Anti-Hero

Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince

Okay, so as you now know, I have been slowly getting more and more into gaylor theory for the past 6 months—ever since I went to the eras tour and Taylor Swift flagged her queerness right in front of my face by gushing over girl in red. Although I am sure my subconscious knew about the possibility of Taylor Swift being queer before this, that was definitely the specific moment that kind of made me truly question everything I knew about Taylor Swift. She had obviously been flagging queerness for a while, but I was naive enough to never fully pick up on it. I know other artists are queer too, but I think the reason it now feels so special that Taylor Swift is queer is because I grew up always feeling a strong connection with her music, but I was never really sure why. Also, I just think the way she comments on queerness and her queer experience (outside of romantic/sexual relationships) is very poetic. It also feels extremely significant for her to be part of a very marginalized community considering that she is the greatest songwriter of all time (my opinion). This is why the heteronormativity of Taylor Swift pisses me off. I do not care if it is wrong to say it, but I think it is her queerness that helps make her the best songwriter and writer of all time. Like I have mentioned before, there is nothing poetic (in my opinion) about her writing about heteronormative events and relationships. Like that shit has been done way too many times and the real greatest stories of all time were never told because they were modified to be straight or the queerness has just been completely ignored.

Somewhat related to that, in the last section, I said I wanted to comment on the implications of what it would mean if she was strictly a lesbian. I promise this does not stem from biphobia—like I said...I don't even know my own sexuality and identity fully...and I might still be attracted to men (puke)—but my opinion is definitely based on my hatred of men and a patriarchal heteronormative society. Thinking about what it means for Taylor Swift to be a lesbian is more about me also commenting on society. I will try to do some lyrical analysis in this section too if that is mostly what you may be here for.

If I think about Taylor Swift's public image and how that image has been intertwined with men since pretty much the beginning of her career, it absolutely would be shocking to the general public for her to one day come out as a lesbian. I think a lot of people would criticize her for several things. A lot of people who believe everything she does and says (like hardcore swifties) and believe all of her relationships to be based on love and not marketing schemes would feel very (rightfully) betrayed. I even think some gaylors would potentially feel this way because they would be mad at her for putting up with the celebrity/fame/business charade for so long. Also, there would just be blatant homophobia and more specifically, lesphobia, from many sectors of society.

Really thinking about the lesphobia, I truly believe the middle aged men who talk to me about Taylor Swift in degrading ways would feel even more vindicated to do so, because they would be able to call her a fake and a liar. They also would feel betrayed because—even though they obviously have no chance with Taylor Swift—her not being connected to men in any way except to use them for social and economic capital would be absurd to them. Like genuinely, we live in a society that privileges heterosexuality and a society that thinks of women almost as an extension of men, so people would be losing their minds not being able to connect her to men in a blatantly sexist way.

I'm sorry if I offend anyone, but I can see this exact toxicity of our society playing out in her public relationship with Travis Kelce right now. These people have (supposedly) only known each other for like three months or less, and I find it absolutely disgusting the way the general public comments on their relationship. People online (and in person) talk about them getting married and having kids—basically that white picket fence ideal that I have mentioned before—and maybe I really do just hate joy and love, but this absolutely disgusts me. Like, this is a woman who sings about not wanting the white picket fence life with a man and people in her fandom still obsess over this idea for her. I didn't honestly realize how rampant compulsory heterosexuality was until I was introduced to Taylor Swift lore. To be honest, I lurk online in a bunch of different Taylor Swift communities, and it seems like the gaylors are the least likely to push their fantasies on Taylor Swift. They just make silly jokes and write fanfics while a lot of hetlors (and maybe swifties) seem dead serious about their hopes for her future.