Taylor Swift, Feminism, and the Super Bowl

I really enjoyed this module and learning more about feminism.  Over the years women have faced many challenges and this module just scratched the surface.  There is still a long way to go if we are being completely honest, but the more we are aware of these challenges the more we are able to do something about them and make improvements moving forward.  A theme or topic that stood out to me during this module was how the media have portrayed women in the past and the awful things they’ve said on live television is astonishing, embarrassing, and wrong.  

 

Although I haven’t heard as many downright terrible things in recent years myself personally, I couldn’t help to notice all the talk of Taylor Swift going to her boyfriend’s games, and the Super Bowl.  A lot of what I was hearing online and on social media about Taylor Swift was negative and how a lot of people are upset that she is getting so much attention.  The majority of the criticism I was hearing was how during the Chiefs football games the announcers were spending a lot of time talking about her and Travis Kelce’s relationship instead of other players, normal stats, and sports commentary on the actual game that was taking place.

 

I’m not much of a Chief’s fan myself and so I honestly never really tuned into a game to see just how much or how little they were talking about her.  All I ever really saw were online commentaries about how she was taking up a lot of airtime and quite a few people (mostly grown men) were upset about it.  Although a lot of the criticism I was hearing wasn’t blatantly sexist or wildly disrespectful or rude, a lot of people were just upset by it.  That still doesn’t mean that the underlying tone wasn’t harmful or didn’t have sexist and demeaning undertones or insinuations.

 

Despite a lot of the negative criticism and comments made about all this.  I also found articles that talked about how many women and girls have begun to engage with football, and even watch some of the games with their dads just because of Taylor Swift.  We obviously all saw or at least heard about the Cetaphil Superbowl commercial where a Chiefs fans’ daughter started watching the games with him again because of Taylor Swift.  It’s funny that Taylor Swift wasn’t even mentioned in the commercial, but a lot of the imagery was suggestive of her and her fandom.  I think this is a positive thing and should be embraced and welcomed.  Of course, all the haters are going to hate, and we will get a lot of that because of history and sexism as well.  Some will argue that football is manly and a man’s sport, right?.. whatever that means.  At the end of the day, I think things like this are important and a step in the right direction. 

 

What were your thoughts about this module and what were some of your favorite parts of the section?  Did you have any new take aways or aha moments?  Anything that resonated?  Be honest, what were your thoughts on the Cetaphil Super Bowl commercial?  Did you know it was referencing Taylor Swift and the rise of dad’s and daughters watching football together?  In case you didn’t see it click the link below for the article and commercial.  

 

My final thought on this was a point made by expert, Madeline Moitozo, who is the founder and CEO of Juniper Media.  Which is a female and LGBTQ+ owned media company that harnesses the power of journalistic storytelling to create social change.  Her comment was in reference to young women seeing their adult fathers complain about Taylor’s time on camera, “when these young girls see their father’s gripe and complain, they are watching men invalidate their role model for supporting her boyfriend/partner.  That message matters and can subconsciously translate to ‘take up less space, be smaller, it’s not safe to shine.”  I think it’s incredibly important to be aware of how our actions as men and especially father figures impact the lives of those around us, even more so to younger women who are experiencing transformative and important years of their lives.



https://okmagazine.com/p/taylor-swifts-presence-nfl-games-violating-men-hate/



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