From Taylor Swift to Sabrina Carpenter – it is okay to call out another woman’s wrongs, especially when they uphold patriarchy and capitalism. 

Let’s start with the fact that Taylor Swift is a billionaire. There is no such thing as an ethical billionaire. This can never be ‘girlboss’ it can never be ‘empowering’ it can only be exploitative and evil. 

There I said it – I think Taylor Swift is evil. Just as I think Jeff Bezos is evil – the same applies to Taylor Swift. Feminism must be intersectional—not just centred on white, privileged women.

Her fiancee is literally buddies with fascist president Donald Trump – and she has been spotted hanging out with prominent MAGA figures. She has stayed silent on Palestine, silent on Sudan – in fact she has stayed silent about every single political issue which she has not profited off of. 

She’s not your ‘english teacher’ she’s your corrupt and exploitative overlord, whose disproportionately large carbon footprint of over 8,000 metric tons of CO₂ in just seven months, far exceeds the average person. Not to mention she tried to sue the young man who recorded her excessive private jet usage. No one should even own a private jet for heaven’s sake. 

Her white exclusionary feminism only includes her small group of rich white models – and certainly doesn’t extend to the women working in whatever factory her merchandise is produced from. Even her feud with Niki Minaj completely centered around whiteness and ignored broader intersectional struggles.

When rich, white women choose to say ‘you are only attacking me because I’m a woman’ this completely discards important intersectional factors – such as race and class. Thus, setting all women back. Women can hold other women to account – especially when they uphold and reinforce patriarchal structures. 

Sabrina Carpenter’s new album has also caused a slight uproar online – and I think rightly so. It is entirely male centered – and also downright creepy. These songs, which certainly do not pass the bechdel test, all revolve around women’s sexual relationships to men and men’s wrong doings. But instead of saying hey actually men suck, lets have fun and hang out with girls – she does nothing but fantasize sexually – and in a pretty weird way. 

Maybe I’m taking this too far – but singing about how someone was an ugly child and then saying that they got hot, before speculating about the size of their penis in song is weird. I hate to be that person but if a man sang about wondering what bra size a woman was – that would also be weird. It’s the same thing.  ‘Ain’t nobody safe when I’m a little bit drunk’ is certainly a little rapey sounding and calling the album ‘A man’s best friend’, effectively referring to women as dogs is not feminist. In fact, it’s so far from it. 

As someone who first saw Sabrina live in 2016, and has genuinely enjoyed some of her other music – it is crucial to call out celebrities when their art is bad – after all, that’s almost entirely the point of art. 

It is important to knock celebrities off their high horses once in a while. In fact, it’s as important to hold them accountable as often as they f*ck up. This cultural barrier which has been placed between celebrities and fans, putting them on a ladder of superiority and power must be knocked down in order to make any kind of societal advancements, due to celebrities holding such significant power and influence. We literally let Gracie Abrahams get away with saying she found a minor attractive and she still has a platform – for some strange reason?

I once was a victim of the celebrity – as a teenager I certainly took my idealisations way too far – and now that my brain has developed this is definitely something that I regret. We can enjoy their music, their movies and their art, but as we descend towards fascism globally, there has never been a more important time to hold accountable celebrities with power.

They can all speak up about genocides, they can all donate a few million to those in need, and they can all take accountability for their actions, without using their gender as an excuse.