Using her platform: Taylor Swift standing up for Women’s Rights

In the year 2024, artists’ platforms are more influential than ever before. So many celebrities have the opportunity to advocate for women’s rights but choose to stay silent on pressing topics due to fear of losing their fanbase. However, Taylor Swift consistently uses her large platform to spread awareness on topics such as politics, sexual assault, LGBTQ+ issues, and more. In the past decade, Taylor Swift took action to get ownership of her music in a male-dominated industry. This showed the importance of using your voice as a woman in order to fight for equality. She also testified in court against the man who sexually assaulted her. She shared all of the details with the public to encourage other women to stand up for themselves.

Most recently, Swift endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. In her endorsement post on Instagram, she stated, “I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos. I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.” According to CBS News, Taylor Swift drove 405,999 visitors to vote.gov in 24 hours after this endorsement as opposed to the 30,000 daily average before her endorsement. This proves how influential using your voice can be. Taylor Swift has influenced millions of women and young girls around the country and encouraged everyone to fight for their rights and use their voices. She has sent a clear message to her fanbase: She is willing to speak out on controversial topics, even if it means losing many of her fans to fight for women’s rights. This endorsement was more than just a political statement, it was a powerful movement for women. Taylor Swift’s fanbase goes much further than just music. Many people believe that those in the music industry, should stay in that lane and those in politics should stay in politics. However, Taylor Swift created a bridge that combined politics and pop culture. This demonstrated the impact that comes from utilizing your platform to reach a greater audience. Taylor Swift encourages everyone to use their platform to challenge male-dominated policies to achieve equality, justice, and change. 

I grew up listening to Taylor Swift’s music and always enjoyed it. However, It was not until 2020 that I became a true fan. I saw a video of her saying, “If I get bad press for saying, ‘Don’t put a homophobic racist in office,’ then I get bad press for that, I really don’t care”. It made me so happy to see someone as powerful as Taylor Swift stand up for what she believes in, regardless of the consequences. As I continued to follow her, she always stayed true to her word and spoke up about issues. Her ongoing eras tour has been and will be one of the most legendary of our generation. Her fan base has grown immensely and she continues to break records. In her United States leg of the tour, she performed 53 shows with approximately 72,000 spectators per show according to Time Magazine. This is a total of 3.8 million people and the US leg is not done yet. This is a significant amount of people, not including the U.S. citizens that travelled abroad for their show. Chances are high that Taylor Swift’s endorsement had an impact on many of these individuals. I would love to find out if Taylor Swift’s endorsement can potentially cause a shift in this election.