#did you see her pride wig in yntcd

[it-was-maroon]

I know it won’t happen, but I need a rep prologue that just says “I’m a girl kisser, xoxo Taylor”

[urdreamgirls-dreamgirl]

was she calling the community/fans disgusting and demeaning and inappropriate, or was she calling the media that? because at least I interpreted it as disgusting and demeaning and inappropriate that the new york times wrote a piece speculating about her private life and sexuality after she said a thousand times that she's not gay. speculating about someone's sexuality in the mainstream media like that is gross, because what if she was and didn't want to come out, etc. but I didn't see it as her or her camp calling fans that? did I miss something though?

did you actually read the article or are you just going off of the misinterpretations of the article you’re seeing on social media? because i read the article and that’s NOT what the op ed was doing. the nyt article was analyzing the references she’s made in her artwork to other (gay) artists and doing queer readings of the work that those artists inspired. there was actually nothing at all wrong with the article, unless you view queerness and reading queerness in art as wrong.

t*ylor sw*ft has openly and explicitly referenced: loie fuller; emily dickinson; rebecca; the lakes poets; the lesbian publication, the ladder; queer fashion; stonewall; “hairpin [dropping]” (not once, but twice!). she has repeatedly used the bi flag in visuals, including a bracelet stating the word “PROUD,” her wig in the YNTCD music video—where she makes herself the mayor of gay town—, and most recently has used the lesbian flag in eras tour promotional materials. she has explicitly said the words “gay pride makes me, me” in a movie she made about herself. she tweeted “ME! out now” on lesbian day of visibility.

she has actually never, ever said the words “i’m not gay” OR the words “i’m straight.”

i personally do not believe that t*ylor sw*ft is gay. but you cannot repeatedly use WELL-ESTABLISHED queer references, flags, and inspiration in your visuals and lyrics and then turn around and say that “speculation” or queer readings of that art is disgusting, gross, inappropriate, or invasive. there’s nothing wrong with establishing boundaries with fans. but if that’s what she was trying to do, then she should have said something like “i love and appreciate that you see yourself in my music, but i’m straight.” which, again, she’s never said. it is not disgusting for queer fans to read queerness is mainstream media, regardless of whether the artist or creator themselves identifies as queer or not.

speculation about the way someone presents themselves to the world is not inherently wrong. we do it all the time. my student recently asked me “what’s it like being an openly queer woman in academia?” i’ve never ever said the words “i’m queer” in my classroom because i teach in a red state and i’m not an idiot. but there was nothing wrong with them asking me that, because being queer is abt MUCH MORE than who i choose to fuck and there is nothing inherently bad or disgusting about being gay. “speculating” about other people is literally how we interpret the world around us and how we socialize and find our communities. if i wear a bi flag pin on my coat, i am flagging to other members of MY community that i’m one of them and that i’m safe. it’s only recently that mainstream culture has become aware of the ways the queer community flags to each other and what pride flags and queer fashion actually look like.

no where in that article did the author assert that t*ylor was gay, nor did it speculate on a single private relationship she’s ever had (it didn’t even mention k*rlie or d*anna once and barely even mentioned tr*vis). the article was solely focused on how she publicly presents her artwork and how fans interpret that artwork.

if she doesn’t want to be seen as gay, then she can keep our community, our aesthetics, and our culture out of her artwork.

there’s nothing wrong with being perceived as gay, unless you find it offensive to be gay.

[bybdolan]

i was def on the “shes coming out” boat with yntcd and then after sitting with it i literally just see it as a way to be like “see im an ally!! im a good person” like comparing mean tweets to like homophobia (not saying social media bullying isnt bad) but like tbh it feels like she just threw that in like the first verse and second verse being about like internet culture it makes no sense to add homophobia to it like i want to believe taylor always has the best intentions n doesnt know how to properly execute (not saying she shouldnt be criticized) but yeah :/ whole things feel so performative and an add on (especially with her trying to have it make sense on lover ‘i think love is equality’)

Yea... And like. I see why people would think Taylor was going to come out and there are still things that make me go 👀 (the bi wig... "Gay pride makes me me"...) but since we can't actually know if any plans were scrapped yadda yadda this is just me reacting to what we actually GOT in that era and. Well. It is ironic that YNTCD is perhaps Taylor's straightest song because the whole "comparing my twitter haters to homophobia" thing is bafflingly tone-deaf. I think her intentions were good because Taylor has often shown a genuinely deep understanding of LGBT+ issues in speeches etc., she has been actively championing LGBT+ rights for years, and the reach of the petition probably matters more than people's opinions on twitter, HOWEVER when we look at her rainbow aesthetic all throughout the Lover era when knowing that she had a song about LGBT+ rights to promote.... It's kind of giving "companies during pride month"? If that makes sense? Again, I am not trying to say that she is a bad person for releasing and promoting YNTCD, I know it meant and means a lot to queer people and I think it did what she wanted it to do. But when looking back on her aesthetic during the era and all those rainbow pins and the rainbow clothing whatever I can't shake the feeling that, to some extent, the idea of queer rights as an aesthetic was at play here. I am preeetty sure Taylor has continued her allyship since Lover was released, so I don't want to insinuate that she "used" the cause for her era, I am just saying that I find it icky to make gay rights part of the branding for an album, especially as a presumably straight woman (you could talk to me about "community i am not a part of" for hours and I'd still think that a casual reader would interpret it as her saying she is heterosexual). If Taylor is a closeted gay superstar (which is... Not that impossible of an idea to entertain) and her Coming Out plans were scrapped, I cannot imagine what she felt and feels like. But with the way things worked out, I don't see a gay woman wearing rainbow clothing because she is planning to come out; I see a straight woman wearing rainbow clothing because she has a song to promote. And I don't know how to feel about that.