous rich woman in the article? We're women and have been subject to harassment, that's what. Not sure why the author singles out TS in particular as "have nothing in common with her".

Taylor showed all the young girls who admire her that they shouldn't stand for it. Her words in court were incredibly powerful. She also helped fund Kesha's case.

This is not a criticism of TS. It's a criticism of a narrative that suggests that she's weak and vulnerable and 'isn't she a brave little soul'.

That's not at all what you said in your OP. You're backtracking now on your attempt to have a pop at 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?

This seems like a pop

Sorry x post with buttery

I don't think anyone is suggesting she's weak and feeble are they?

I like Taylor. She gets a heck of a lot of criticism for every single thing she does. Even when she is chosen as part of a group to be Time Person of the Year...

I don’t get if you have a problem with Taylor Swift being recognised as part of a group of people who took a stand for sexual abuse, when she was after all sexually abused, then why don’t you have an issue with Rose McGowan? Yes she too has taken a stand and is making her voice heard after the awful shit she’s been through (not just the abuse/rape itself), but she also worked with Victor Salva back in 2011, this was after he had been convicted and imprisoned for molesting a 12 year old boy.

I’m not taking away from Rose McGowan at all, and she deserves to have her voice heard finally, and to be taken seriously at last, but I’m saying that your argument with T.Swift seems to be that she doesn’t stand for enough of the things you believe in and instead only for what matters to her personally, well to be honest that’s exactly what Rose has done but with a fucking pedophile

There's another point in this that I think the OP has missed - when Taylor Swift decided to counter sue that fucking twat, it was several months before the allegations about Weinstein hit. Taking the position to counter sue was at a time when there's a Preisdent who said it's ok to "grab em by the pussy", when the tide had yet to turn and the MeToo hashtag hadn't happened.

She wasn't jumping on a bandwagon, she was one of the people who took a stand that lead to a feeling it was time to start calling out men for their abuse, rather than brushing it under the carpet and expecting woman in the public eye to just shrug and accept it as part of the 'cost' of their success.

So she's earned her place being called one of "The Silence Breakers", because she actually was one of the woman first coming forward this year to talk publically about being assaulted by men in the entertainment business.

Just because I didn't go wrong for her, doesn't mean she wasn't one of the people who's stance lead to others feeling they could also talk about what happened to them. Nor does it mean she didn't take a risk by talking.

That court case and it's timing was important if you look at how attitudes towards sexual abuse changed this year. That shouldn't be minimised, even if you think her music is a bit shit and/or are a KUWTK fan...

Invisible - excellent point re timing.

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.

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

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.

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?

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 . Odd op.

Taylor swift sells magazines.

That’s all it’s about.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.