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Harry Styles’ Ex Taylor Swift: Slut-Shamed?

By Sandra Hajda
Published on: 01:20 PST, May 5, 2016

Taylor Swift is well-known for her high-profile relationships with men like Harry Styles, Connor Kennedy, John Mayer, and Jake Gyllenhaal, and for her willingness to dish about her romances in songs. In an April interview with Vogue magazine, Swift complained that she is sick of the “incredibly sexist Men of Taylor Swift slideshows” that are often included in articles about her music and style.

Taylor enjoyed a huge profile-boost when she dated Harry Styles, in particular, due to the fact that hostile and/or obsessed Directioners began following her every move.

Taylor is not happy, though. In a new Vogue video, Harry’s ex complains that she feels she has been “a lightning rod for slut-shaming.”

Taylor takes us on a tour of her home and garden, talking about her personal style.

Swift reveals that she felt singled out for criticism as a result of her many dates, flings, and paramours. Taylor, who is now in a long-term relationship after a string of love disappointments, claims that she “did not realize” that her revealing songs would attract so much negative attention and turn her into a slut-shaming victim.

Not just a victim, a lightning rod. By using that term, Taylor implies that she became the solitary target for the focused rage of our entire society. She also implies she was targeted more than other famous women are.

But was Taylor Swift really singled out?

Compared to other famous female serial daters, Taylor actually got off very lightly in the slut-shaming department. Compare Swift to Rita Ora, who has been unable to get a singing career past the early stages, in part because people feel like the “date-a-holic” gives off “a bad energy,” according to the Sun.

Not only that, the extra exposure Taylor Swift has received, in a media hungry for headlines about romances, breakups, and sex lives, has been a huge boost for the talented Swift’s career.

Taylor Swift is talented, but many women just as gifted as her labor in obscurity because there are no headlines linking them to the likes of flaky John Mayer or jerky Jake Gyllenhaal.

The bottom line: If your song lyrics generate automatic intrigue and inspire careful close-readings because people think they might be about John or Harry Styles, consider yourself blessed.

Vice actually ran an article claiming that Taylor herself slut-shames other women “constantly”!

“My problem with Taylor Swift is her lyrics. It’s not that she only writes about boys and love (even though I find this problematic and totally unprogressive).

“It’s that Taylor Swift slut-shames other women constantly and no one says anything about it.”

Swift has now won a Grammy and has always been celebrated for her songwriting talent even at the height of her serial dating and the alleged “slut-shaming.”

The tone of the “Men of Taylor Swift” pictorials, such as this one by Access Hollywood, was always generally very respectful. The worst you could say is that the tone was fluffy and flippant, with the female journalist often pausing to gush over an outfit Taylor was wearing, how good her hair looked, and how handsome her men are. Her song lyrics were quoted and album and track titles referenced, alongside “ooh”s and “ahh!”s by besotted woman writers who had always wondered what Joe Jonas or Harry Styles might be like in private.

However, lines from Swift’s songbook were scattered about within the pictorials, showcasing her talent and ability to turn a great phrase, as well as her wonderful hair and handsome men.

The s-word was never used. When exactly, one wonders, was Taylor Swift a lightning rod for slut-shaming?

[Photo by Duane Prokop/Getty Images]

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