Taylor Swift is in hot water with the body positivity activists, who claim there’s at least one instance of “fatphobia” in a music video for one of her new songs.
The 32-year-old Grammy Award winner just dropped the album “Midnights” last week, and it’s already getting a lot of praise. But during the song “Anti-hero,” there’s an image of Swift standing on a scale that reflects the word “fat” as she sings, “I stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror.” The camera then moves to an image of Swift looking at a different version of herself shaking her head.
A now-viral response to this imagery calls out Swift for including the clip, which that fan says is derogatory toward overweight people and could trigger individuals with eating disorders.
“Taylor Swift’s music video, where she looks down at the scale where it says ‘fat,’ is a s***ty way to describe her body image struggles. Fat people don’t need to have it reiterated yet again that it’s everyone’s worst nightmare to look like us,” the user wrote. The post has 42,000 likes as of Tuesday.
Taylor Swift’s music video, where she looks down at the scale where it says “fat,” is a shitty way to describe her body image struggles. Fat people don’t need to have it reiterated yet again that it’s everyone’s worst nightmare to look like us.
— Shira Rose (@theshirarose) October 21, 2022
“Having an eating disorder doesn’t excuse fatphobia,” the Twitter user continued in a follow-up. “It’s not hard to say, ‘I’m struggling with my body image today’ instead of I’m a fat, disgusting pig.”
TikTok users also described the song as problematic. “Hey Taylor Swift, what the f*** dude” one person replied. “Being fat is not a bad thing. And in 5 seconds of your music video, you have successfully reinforced the idea that it is.”
While many agreed with the negative assessment, others were quick to jump to Swift’s defense, saying she should be allowed to discuss her negative feelings and personal experiences as she saw fit.
“Taking someone’s eating disorder struggles and making them about YOU and how YOU FEEL is so deeply ableist it’s unreal,” one person replied. “It’s like telling someone in the middle of a psychotic break that they need to stop having delusions because they make you anxious.”
“She literally mentioned her DEPRESSION and EATING DISORDER and people are telling her she should be doing better. Unbelievable,” another user agreed.
Swift mentioned the song specifically on release day, tweeting, “The Anti-Hero video is HERE, which I wrote and directed. Watch my nightmare scenarios and intrusive thoughts play out in real time.”