It’s no secret that women face extreme challenges in the workforce. For many of us, this comes in the form of being passed up for a promotion in favor of a less-qualified man or receiving less pay than male co-workers. This alone is enough to inspire anger in any woman I know. For women in the entertainment industry, the patriarchy enjoys serving them an extra side dish of humiliation. Not only are celebrities such as Taylor Swift regularly cheated out of credit for their own work, but they are also forced to answer demeaning questions from interviewers or partake in activities that embarrass them in front of fans.
In a recently resurfaced interview from 2013, Taylor Swift is told to ring a bell every time the picture of a man she has dated appears on the screen. When Swift voices her discomfort and repeatedly asks host Ellen DeGeneres to stop, the interviewer takes over ringing the bell and insisting that Swift is lying about her dating history. In the end, Swift says Ellen’s actions make her “question her worth as a human being.” She even briefly loses her composure as the photo of her abuser, John Mayer, fills the screen. Upon seeing this, all Ellen does is laugh at her. Heartbreaking, isn’t it? Unfortunately, events like this are extremely common and Ellen DeGeneres is well known for manipulating and abusing her guests. At this point in 2013, Taylor Swift had won hundreds of international awards for her music and was consistently topping the charts with her newest album, Red, for which she went on tour in March of 2013. So why couldn’t Ellen talk about a woman’s success in the music industry? Because no matter what, the patriarchy sees Taylor Swift as a little girl who only writes songs about her exes. It is evident that they cannot read deeper into her work simply because they don’t see her as a three-dimensional person capable of disguising complex ideas in mundane lyrics. According to them, her success must be thanks to a man’s support.
When a woman shakes the entertainment industry people can’t help but either diminish her work or pretend it’s not important enough to ask in-depth questions about. It is impossible for society to see women as people who are capable of ground-breaking work largely due to the sexist stereotypes surrounding which topics women are concerned about. In fact, many times sexist interviewers won’t even acknowledge why a female celebrity is at an event (even if it’s her own premiere!). They’re more concerned about her dress and who she’s going home with that night. Clothes and boys and no thoughts. In fact, how about we talk about pop-star Ariana Grande’s phone habits? Because that’s exactly what one interviewer thought was so fascinating. Grande talked about preferring to keep her phone away from her at the dinner table so that she could be fully present. A wonderful boundary for anyone to have. Of course, the interviewer decided to comment on how she’s probably lying because there’s “no way” a woman isn’t addicted to her cell phone. Immediately following that, he secedes to Grande’s claim that what she’s saying is true but tells young girls to follow her lead. Clearly upset, Grande corrects him that everyone should take notes, not just girls. This argument goes back and forth for a few minutes, but the message stays the same: women’s concerns are only over frivolous things like dresses, parties, and nails; not complicated work that demands skill and intelligence.
The conversation around society’s insistence on diminishing the interests of teenage girls has also been on the rise lately. Harry Styles and Taylor Swifts’ main fanbases are teenage girls and young adult women. Due to this, they have both been subject to scrutiny by the media and older generations. Gen X and Baby Boomers in particular do not take modern artists seriously because they don’t adhere to the same music styles of classic bands such as Credence Clearwater Revival and the Beatles. However, what most people forget is that young girls made the Beatles popular. Before they were your dads’ favorite band, their lyrics were probably being screamed by a teenage girl in the 60s and 70s. Clearly, teenage girls have excellent taste in music. It’s imperative that as a society we stop mocking the interests of young girls and women. Especially when it’s so undeserved.
Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to change systemic sexism that stems from an older generation with outdated values that is currently in power. Of course, female celebrities in the entertainment industry are the backbone of their field, and the interests of women shape society for generations. The work and advocacy of celebrities benefit women’s rights across the globe. They have been relentless in their vocality about the sexist experiences they have within the industry and how it impacts them both as creators and as people. There is a long way to go until women can enjoy the same freedoms and benefits as men, but the conversation must stay alive until then.