Taylor Swift recently sold out Philips Arena and met CHOA patients during her time here. But Camille Paglia is not on Team Tay.
"Her twinkly persona is a scary flashback to the fascist blondes who ruled the social scene during my youth," says the feminist writer, adding Swift should end the "Nazi Barbie routine of wheeling out friends and celebrities as performance props."
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Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Swift isn't the only entertainer in her sights. In a piece for the Hollywood Reporter on "girl squads," Paglia notes that "(n)ames appearing on the shifting roster of girl squads include Drew Barrymore, Reese Witherspoon, Selena Gomez, Willow Smith, Kendall Jenner, Sofia Richie, Chloe Sevigny and Karlie Kloss. Hot models Gigi Hadid and Cara Delevingne bob and weave through several groups. Adele joined the club in November when she dined out in New York with Emma Stone and varsity squad player Jennifer Lawrence."
It's the "girl squad" dynamic Paglia finds fault with, writing: "Young women performers are now at the mercy of a swarming, intrusive paparazzi culture, intensified by the hypersexualization of our flesh-baring fashions. The girl squad phenomenon has certainly been magnified by how isolated and exposed young women feel in negotiating the piranha shoals of the industry."
But Swift seems to be unique. "Writing about Taylor Swift is a horrific ordeal for me," Paglia writes. Read her entire essay here.
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
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