Taylor Swift Takes a Stand Against Slut-Shaming in the Music Industry

Taylor Swift opens up about her own experience with slut-shaming in a new radio interview with Zane Lowe.

By Mike Vulpo Oct 30, 2019 8:39 PMTags
Taylor Swift, MTV Video Music Awards, MTV VMAs, Red Carpet Fashion, 2019, WidgetAndrew H. Walker/Shutterstock

It's time to focus more on records and less on relationships.

As Taylor Swift continues to celebrate the success of her record-breaking album Lover, the Grammy winner is opening up about some of the sexism she faced early on in her career.

While chatting with Zane Lowe on Apple Music's Beats 1, Taylor recalled a period where people were "reducing me" because of her relationship status.

"When I was 23 and people were just kind of reducing me to, like, kind of making slideshows of my dating life and putting people in there that I'd sat next to at a party once and deciding that my songwriting was like a trick rather than a skill and a craft," the "ME!" singer explained. "It's a way to take a woman who's doing her job and succeeding at doing her job and making things and in a way, it's figuring out how to completely minimize that skill by taking something that everyone in their darkest, darkest moments loves to do, which is just to slut-shame."

According to Taylor, she sees headlines now about young artists that include messaging like "another breakup." The wording sends the artist into a "real sad place."

"I don't want that to keep happening and I don't think people understand how easy it is to infer that someone who's a female artist or a female in our industry is somehow doing something wrong by wanting love, wanting money, wanting success," Taylor explained. "Women are not allowed to want those things the way that men are allowed to want them."

For the young artists who may experience similar situations when their stardom begins to rise, Taylor has an important message.

"Do not let anything stop you from making art. Just make things," she shared. "Do not get so caught up in this that it stops you from making art or if you need to, make art about this but never stop making things."

During the candid interview, Taylor also admitted that the only things she reads regularly is political news. In fact, the singer reminded fans that there "are actual inflections of how I feel politically" on her latest album.

Here's a hint, according to the singer: Listen to "The Man," "You Need to Calm Down" and "Miss Americana & The Heartbreak" and you'll understand.