Taylor Swift was in town for her very own Tiny Desk concert at NPR on October 16, 2019
Male Privilege is a defining part of American political culture—and as Taylor rightly points out, it’s a defining value of American society as well.
Over the past week, I’ve been playing Taylor Swift’s live-guitar version of The Man on repeat again and again. The song deals with the hypothetical of how different the social consequences would be for Swift if she were a man, rather the empowered female icon that she rightly is. The song is poignant to me in light of the abrupt resignation by millennial Congresswoman Katie Hill of Los Angeles, California. Hill resigned after extreme right activists gained access to personal photos of her via her vindictive ex-husband.
Taylor’s powerful vocals and talent on the guitar emphasize the lyrics:
I would be complex
I would be cool
They'd say I played the field before
I found someone to commit to
And that would be okay
For me to do
Every conquest I had made
Would make me more of a boss to youI'd be a fearless leader
I'd be an alpha type
When everyone believes ya
What's that like?I'm so sick of running
As fast as I can
Wondering if I'd get there quicker
If I was a man
And I'm so sick of them
Coming at me again
'Cause if I was a man
Then I'd be the man
I'd be the man
I'd be the man
We live in a society foaming at the mouth with mental health crises. Figures from the Brady Center point out that 61 out of 100 gun fatalities each day in America are the result of suicide. The culture of brigading, bullying and tearing people down has only become more vicious with the advent of social media and the questionable ethics of people like Mark Zuckerburg. Taylor Swift’s song highlights the disturbing lengths to which society will go to shame a woman, but salute a man (like say, Donald Trump) whose outrageous behavior is otherwise considered heinous and undignified.
“Over the course of my life it has occured to me that we have a double-standard issue in our society…and so I wanted to write a song about…what people would say if I did all the same things but, I was a man.”
-Taylor Swift describing “The Man” at NPR on 10/16 to cheers from the 300+ audience
Our failure as a society to offer a logical or at least thought-out explanation for why we seek to “slut-shame” women in the public eye for often identical behavior we excuse by men is for me one of the major reasons why a qualified and well-prepared candidate for president like Hillary Clinton was demonized. Those very demonizers, in many cases, then turned around and voted for Donald Trump whose entire public life has centered around the sexual exploitation and assault of countless women. In the case of Katie Hill, they have sought to sexually exploit and vilify a young woman’s personal life in order to bring a return to a status quo where male privilege continues to subvert our democracy and way of life.
I am leaving now because of a double standard. I am leaving because I no longer want to be used as a bargaining chip…because I didn't want to be peddled by papers and blogs and websites…by distributing intimate photos of me taken without my knowledge, let alone my consent, for the sexual entertainment of millions.
-Congresswoman Katie Hill’s farewell speech to the U.S. House of Represenatives earlier this week
Katie Hill’s full speech should be required reading for activists and candidates nationwide. Read it here.
Katie Hill’s personal choices, in my opinion, are her own to make. The decision by her vindictive ex-husband to share their bedroom life with the world is probably the sickest and foulest example of how sick and vile our social culture has become since Donald Trump’s hostile take over our Republic. Had Ms. Hill been a man, it is likely she might still have had to resign after her private life became a public matter. But the level to which her harassers have been willing to go—threatening to release dozens of other photos provided (likely illegally) by someone aside from her is disgusting.
With Donald Trump in the White House and with sexual assault being at pandemic levels in our country, all Americans should be playing The Man on repeat, and thinking deep about the song’s lyrics and the reflection they portray about who we are as a people today:
What's it like to brag about raking in dollars
And getting bitches and models?
And it's all good if you're bad
And it's okay if you're madIf I was out flashin' my dollas
I'd be a bitch, not a baller
They'd paint me out to be bad
So it's okay that I'm madI'm so sick of running
As fast as I can
Wondering if I'd get there quicker
If I was a man (you know that)
And I'm so sick of them
Coming at me again (coming at me again)
'Cause if I was a man (if I was man)
Then I'd be the man (then I'd be the man)