By Grace Hamilton, Opinions & Editorials Editor

Taylor Swift is a climate criminal.

We could dance around the topic. We could talk about the announcement of The Tortured Poets Department or the Grammys she just won. We could talk about her political activism — which cropped up once and then never again.

Or, we could talk about how she’s a climate criminal. How she hasn’t made any statements about Palestine — though the actor ex-boyfriend we’re all so willing to trash showed his support back in December. How her feminism seems to exclude women of color and show its main support for capitalism.

None of these topics — or my desire to talk about them — mean I hate Taylor Swift. I actually love her and her music. I went to the Eras tour, I own a couple of her records and I’ve waited for the album rereleases along with everyone else. There is no denying that she has made a massive impact on pop music and culture. There is no denying that she is a smart businesswoman. I also happen to think she’s a good vocalist and lyricist — though that’s far more subjective. 

Here’s where the issue lies: Taylor Swift is a massive figure within our culture. That means her actions have impact, and some of those actions deserve criticism. I find that most of the time, however, criticisms of Taylor Swift are not rooted in concerns for the environment or more intersectional feminism. I also find that Taylor Swift — her team, her fans, herself — spin accurate and deserved criticisms into insults directed at her as a woman. 

The world is full of slutshaming misogynists: True.

Taylor Swift is a very sore winner: Also true.

She has, undeniably, risen to the very top. She’s broken the records, won the awards, won the acclaim. She battled and defeated the haters. But it’s not enough. According to her, it’s because she’s not a man — which is true. However, she’s also a billionaire, which I think takes top spot over gender. Her song, “The Man,” bemoans she could go much farther and be more respected if she were a man — still operating under capitalism.

I can’t help but wonder if she feels that she could still be a climate criminal if only she were a man. If she could date racists who throw up Nazi salutes and watch porn brutalizing Black women. She’s probably right, but that doesn’t mean the situation itself is right.

Look, Taylor Swift isn’t a politician or elected leader, she’s not an activist or the head of a movement. She’s just a singer. She hasn’t explicitly claimed to be anything but. We don’t need to look to her as an example for our opinions and actions politically, economically or socially. But neither can we pretend that pop culture and its influences are entirely separate from the actions we take and the opinions we hold. Taylor Swift told young people to vote, and so they did. 

We’re supposed to care about the climate, but Taylor Swift is running back and forth across the country visiting her boyfriend and emitting 8,300 metric tons of carbon. We should care about the wealth gap, but Taylor Swift is a billionaire. We should support other women, but Taylor Swift only collaborates with women of color when the woman in question was insulted by Taylor’s boyfriend. 

We can and we should criticize Taylor Swift. She deserves it. Not because she’s a successful woman in an industry built for men. Not because she’s supposedly dated a lot of men and writes songs about them. We should criticize Taylor Swift because she’s a capitalist upholding a capitalist system, killing the climate and excluding women of color from the feminism she weaponizes. She definitely deserves that.