In Defense of the Bubble Gum Girl

A month or so ago, my brother shared this article by Camille Paglia with me: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/taylor-swift-katy-perry-hollywood-398095.

Let me throw this out there first.  This may surprise you because of my conservative and libertarian leanings, but I love reading Camille Paglia's political writings.  When she took a leave from Salon Magazine to work on her new book, I was sad not to have her monthly ruminations to read.  She has a refreshingly honest, albeit liberal, take on politics.  She can admit when her team is screwing the pooch.  She is an advocate of "picking your battles" politically and occasionally I find myself scratching my head along with her watching the political theater go down.  Most importantly, even if I don't agree with her, Camille appears to have a consistent argument and set of values she is advocating.  That I can appreciate.  So to read her critical, confusing, hyper feminist take on Taylor Swift (who I love) and Katy Perry, followed by her defense of Rihanna was mind boggling.

A friend just shared this Tina Fey quote from Bossypants on facebook: “It is an impressively arrogant move to conclude that just because you don’t like something, it is empirically not good. I don’t like Chinese food, but I don’t write articles trying to prove it doesn’t exist."  I haven't read Bossypants and I don't know what context Tina was sharing this in, but it seems fair to apply it here.  So Camille doesn't like Taylor Swift and Katy Perry's bubblegum girl image, but why exactly did she feel the need to convert other people to her side and write a lengthy article on it?

Because they don't fit her feminist movement image of what she fought for.

And that's where I get angry.  Because Camille isn't the only one and this isn't just about Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.  Wasn't the feminist movement about the freedom and choice?  The freedom and choice to break the glass ceiling, to excel in academia, to work that 9-5 job and raise a family OR the freedom to stay home, be a bubblegum girl, enjoy baking and sewing, shopping and other girly things.  How about both.  Or neither.  It seems to me lately that all the women who held the torch and fought for my right to wear pants, work, stay single or raise family, etc want to come back now and tell me and my peers what we should be doing and how we should be exercising the rights they fought for.

I'm an unabashed fan of Taylor Swift.  Her music isn't a "guilty pleasure" for me.  I openly embrace and enjoy her music.  I don't expect everyone to, but I can't tell you how many times I hear something along the lines of, "She's too nice.  It's just an act."  Well YEAH.  Britney Spears being a virgin was "just an act."  So was her subsequent turn to slutty, which was "just an act."  Ok, let's get real here, Britney wasn't acting slutty, she was in fact tragically crazy and slutty.  Camille's beloved Rihanna's S&M shtick is "just an act."  Katy Perry's bubblegum world is "just an act."  Ke$ha is "just an act."  They're all just acts.  These women all stand on a stage under a spotlight, after all.  What did you think they were showcasing, a regular day in the life of an American girl?  Puh-lease.

The truth is all these men and women who spend time judging Taylor Swift for being an act are really irritated that being nice and wholesome is selling.  Camille says it herself, "There’s Taylor Swift, America’s latest sweetheart, beaming beatifically in all her winsome 1950s glory from the cover of Parade magazine in the Thanksgiving weekend newspapers. In TV interviews, Swift affects a “golly, gee whiz” persona of cultivated blandness and self-deprecation, which is completely at odds with her shrewd glam dress sense. Indeed, without her mannequin posturing at industry events, it’s doubtful that Swift could have attained her high profile."  Even worse, I think Camille and those who share her disdain for Taylor are upset that she really might be that modern-day version of the wholesome 1950s girl her generation learned to hate so well.  Weren't the feminists fighting for Taylor and Katy as well as Rihanna?  Why is "acting" slutty or trashy or sexual inherently better than "acting" bubblegum?  That's my question.  Why is Taylor Swift and her music something to be looked down on while Rihanna and her music is elevated?  Did we all forget that Rihanna is such an empowered woman that she allowed a man to beat the shit out of her and THEN GO BACK TO HIM?!  So who's really acting and who's really the empowered woman here?


Basically, to quote Tina Fey again, this time from Mean Girls, "You all have got to stop calling each other sluts and whores.  It just makes it OK for guys to call you sluts and whores."  Can I add an addendum to that?  We've got to stop tearing down the bubble gum girl and turning wholesome into a 4 letter word.