Taylor Swift and Katy Perry both write their own songs, have distinct voices, play guitar, and have become idols for millions of pre-teen and teen girls. And, of course, they’ve both been featured on the cover of that holiest of bibles for the American girl: Seventeen Magazine. But what is the key similarity between Swift and Perry? The inherently anti-feminist beliefs expressed in virtually all their songs.
Taylor Swift is the 19-year-old country crossover sensation, who strums an acoustic guitar encrusted with Swarovski crystals and wears her innocence like a crucifix. “You Belong With Me” is a triumph of girl-on-girl sexism. It’s a pathetic plea to Taylor’s dream boy, begging him to dump his girlfriend for the unpardonable sin of having a life outside pleasing this one dude.
Swift’s newest single “Fifteen” is even worse. Let’s take a look at the music video. It has Swift wandering around in a white dress, barefoot and doe-eyed, reminiscing about high school and her awesome BFF, Abigail. Their one bond seems to be that they both hate other girls who “think they’re so cool” (Really, Taylor, these are the best lyrics you could come up with?!) and that they both have boyfriends. In the video, we find Abigail out on a date. But, oh no, suddenly Boyfriend tries to take things too far! Abigail cannot take this assault on her purity and the relationship must end. Suddenly the CGI-animated raindrops start pouring down and everything looks gloomy. This is a world of purity rings and intact hymens - where only the worst sort of Lothario is less than satisfied with a chaste kiss from his future wife. While it is true that young women are often pressured to go further sexually than initially planned - it is also true that some girls want to go wherever those passionate kisses are leading. And that’s simply not a narrative that gets told here. Instead we receive the ole’ boys GET sex, girls GIVE sex. Taylor gloats, singing about how well things have worked out in her own life. Moral of the story? Girl who gets semi-sexual regrets it, girl who doesn’t get anything sexual ends up happy and accomplished.
Bi-curious pop-rocker Katy Perry presents a different, but equally troubling, role model. She admits to smooching girls for male titillation (“I Kissed A Girl”) and derides a lover for his, supposedly, unmanly ways (“Ur So Gay”). In her hit song “Hot n Cold”, Perry tells a boyfriend: “You PMS like a bitch / I should know,” expressing her contempt for him acting like a typical erratic, unreliable woman instead of the dominant forceful man he's supposed to be. Reading Perry’s interview in Seventeen Magazine was even more crushing. Entitled “Katy Perry: The Crazy Things She's Done For Love”, Perry details how she’ll cling to her phone for hours waiting for a message from the current object of her desire because, “sometimes a text is all you need.” So many girls look to boys to gain a sense of self-worth and validity. Nice way to liberate America's impressionable female adolescent population from the shackles of dependancy and doubt, Katy.
While superficially Swift and Perry come across as strong, autonomous women, they serve to reinforce the traditional idea of women as weak and submissive, and they slyly align themselves with that role. Despite the trappings, the concerns expressed in their lyrics are more Tammy Wynette than Ani DiFranco. Perry and Swift are marketing two distinct caricatures of femininity. Perry is the pin-up girl in leather pumps and a cleavage-bearing bustier, seductively poised for the entertainment of the male, heterosexual masses. Swift is the pious little lamb, obsessively pining over "cute" boys yet touting virginity as her number one virtue. Taylor Swift and Katy Perry aren’t telling us, or selling us, anything new. They're not empowering and they're certainly not original. Their music is as artificial and calculated as any other pop star. Move along, people, just move along.
