Before you read this post, please know: I am not trying to make you a Taylor Swift fan. And I am not trying to make you an NFL fan.
What I am trying to do is call out something that’s been bothering me for a while concerning the language of misogyny being used around Taylor Swift. Last week, we put out a fun video about Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl. It went viral and for the most part, people loved it.
But some of the comments got us talking enough to feel like we needed to say something.
What If The Roles Were Reversed?
Over the past couple of months, Taylor Swift has received criticism for supporting her boyfriend Travis Kelce in his career. They say: She’s doing it for attention and publicity. Their relationship is a business transaction. She is a secret operative to swing the election. Some additional comments are so misogynistic and awful that I cannot type them here. But let’s be real:
Would anyone say these things if an internationally famous male musician was supporting his female professional athlete girlfriend?
No, they wouldn’t. Instead, imagine the think pieces that would be written talking about how he was setting the new standard or was #relationshipgoals. I am tired of the double standard.
Walking With People
We unpack this discussion with our friend, Carlos Whittaker, this week on the podcast. Carlos is a self-proclaimed “hope dealer” who has found a way to bring people together, people of different political parties, races, and religions, to have really hard conversations. His brilliant take: Don’t stand on issues, walk with people. (We’ve had him on the podcast before.)
“Walking with people” means you still stand up for what you believe in, but it’s a way to look at each other as humans. People get very brave with their thumbs. It’s easy to type a comment on a video or in a tweet. It’s harder to say those things when you are face to face. A lot of the time, the hate people have in their hearts is something deeper. It’s important to get to the root of it.
Listen to Taylor Swift, Super Bowl, and Misogyny
Listen to our conversation with Carlos below. Here’s to hoping we can remember there are real humans on the other side of criticism. Let’s walk together.
