T Swift vs. The World

I want to comment on something I just read today. It was a Mary Sue article -

Taylor Swift Is a Silence Breaker…When It Comes to Sexual Assault by Princess Weekes | 12:00 pm, Dec 11th 2017

  - about Taylor Swift and how she's a silence breaker on sexual assault and not much else.

So apparently there's some neo Nazi thing going on and quite a lot of them are fans of Taylor?
I mean, I knew something of neo Nazi's but I guess I didn't figure them for Swifties?
Wait, is that racist? Hmm.

Anyway, not being American, this is the first I've heard of it but in this article about how awesome and empowering she was there's a little nagging voice saying yes, but she should really be defeating Nazi's like Captain America/Wonder Woman if she wanted to be taken seriously.

Which to me is one step away from being a wee bit victim blamey. Like yeah Taylor Swift, great job showing that pervert who's boss but let's face it, you aren't calling these Nazi's out are you? Maybe if you'd thrown your shield/tiara at them you wouldn't have been grabbed inappropriately?

Yes - Nazi's are not a good thing. Can we not let her get past this incident first? Maybe after being sexually assaulted and made fun of by the internet as a whole and bullied/further harassed by Kartrashian-Wests maybe she doesn't want to be the poster child for anything else right this second.

Unlike what the OP above thinks, that Taylor should be crusading against the Nazi's and denouncing Trump and juggling fire sticks while balancing on her head and stopping world hunger - I think she should be given a chance to take a friggin' breath.

Now, as someone who has enjoyed T-Swift’s music, but finds everything else ranging from grating to obnoxious, I think the one thing we should all rally behind her for is her court case. That asshole DJ had the raw-ass audacity to sue Swift for lost wages after the artists told his boss that he grabbed her ass. She countersued for $1 and called out that asshole for putting her and her family through this mess of a trial for his own ego. This dingleberry of a human still hasn’t paid Swift the dollar. Her interview with Time is powerful and important: her rage and aggression is perfect. Regardless of how you feel about her, according to RAINN there was a 35% increase on their crisis hotline during and after Swift’s trial. That is important and that alone is reason alone for her to be included in this article, which is about tributing women who spoke out about sexual assault.

However, that does not mean a discussion shouldn’t be had about her lack of political awareness in other areas.

While I understand how important it is to be vocal about important matters and that celebrity voices often have more weight than your average Joe, Taylor Swift is.. a music personality. She's not a politician or an outright activist - we shouldn't be looking to her alone to solve serious political and racial issues.



The Time interview the article links to even goes on to say how horrible the ordeal was for her, and I feel like articles like this at The Mary Sue and other places are detrimental to the movement that this issue is about because it brings the camera around to focus on one person instead of the whole picture. Then the very same person pointing the camera in her face has the audacity to say she's not worthy of the attention because she's white/straight/hasn't punched a Nazi in the face lately/isn't running for the presidency/isn't the only victim/didn't join a Twitter movement/it's Tuesday.

Shit, should I hand in my Feminism Card? The last time I tweeted anything was about a billion years ago and I don't even know what my password is anymore. And can someone actually blame someone famous for their fans? I mean, she's not singing about white power or anything and she has no control over who likes her and for what reason. Damn, next we'll blame Jodie Foster for inciting murder!

Besides.. why are we holding successful women to higher and different standards than anyone else?

Like the comments saying that she's used the court case to get back in the headlines. No, this jerk off sued HER. She only got justice because she's rich. She had a symbolic victory. She could have sued him into the ground and taken everything but she didn't do that. All the shit she's taken alone for her songs making her into some crazy girlfriend when Bruno Mars and John Mayer for example release similar themed songs and no-one calls them out for it. ('Grenade' is still one of the creepiest songs I know and yet somehow popular.) 

I used to really enjoy reading The Mary Sue but lately they've lost my interest by being either ridiculous or so overly SJW that it's painful which is a shame because they usually have good content about pop culture and general news like calling out the shameful lack of female Golden Globe nominations and a helpful list of awesome female characters that may have flown under the radar.

Now here's some awesome tidbits from the Time's interview with Taylor. Let's bask in the kick assery and take naming names from this tale of ridiculous court tactics against victims and the struggle for justice that followed.

In 2013, the singer-songwriter took a photo with a Colorado radio DJ after an interview. During that photo, Swift says, DJ David Mueller reached under her skirt and grabbed her rear end. Swift privately reported the incident to the station at which Mueller worked, and he was fired. Mueller then sued Swift for defamation; she counter sued for a symbolic $1—and won.

Swift refused to be bullied on the stand. Her straightforward testimony was lauded by many for its fierceness. When asked why the pictures taken during the assault didn’t show the front of her skirt wrinkled as evidence of any wrongdoing, she said simply, “Because my ass is located at the back of my body.” When asked if she felt guilty about Mueller losing his job, she said, “I’m not going to let you or your client make me feel in any way that this is my fault. Here we are years later, and I’m being blamed for the unfortunate events of his life that are the product of his decisions—not mine.”

How did you feel when you testified?

When I testified, I had already been in court all week and had to watch this man’s attorney bully, badger and harass my team including my mother over inane details and ridiculous minutiae, accusing them, and me, of lying. My mom was so upset after her cross-examination, she was physically too ill to come to court the day I was on the stand. I was angry. In that moment, I decided to forego any courtroom formalities and just answer the questions the way it happened. This man hadn’t considered any formalities when he assaulted me, and his lawyer didn’t hold back on my mom—why should I be polite? I’m told it was the most amount of times the word “ass” has ever been said in Colorado Federal Court.

How have people responded to your story?

People have been largely very supportive of my story since the trial began in August, but before that, I spent two years reading headlines referring to it as “The Taylor Swift Butt Grab Case” with internet trolls making a joke about what happened to me. The details were all skewed, as they often are. Most people thought I was suing him. There was an audible gasp in the courtroom when I was named as the defendant. Once it hit the news that I was in Denver dealing with this, there was an outpouring of support on social media and I have never appreciated it more. I spoke to Kesha on the phone and it really helped to talk to someone who had been through the demoralizing court process.

After this experience, what advice would you give to your fans?

I would tell people who find themselves in this situation that there is a great deal of blame placed on the victims in cases of sexual harassment and assault. You could be blamed for the fact that it happened, for reporting it and blamed for how you reacted. You might be made to feel like you’re overreacting, because society has made this stuff seem so casual. My advice is that you not blame yourself and do not accept the blame others will try to place on you. You should not be blamed for waiting 15 minutes or 15 days or 15 years to report sexual assault or harassment, or for the outcome of what happens to a person after he or she makes the choice to sexually harass or assault you.

Is this a watershed moment for the way we think about sexual assault and harassment in culture?

I think that this moment is important for awareness, for how parents are talking to their children, and how victims are processing their trauma, whether it be new or old. The brave women and men who have come forward this year have all moved the needle in terms of letting people know that this abuse of power shouldn’t be tolerated. Going to court to confront this type of behaviour is a lonely and draining experience, even when you win, even when you have the financial ability to defend yourself. Even though awareness is higher than ever about workplace sexual harassment, there are still so many people who feel victimised, afraid and silenced by their abusers and circumstances. When the jury found in my favour, the man who sexually assaulted me was court-ordered to give me a symbolic $1. To this day he has not paid me that dollar, and I think that act of defiance is symbolic in itself.