August 22, 2012, - 5:22 pm

Despite Conventional Wisdom, Taylor Swift Was Never a Good Role Model for Girls

By Debbie Schlussel

Despite the conventional wisdom, I’ve never ever thought Taylor Swift was a good role model for girls. . . unless you want your daughter to become an alpha female stalker. And wantonly sleeping around with much older men. And that’s aside from her dreadful and dreadfully overrated (and extremely boring) music. I’m not just talking about recent rumors that she spent $5 million on a Kennedy compound house so she would be near the 18-year-old Kennedy she’s “dating” (euphemism). Or the reports that she crashed a Kennedy wedding, which she was asked to leave (but refused).


Taylor Swift

Over the years, several readers have written to me about what a “wholesome” role model Swift is, contrary to the many pop music skanks I write about. And I’ve had male friends of mine tell me they were relieved when their daughters were fans of her music. One said, “Well, at least my girls don’t idolize the Kardashians.” Thank Heaven for small favors. But I disagreed, as Swift ain’t much better. As I told some of these people, Swift is a psychotic stalker and teaches young girls to whine endlessly about break-ups and publicly embarrass the guys who dumped her after she probably was easily lulled into sleeping with them. None of this is a good example for America’s girls. It’s just low-class . . . and creepy. And, yet, American girls see Swift’s nutjob behavior rewarded with lucrative, glamorous deals, such as her contract with “Cover Girl” cosmetics, etc.

Taylor Swift writes songs to publicly embarrass men that dumped her. Much older men that dumped her. Much older men who talk about sex with the girls they date and with whom Taylor Swift was probably not an exception. Swift once “dated” (euphemism) John Mayer (who at 34 is 12 years older than her–she is now 22). She was a teen then. And when he dumped her, she wrote a song about–and against–him. This is a guy who discussed, in graphic detail, sex he’s had with his celebrity girlfriends (he called Jessica Simpson, “sexual napalm”). Most people assume that Swift probably had sex with him, too, especially since she wrote a whiny song attacking him. And Swift dated movie star Jake Gyllenhaal, now 31. It’s speculated that her latest “breakup song,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” is about him.


I don’t have kids. But if I had a daughter, I would teach her to ignore Taylor Swift and that despite the more modest clothes she wears (in comparison to others like Miley Cyrus), she’s a skank nonetheless. I’d tell her that Taylor Swift probably slept around with these much older men she dated (that’s what they are used to getting on demand), and that the lesson is that they dumped her like yesterday’s garbage in response. I’d tell my daughter that publicly embarrassing and trying to castrate a guy you dated who dumped you (the way Taylor Swift does with every famous guy she dates) is mentally disturbed behavior. It’s the stuff of “Fatal Attraction”-style relationships. It not only turns men off, it’s a pretty obtrusive sign that the woman doing this needs psychiatric help.

Sadly, Taylor Swift is making this pathetic jilted-lover-goes-psycho behavior hip and mainstream (in addition to her obvious current turn into Kennedy groupie-ism). It’s a terrible message for young girls. But, as evidenced by her gazillions, they are eating it up.

And then there’s the fact that Swift is dating Conor Kennedy–son of Robert Kennedy, Jr.–who is four years her junior, which at that age (he is 18 and she is 22) is a much bigger age difference than it would be later on in life. People Magazine reported that Swift, who just began dating this kid, spent $5 million on a mansion in the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, to be close to this boy whom she just met (other reports say the story is false). Um, what do you call a stalker with money? Answer: Taylor Swift. (Fortunately, most of her impressionable fans don’t have the checkbook to engage in her “Lifestyles of the Rich and Stalking” episodes.) That’s not to mention that, over the weekend, Swift crashed a Kennedy wedding (that of Kyle Kennedy, daughter of the late Michael Kennedy, of sex-with-the-teen-babysitter fame), to which she was not invited and refused to leave, according to today’s Boston Herald. No bride wants to be upstaged at her own wedding by a crazy pop star who badly wants to be a Kennedy.

Yes, my initial instincts were correct: Taylor Swift is a terrible role model, no matter how many “60 Minutes” reports gush over “what a nice girl” she is. With her ongoing uber-needy, ultra-crazy behavior, I wouldn’t be surprised if, sooner or later, Conor Kennedy wants to take Taylor Swift for a drive on that bridge to Chappaquiddick Island.




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79 Responses

I agree that Taylor Swift is not a good role model. With her songs, she is teaching girls to be angry and vengeful every time a boy hurt’s their feelings in the least bit. Her world seems to be dependent on and revolve around the boys she dates; thus, she is setting an example that this is the way young girls should be. However, you have no idea whether or not she is sleeping with the men she dates, but you write it as if this is fact. This is not a fair judgment.

Rebecca on February 7, 2013 at 11:16 pm

How are you any different? Sitting behind your computer screen using your big words to publicly embarrass Taylor, a girl you know nothing about. You make a living by writing articles, bashing people that you have never met. If I had a daughter I would tell her to avoid worthless media writers like yourself who are jealous of girls like Taylor.

Taylor Olson on March 17, 2013 at 3:31 pm

I am not a big fan of Taylor Swift, so I decided to do a little bit of research.She is a 23 year old woman.Has released four albums so far. Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now and Red. She is an inspiration to millions of girls around the world. She dresses modestly and never wears revealing clothes.When asked about the way she dresses and how it affects the youth of America she says:”I definitely think about a million people when I am getting dressed in the morning and that’s just part of my life now. I think it’s my responsibility to know it and to be conscious of it. “It would be really easy to say, ‘You know I’m 21 now. I do what I want. You raise your kids.’ But…that’s not the truth of it. The truth of it is that every singer out there with songs on the radio is raising the next generation. So make your words count.”

Callie on March 31, 2013 at 7:40 am

In case your future child gets too Taylor Swift/the rest of those singers who don’t seem to have anything going on in their lives except boys, Led(Zeppelin)her through The Doors and make sure she gets Beatles by a few Rolling Stones. If that doesn’t work, make her meet Uncle Bob. Being a girl she might like Pink(Floyd)and go out dancing with ol’ Frank Sinatra, but rest assured that no matter what she does, she’ll definitely act like a Queen. Do this, and in no time at all when you mention Swift, she’ll say Who? 🙂

[Note: I wrote this only from the point of view of the beautiful world the music and lyrics of the respective artists open up to us. They may have been equally fucked up in their real lives, but I believe an musician is a role model through his/her songs. And Taylor Swifts’ song scope is narrower than a size 0 model’s waist. There is more to the world than boys,and relationships,and boys and relationships,and boys and parties,and swag,and writing songs against people who’ve wronged you. Grow up,or at least word your feelings well.]

Ahanna on May 15, 2013 at 11:06 am

‘Taylor punlibly bashes her exes’… says the person writing an article publicly bashing Taylor Swift. I love her music, and she writes about other thigs as well as guys. Adele ONLY writes songs about guys yet no-one bashes her.

Lucy on August 13, 2013 at 6:44 am

Who cares about TS? She’s not even important :p and her new music sucks!
If I wanted to hear a jealous, whining, dramatic, nagger I would listen to her.
But I have better things to do, like this… So I will keep it simple…
NO ONE CARES! You all swear like its going to effect her, like the ones against her think she’s gonna cry about it or read it, and the ones on her side swear like shell see this and become best friends with you. She don’t give a ish about you, why should you to her? It’s her music that made her and slowly it’s breaking her…we’re all sluts in her eyes anyways ^.^

BIG DADDY on September 16, 2013 at 7:25 am

Alot of people whine about the content of Swift’s music. They write as if she has a personal vendetta that she ruthlessly carries out in her albums. However I look at it like this…… Swift is a songwriter…..a rather good pop country songwriter. She writes music about her life. She’s done this from the beginning… from “Drew” in high school to “Jake” in the present. For her not to write about her love life would mean she would not be able to make her own music. I mean if she doesnt write about love what is she supposed to write about?? How many songs on the radio are NOT about love? Maybe 5%….. probably less.

Most recording artists are given songs to sing. They are just the face of projects created. Taylor writes and produces her own music…..she fought for the right to do so. She turned down an opportunity to be just a face that is told what to sing. And I respect that. Really respect that. And the fact that now she’s super famous and still doing so….. I don’t think people realize how brave that is. She shares her pain and heartbreak with the world. It can’t be easy to give so much of yourself to millions and she does that…..fearlessly. Say what you will but the girl has my respect.

And I speaking of role models….no one is perfect…Swift is not a paragon of virtue but then again show me anyone from Nashville to LA who is…who really is (not just good at faking it)… but at least Taylor takes a responsible approach to the people who look up to her. She dresses appropriately and doesn’t openly endorse promiscuity.

If you ever have a daughter I hope that you have the common sense to disspell the notion of famous role models. I hope that instead you make the decision to be the role model your daughter looks up to…..may I suggest kindness, tolerance, and compassion as the attributes you should demonstrate?

Valerie on November 2, 2013 at 7:57 am

Wow, you write as though it is fact that Taylor is sleeping around, and you have NO IDEA of the truth. So you are spewing false rumors about another person. That’s wrong. Taylor writes songs that reflect her emotions and feelings. No one has to listen to them or buy them if they don’t want to. She is not doing anything wrong when she writes about how she feels. And your last sentence about Connor Kennedy possibly wanting to take her for a drive on that bridge to Chappaquiddick is totally unacceptable. Are you really indicating that she deserves the same thing that happened there? You need to take a look at why you are so unhappy and writing falsehoods about others. Fix yourself and mind your own business and something tells me you won’t have time to worry about this stuff.

jane on November 10, 2013 at 9:27 pm

The description is class borderline personality disorder…and it will get worse…much worse for her. I think, any “daughter” that can’t, on her own, see something awry with such a female, needs therapy herself.

We should, however, refrain from condemnation, maintain distance for self preservation, and pity those who have such a severe brain development disruption (what it really is)…one which only gets worse, and tragic at midlife…with few ever coming to terms with their “infantile brain development.” It must be hard to realize, as an adult-for those that do-that “your brain” is not an adult-lived-in-brain…but infantile/toddler at best.

bubba nonuthin on December 27, 2013 at 5:25 pm

It’s funny how many impressionable Taylor fans are commenting. Taylor fans were never smart though, that’s why nobody takes them seriously. This IS the internet and it IS FREEDOM of SPEECH. While you’re allowed to have an opinion, this person is ALLOWED to have their own opinion. Opinions are b***hes and if you don’t like it, get off the internet, I assure you, nobody will miss you from the internet. The world will keep spinning and the internet will keep going as if you were never on it. Trust me, don’t flatter yourself into thinking if you get rid of your internet because you can’t except opinions different from yours, you’ll be missed. You won’t.

Now, I don’t know if I would go as far as to say Taylor Swift is psychotic. I would say she’s a slut, a tease, and probably uses these guys for material for music. I would agree she’s not necessarily a good role model unless you want to teach your daughters dating several men [I’ve counted 12 so far] is a good thing. She may not have slept with them all but she HAS dated them all, probably to use them for music material. You don’t want to teach your daughter to be a tease or a slut. You don’t want teach her to cause public displays of drama for attention. Nobody will want to deal with her them. People might think its cute when its some pop star [people make excuses for pop stars, especially female ones for some reason.] but when it’s a regular girl, nobody will want to deal with that. Now if your daughter wants to listen to that music, she’ll find a way to do it but make sure knows that kind of behavior is not acceptable under normal situations. Like I said, maybe impression naive people or stupid people can excuse it because shes a female pop star but that won’t fly for a regular girl.

Kay on January 27, 2014 at 1:12 am

accept, not except*

Kay on January 27, 2014 at 1:14 am

Interesting article which obviously has a bias opinion. Not certain why you have such a negative attitude but I recommend you attempt to obtain some compassion. Why are you so disconnected from the emotions expressed lyrically by ts? I am not a journalist or any other type of writer but it is apprerent you are not talented in this type of field either. Worst article ever and frankly I have a feeling I am glad we are not associated in any way.

nick on February 25, 2014 at 6:43 pm

You’re an idiot, Debbie. You’ve got to have something better to do with your life.

Mike on December 3, 2014 at 2:25 pm

This is legitimately the stupidest article I have ever seen. If you are going to bash someone, at least use correct grammar. “Ain’t” is not a word. I promise. It is not. Word documents underline it in red. That means it is incorrect. Also, none of those accusations are even true, and if they were it is none of your business. Why do you care about her life if you think she is such an awful person? She is a wonderful person who constantly inspires not only young girls, but everyone to follow their dreams. She is often cited on being the most charitable celebrity. You can say rude stuff to her after you have received seven grammys and released five multimillion dollar albums. Have a nice day.

annie on December 8, 2014 at 10:23 am

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