SHU Forum Explores Media’s Construction of Taylor Swift

Powerhouse singer-songwriter continuously rewrites media’s gender narratives

Media messages bombard the public constantly. From listening to the news, to scrolling through social platforms and following podcasts, people are exposed to media messages almost nonstop. Many times, these messages involve femininity and its place in popular culture, and Taylor Swift has often been at the forefront of these conversations.

A recent Sacred Heart University presentation, “Reputation: Taylor Swift, Gender and the Media,” explored how gender has played a pivotal role in the media’s construction of Swift and how social expectations for young women have shaped her reputation and public persona. Hosted by Lori Bindig Yousman, a communication and media studies professor, the program was part of The Human Journey Colloquia Series.

Early in Swift’s career, the media presented the singer as the “girl next door.” Journalists portrayed her as authentic, sweet and relatable. Swift was one of the first country music artists to connect with her fans through social media and at performances she would throw bracelets and let them touch her, emphasizing her accessibility and connection to fans.

Bindig Yousman used Swift’s 2008 song, “You Belong with Me,” as an example of how the artist initially embraced the “girl next door” image.  In the music video, Swift plays the overlooked band geek pining for her neighbor, the star of the football team. At the end she gets her fairytale ending when he chooses her over the more glamorous cheerleader. The song, and many of her others, carries the message that a girl’s “happily ever after” starts when a boy falls in love with her.

Swift’s real life, however, was different from the fairytale theme in many of her songs. Bindig Yousman shared several examples of media coverage focusing on Swift’s love life—scrutinizing her in ways that male celebrities are not subjected to. “She was not waiting for ‘the one.’ She was testing the waters and not settling down. This put a crack in the ‘girl next door’ narrative,” said Bindig Yousman.

As the media began to find fault with her actions, Swift was portrayed as a calculating mastermind. “This framing is grounded in age-old gender stereotypes that men are smart, rational and have ideas while women are emotional. And so, if women do have ideas or if they do exert agency or behave in ways that defy traditional notions of femininity, they are villainized,” Bindig Yousman explained.

After stepping away from the spotlight, Swift released her 2017 album, Reputation. The album was not only a response to her feud with singer-songwriter Kanye West, but also an attempt to reclaim her narrative from the media. The lyrics in the song “Look What You Made Me Do”— “…the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now. Why? Oh! ’Cause she’s dead,”—indicate the album marked a turning point for her.

Another turning point was in 2018 when she endorsed two Tennessee democrats for U.S. House and Senate seats. Years prior, Swift had said, “I’m a 22-year-old singer, I don’t know if people really want to hear my political views and I kinda just think they want to hear me sing songs about breakups and feelings.” While some media outlets and political figures criticized her for sharing her political opinions, Swift’s actions sparked a wave of new voter registrations.

Although her 2019 album, Lover, seemingly returned to the “girl next door” narrative with lyrics about love and heartbreak, she did not confine herself to the gender narratives that the media dictated. “I want to love glitter and also stand up for the double standards that exist in our society. I want to wear pink and tell you how I feel about politics,” she said.

Bindig Yousman noted that in Swift’s 2023 album, Midnights, “the singer continues to confront gender stereotypes that permeate popular culture and challenge the antiquated notions of femininity associated with her past reputation.”

Bindig Yousman concluded the presentation by sharing Swift’s power moves that would be more widely acknowledged in the media if she were a man. To name a few, she changed the payment policies for artists on Apple Music, brought awareness to sexual assault, re-recorded her music to have autonomy over her voice, fueled economies throughout the country last year through her record-breaking Eras Tour and caused a second surge in voter registration in 2023.

Swift continuously has taken it upon herself to rewrite gender narratives in the media. Despite having a “You Belong with Me” fairytale romance with Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce, she has demonstrated that she has not and will not tailor to the gender narratives that the media expects.