Taylor Swift is "The Man"

Taylor Swift has released a music video for her song "The Man", lifted from her album Lover. The song conception of which is somewhat anchored in her Netflix documentary Miss Americana. So, two birds, one stone.

The whole concept of what Taylor would be able to get away with if she were a man is one she's mentioned multiple times throughout her career. And with Taylor now being on the other side of her sexual harassment lawsuit and having gone through that mess with Scooter Braun and men at her old record label concerning her masters, the time is now.

Taylor Swift, as a man. The Man.

When I reviewed Taylor's album Lover, I'd mentioned that whilst the message of "The man" is not wrong, that there's a part of me that can't shake that Taylor is overlooking the privilege that she has as a white woman. There are things in fact which work in her favour purely because she is a white woman.

The scene which pays homage to Serena showing anger and frustration on the court wasn't framed as it was in the press simply because she's a woman, but because she was a Black woman.

Taylor's struggles as a woman are one thing, but she's still at an advantage over Black women and women of colour in countries such as the US, who also have to deal with racial and gender bias conflated together.

And if you want to jump to another tier, there are things that Taylor wouldn't get away with if she were anything but a white man.

None of this makes Taylor's take wrong. After all, she can only speak to her experience. But it does throw me back to the moment when Nicki Minaj called out the VMA's for snubbing her "Ancaconda" video, just for Taylor to hit back with  'Maybe one of the men took your spot'. It was tone deaf and a complete miss of the fact that she was in a privileged position because she is a white woman.

Taylor has a habit of making grand statements of one thing, whilst ignoring the nuance that her message needs. She did the same thing with "You Need To Come Down". Taylor's takes on things are often very black and white.

I'm not dragging Taylor for "The man". It's still a good song with a fun video with a really good message behind it. And it's not as bad as the faux pas that was "You Need To Come Down". We're all here in this life learning together. Taylor is speaking to her experience as a white woman and she has had unfair criticisms thrown at her that a male artist wouldn't get.