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By Joe Arney

Even by her standards, Taylor Swift has had a busy couple of months.

When she wasn鈥檛 winning Grammys and dropping hints about her next album, Swift was making headlines for her appearances during NFL games, her supposed role as an elections-interference psyop and lyrics that, when decoded, suggested she is queer.

What is it about Swift that has so many people, even her fans, seeing red?

鈥淭his is something that is continually churning with me because I hadn鈥檛 taken Swift seriously as an artist鈥攔eproducing the historical practice of dismissing or devaluing women鈥檚 work,鈥� said Jamie Skerski, who studies how narratives are shaped and mediated by institutions, audiences, and cultural norms. 鈥淚 was part of the problem.鈥�

鈥淏ut it鈥檚 something very visceral, and I think Taylor taps into this sense of female empowerment, of anger, of frustration, of recognition, of systems that continue to try to take women鈥檚 rights away,鈥� said Skerski, associate chair for undergraduate studies at the College of Media, Communication and Information at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Perhaps nowhere is the phenomenon more apparent than 鈥淭raylor鈥濃�攖he Travis Kelce-Swift romance that鈥檚 dominated pop culture throughout the football season. When Swift attends Chiefs games, she is typically shown on screen for less than a minute of a three-plus-hour telecast, but male football fans have furiously labeled her a distraction from the action. Skerski pointed out that other distractions, like military flyovers and cheerleaders, don鈥檛 attract nearly the same amount of outrage.

The Traylor relationship, she said, offers an opportunity to explore questions about the entertainment industry, gender and fandom鈥攅specially around the 鈥渇antasies of straight white men鈥� whose loves of sports betting and fantasy football are validated through societal norms.

鈥淚t鈥檚 culturally acceptable when white-collar men seek escapism, entertainment and social capital in the commodification and dehumanization of mostly Black bodies for personal pleasure,鈥� since that reflects dominant racial power relationships, Skerski said.

鈥淏ut when Swift fans engage in a version of fan fiction鈥攄aring to imagine Taylor as playing for the other team鈥攊t is condemned, belittled and dismissed. This is a moment to ask, whose fantasies are allowed to exist, and why?鈥�

The idea of Swift playing for the other team isn鈥檛 new鈥攖he so-called Gaylor community on Reddit and TikTok has been collectively analyzing her lyrics for years鈥攂ut it entered the mainstream in January when a New York Times guest essay waded into the fray with a 5,000-word read of Swift鈥檚 life and lyrics, imploring readers to consider that her songwriting offers 鈥渁 feast laid specifically for the close listener.鈥�

The bigger question, it argues, is not whether Swift is gay, but the obstacles to coming out in our celebrity culture and what queer people owe one another.

鈥淗ow might her industry, our culture and we, ourselves, change if we made space for Ms. Swift to burn that dollhouse to the ground?鈥� Anna Marks, an opinion editor for the Times, wrote in the column.

The point hit home for Skerski. 鈥淚f a celebrity needs to navigate cultural norms of acceptance, that鈥檚 the bigger question,鈥� she said. The idea that Swift鈥檚 work can have multiple meanings and influence different audiences 鈥渨ould break everything,鈥� she said, as it would challenge the way our culture characterizes and reinforces identity norms.

Still, a lot of angry Swifties took to online comments to vent their frustration on the singer鈥檚 behalf, lashing out at the Gray Lady for becoming a gossip girl as well as the author, who wrote a similar piece about Harry Styles in 2022. Not allowing Swift access to her own identity is at best a misguided attempt at allyship, Skerski said鈥攁nd at worst, 鈥渢he fan outrage reinforces a culture of protective paternalism that is invoked to control women鈥檚 bodies.鈥�
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鈥淲hat is so threatening about even the speculation that Taylor might not be Miss Americana?鈥� she said. 鈥淎nswer: Everything as we know it.鈥�