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| Angie Wang (excerto) |
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/04/opinion/taylor-swift-queer.html
I read this article and was a little torn. There is a part of Taylor Swift's fans called "Gaylors", who are people who see reasons in Taylor Swift's work, especially because of the lyrics, to say that Taylor Swift can be "Queer" - which can be part of LGBTIQ+ community. I must say that I love these people, they read the lyrics, dissect the songs, they are the greatest detectives, the Sherlock Holmes of Taylor Swift's music - of everything she does! I think they are huge Taylor Swift fans.
Being part of Taylor Swift's "Fandom", or any other artist we love, leads us unintentionally to become obsessed with these artists. I was a big fan of David Bowie and it resonated with me, precisely because, at the time, I felt intrigued by everything that was out of the ordinary and could be part of the LGBTIQ+ community. I love the fact that he was androgynous. It's true that his whole aura led me to imagine that he was not from this world, and I fantasized about the possibility of him being part of this community, not that it was important, but it was like that. With all the suspicions made about his sexuality, he assumed he was bisexual. All this simmering doubts created so many stories, but I loved it and wanted more, even if, in the end, nothing could be true. I loved and adore David Bowie.
Even so, this opinion article, in one of the biggest American newspapers, leaves me a little uncomfortable, perplexed - not because it explains that women can be referenced in some songs, but because it assumes that she is "Queer", and that they are, she and the women in question, in the closet. It's a statement based on her lyrics and from my point of view, there is indeed this ambiguity in some lyrics and songs, but transferring this aspect as a definition of Taylor Swift's hidden sexuality is going too far. This premise is painful for her and implicitly for her friends/women in question. She wrote it in the 1989 prologue (Taylor's Version):
- "You see—in the years preceding this, I had become the target of slut-shaming—the intensity and relentlessness of which would be criticized and called out if it happened today, the jokes about my amount of boyfriends. The trivialization of my songwriting as if it were a predatory act of a boy crazy psychopath, the media co-signing of this narrative. I had to make it stop because it was starting to really hurt.
It became clear to me that for me there was no such thing as casual dating, or even having a male friend who you platonically hang out with. If I was seen with him, it was assumed I was sleeping with him. And so I swore off hanging out with guys, dating, flirting, or anything that could be weaponized against me by a culture that claimed to believe in liberating women but consistently treated me with the harsh moral codes of the Victorian Era.
Being a consummate optimist, I assumed I could fix this if I simply changed my behavior. I swore off dating and decided to focus only on myself, my music, my growth, and my female friendships. If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn’t sensationalize or sexualize that—right? I would learn later on that people could and people would."
The references include the friends she socialized with, and I realize that after a few years, these references can have a negative effect on these people's lives.
Taylor Swift is an artist and can write about made-up characters, characters from a book; can be inspired by other artists, share life from her point of view, from the point of view of a woman in love with a man, from the point of view of a woman in love with a woman, from the point of view of a man in love with a woman, from The point of view of a man in love with a man, or causes that important to her - artistic freedom is hers and hers alone. There is nothing new there, leaving her fans guessing is the best way to fuel interest, fuel her popularity and her success. What I didn't like was the rhetoric regarding her person, if she is "Queer" as is inherent in the article, it doesn't give us, who are, or not, the right to make her "Coming Out". She has always denied it and she is a great ally of the LGBTIQA+ community!
If she likes women, that's her concern. We fans can speculate - it's our right, but writing an article that makes clear the fact that society, us fans, those close to her prevent her from "coming out of the closet", cannot be a topic in an article that defines her. If she doesn't want to say it, if she prefers to hide it, if she wants to say it tomorrow or never, that's up to her. We are all humans and live experiences, some difficult to understand, like loving a person of the same gender, who never?! Confusion of feelings is a situation that can happen to everyone. I recommend reading this story: "Confusion" by Stefan Sweig:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confusion_(novella)
As explained in the article, in "Hits Different" there is a reference to a woman. It's important whether Taylor Swift feels comfortable writing about the womens in her life or not. Let's let this happen more often and to the "Gaylors" that I love, continue with your content - speculating doesn't hurt anyone!
Speculating doesn't hurt anyone, and even if it's important to demonstrate and explain her writting, the result, this article, is too much. What counts and I hope is that she doesn't seem to care and continues with her life. She is a person, apparently, very strong, resilient and very focused on her work.
She is currently in a relationship that apparently brings her happiness and this situation must be respected. Her music may be ambiguous, but at this moment, in relational terms, there seems to be no ambiguity.
