In the twist of the week, Taylor Swift’s name made breaking news headlines across social media without any connection to her bitter ex, Calvin Harris, or to her new boo, Tom Hiddleston. No, this time, her name was being dragged out next to one that we hear in conjunction with Taylor Swift’s much too often since 2009: Kanye West.
It turns out, Taylor knew about the famed lyric from the aptly named Kanye song, “Famous”, that dirtily dishes, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex”. Kanye called Taylor before the song was released to inform her of the lyric, and without Taylor’s knowledge, Kim Kardashian, Kanye’s loyal bride, recorded the entire exchange. On Sunday, July 17, she uploaded that video to Snapchat for the world to see.
On the video (with a transcript available here), Kanye reads the full line to Taylor, and then waits for her response. Taylor mentions something about being “this close to exposure,” and then says “I know! I mean it’s like a compliment, kind of.” Kanye proceeds to tell Taylor that he cares about her as a person and as a friend, and wants to do the type of rap that doesn’t make people “feel bad.” Taylor tells him that whatever lyric he decides to go with about the subject will be very “tongue in cheek,” but that she really appreciates the heads up about the entire thing. The two then proceed to talk for a minute or so more about the gesture, and Taylor even mentions that it would be cool to get approached on the Grammy carpet about the song, and how she would be able to say that her and Kanye were cool because he called her first.
Taylor has since denied knowing about the lyric, which prompted Kim to post the video exposing her involvement. However, while everyone seems to be ready to jump on the Taylor Swift bash train to support Kanye, perhaps there should be further critical analysis of the situation.
First off, as Taylor pointed out in her Twitter response to the situation, nowhere in the video did Kanye inform Taylor that she was going to be referred to as “that bitch," which he does in the following two lines after the one she approved, where he says twice, “I made that bitch famous." Taylor has every right to be upset that she was referred to in such a vulgar way. If Kanye were so intent on caring about Taylor as a friend, why would he refer to with such a derogatory slur? Regardless of its commonplace use nowadays, that word will forever be a disgusting way to refer to women, a way to put us down, and an attempt to shut us up. Even if a woman chooses to refer to herself in that manner, it by no means makes it okay for any man to call us that, especially so publicly. There was no reason to talk about Taylor in that way, as if she was a piece of property he was personally responsible for projecting to fame.
Secondly, I find it to be immediately suspicious that Kim insisted on recording the exchange between Taylor and Kanye in the first place. Did Kim suspect that Kanye wasn’t disclosing the entire story, and therefore knew that when everything went sour, she would need a piece of evidence to paint Taylor as a liar and protect Kanye from those who would come after him for the humiliating way in which he spoke about her? I can’t trust someone who would secretly record somebody else’s phone call, just to use that recording to gaslight a woman’s emotional response to being referred to with a word that is spit in women’s faces throughout our entire lives. To pretend that Taylor had no right to be angry, and then further embarrass her by posting a conversation she didn’t know was being recorded, is vicious bullying on a national stage, and it is appalling coming from two grown adults who are trying to raise a young daughter.
Third, I think it’s neither here nor there on whether or not Taylor knew about the specific lyric; the song itself is degrading, and that doesn’t even touch the level of disgusting present in the video. Personally, I find it telling that the Internet has used this opportunity to jump down Taylor's throat over claiming she didn't give him permission, when the same people were relatively silent about the blatant exploitation of celebrities and their bodies in "'Famous." Throughout his career, Kanye has been able to attack and over-sexualize women in his music and defend it as “art," but quite frankly, I find nothing artistic about that video. It’s simply an excuse for Kanye to hide the horrifying way in which he treats all of the female bodies present in it, and people are buying it.
There are about a million things in that lineup of celebrities that are straight up misogynistic if you tear away the disguise of “art” Kanye hid behind. Bill Cosby, who has been accused of raping and drugging fifty-one women, and who later made a joke about these allegations on stage, is featured in a bed of naked, unconscious women. In addition to that, Donald Trump, who has now been accused of rape three times, is also naked in the bed with unsuspecting, sleeping women.
Amber Rose, who has been continuously degraded by Kanye’s comments about her in the news (“I had to take 30 showers after dating her”), is the most exposed member of the entire celebrity lineup. Taylor, who has done her best to protect her naked body from ever traveling around social media, something very difficult to do when you enter a public business so young, is bare on the bed, which caused hits to her reputation as there are still many people who don’t realize everyone in the video is a wax figure, not the actual celebrities. Rihanna is lying naked next to the man who beat her so horrifically her face was unrecognizable, a crime which Chris Brown actually served jail time for. That one isn’t even an allegation, an excuse Kanye could possibly hide behind for Cosby or Trump; Kanye chose to put a man next to the naked image of the woman who he abused.
I’m sick and tired of this video being praised and protected because it is “art," as if art cannot be heavily criticized, as if art is safe from accusations of intense sexism to a scathing degree, as if what is and isn’t art isn’t entirely subjective. Just because Kanye says the song and its lyrics are incredibly deep artistic expressions, doesn’t mean that we have to accept it as so.
Kanye West, you are raising a daughter, a daughter who has to grow up in this world where women are mistreated all around the globe. And now, as that young girl grows up and has to face the reality of intense objectification that is used to defend heinous crimes like rape and molestation, she has to learn that her own father created a video in which he exploited naked female bodies in an “artistic effort." It is a video in which he put accused rapists and convicted domestic abusers in bed with vulnerable women, a video in which the lyrics playing in the background discuss women her father has had sex with in grotesque ways. Kanye, is that what you want your daughter to see? Do you want your daughter to see that not only will there be people in this world who will treat her like an object instead of a person, but that her father approves of and personally participates in that message?
