Taylor Swift Does Not Hate Sex Or Feminism.

OMG SHOCKER. I, of all people, will be defending T-Swizzle?

Yeah, I know you all saw this coming.

My friend sent me this article on Thought Catalog (which was pretty funny). Referenced in that article was this one. I understand the writer's thoughts -- Taylor Swift's lyrics can seem a bit juvenile at times and her hesitance to fully transition into a grown-up star catering to a grown-up audience, while perhaps good for business, is a bit off-putting for those of us who started listening to her before we could drive and still listen to her now that we're off in the real world (or college). It wasn't the article itself that irked me so much as the comments.

People like to criticize Taylor Swift for being a sort of anti-feminist (see here and here). And what this tends to come down to is the "virgin-whore dichotomy." That is, "good" women remain "pure" until marriage (or, if forever unmarried then they stay celibate). Meanwhile, "bad" women are those who are whores -- basically defined as being not a virgin. I get that not everyone likes the same kind of music, and I respect that a lot of people don't enjoy listening to Taylor Swift; that's why I'm going to focus on this broader point about criticizing Swift based on her perceived views on sexuality.

First and foremost... Has Taylor Swift ever claimed to be a virgin? I think not. Often cited are the comments she made in response to pregnancy rumors back in 2008. She said that her being pregnant was "the most impossible thing on the planet." Popular interpretation: "I can't be pregnant because I'm a virgin." And maybe that's what she meant. Or, and tell me if I'm getting too crazy here, maybe she meant she wasn't a virgin but simply hadn't been sexually active in a while. I hear it's possible to lose your virginity and not feel the need to fornicate every day for the rest of your life thereafter. Also, that was four years ago anyway. So, as far as I'm concerned, Swift hasn't made any assertions that she's as awesome as she is because she's a virgin.

But wait... she doesn't come right out and say things, does she? She writes her albums like diaries. So why not look there for clues?

I'd love to!

In the handful of "Taylor Swift is bad for women" articles I've read, something that comes up a lot is that in "Fifteen," Swift says "Abigail gave everything she had to a boy who changed his mind." Critics interpret everything to mean "virginity" and from there claim that Swift is saying that all a girl has to offer is her hymen.

I disagree. The song is written from two perspectives: The memory of what it was like to be 15, and the view of age 15 when looking back as an adult. Swift pretty clearly seems to be saying, "When you're 15, you think having a boy say he loves you is the most important thing. You think there is nothing more momentous or intimate you can do than to give him your virginity. And when it doesn't work out, you think you've lost everything. But I can tell you that is not true and life is bigger than that." I mean, she sings, "Back then I swore I was going to marry him someday but I've realized some bigger dreams of mine" and "In your life you'll do things greater than dating the boy on the football team." Her whole point is that life is about way more than what you do with a boy in high school. She is saying that women are more than their relationships with men. How the heck is that reducing a woman's worth to the status of her hymen? (Hint: It's not.)

So from there, let's see how Swift continues to implicitly not condemn sexuality. Obviously, I have no more personal knowledge than most commentators on what she actually gets up to in her spare time, but I'll hazard some guesses based on what she writes in her songs.

Her first album, Taylor Swift, came out in 2006, when she was only 16. I'm not surprised there aren't really any solid examples there, though a case could possibly be made for "Cold As You."

Fearless, released when Swift was 18 and re-released with extra tracks a year later, has a couple of suggestive lines. From the original listing, I'll single out "Love Story." Perhaps problematic for its treatment of classic literature (although how virginal could she be if she refers to herself as "a scarlet letter"?), the song does introduce a recurring theme of explicit wanting someone to "take [her] somewhere [they] can be alone." To play cards, I'm sure. Looking at the Platinum edition songs, "Untouchable," for instance, repeatedly mentions "feel[ing] like coming undone" in the subject's presence, as well as saying, "In the middle of the night [...] I want to feel you by my side." There's also "The Other Side of the Door." The end of this song, which I personally really like, seems like a pretty strong implication that she slept with this guy after he "carried [her] from the car up the stairs."

Speak Now, Swift's 2010 effort, has some similar lines. The opening track, "Mine," includes "there's a drawer of my things at your place" and the video features Swift and her love interest moving in together (and, scandal!, they're not even married yet). "Dear John," as is oft discussed, seems to suggest a totally sexual relationship with an older guy who didn't treat her right. In "Last Kiss," Swift refers to "wearing your clothes" (wonder how she got those?) and sings, "I'll watch your life in pictures like I used to watch you sleep/And I'll feel you forget me like I used to feel you breathe." Maybe not the most adult content, but we are talking implications here.

"Sparks Fly" gets its own paragraph for such not-so-subtle gems as: "You stood there in front of me, just close enough to touch/Close enough to hope you couldn't see what I was thinking of," "Get me with those green eyes, baby, as the lights go down/Give me something that will haunt me when you're not around," "You touch me once and it's really something/You find I'm even better than you imagined I would be," and "Lead me up the staircase/Won't you whisper soft and slow?" Yeah. Virgin talk forreal.

And this brings us to Red, released October 22, 2012. This one's opener, "State of Grace," features, "We are alone, just you and me/Up in your room and our slates are clean." If you haven't heard "Treacherous," the whole song is literally about how badly she wants to screw this guy's brains out. SHE'S GOING TO GET HIM ALONE/FOLLOW HIM HOME/WHATEVER IT TAKES. In "I Knew You Were Trouble," she refers to herself as "a notch in [a guy's] belt." "All Too Well" mentions "nights when you made me your own." And that covers just four of the first five tracks.

Where does this leave us? Taylor Swift does not openly speak about sex. Instead, she sings about her life as a 22-year-old woman and it seems to include some sexual activity. What's significant here is that it doesn't seem to be a big deal to her; it's not the central part of her relationships or her identity. As far as she's concerned, sex is part of a relationship, so references to it crop up in relationship songs. And as far as I'm concerned, Swift continues to follow the path she started down in "Fifteen." That is, contrary to what some critics say, she considers sex to be kind of a big deal emotionally, but certainly not the most defining element of a person's life or character. Discretion (/modesty in dress) does not make someone a prude.

Based on her own words in her songs, Taylor Swift does not seem to be some "slut-shaming virgin." She also has no apparent interest in being considered a "feminist." Like most of us, I guess she's somewhere in the middle? For my part, I contend that she is, in fact, sex-positive. So more power to her.