Taylor and her girls made their first big appearance that caught the eye of the media when Taylor’s "Bad Blood" ft. Kendrick Lamar music video was released and featured all of her close gal pals. When I first saw this, I was really excited about the message she was putting out there, and loved that she included all of her best girl friends because I am the type of girl who really treasures her ladies; however, her clique has continued to stay in the spotlight, and has also seemed to grow throughout her "1989" tour.
For a while I thought, “Okay this is good, Taylor is showing girls the importance of having a tight-knit group of lady friends in your life,” but my opinion on the world famous girl crew changed when I watched the 2015 VMAs. Next to Miley Cyrus, who was the host, I felt that Taylor took a huge chunk of the attention because of the various awards she was accepting and giving, which is great for her, but it seemed like she couldn’t do anything without making sure everyone saw her and her girls celebrating, hugging, or dancing together. By the end of the show I was rolling my eyes every time Taylor was filmed because sure enough, there were her girls doing what seemed like rubbing their exclusive friendship in everyone’s faces.
This left me wondering if the very public and exclusive girl clique is setting a good example for women of all ages. After the VMAs I felt like Taylor and her crew were the real-life “Plastics” from the movie "Mean Girls." What I mean by this is that it seemed like they cared more about other people seeing how exclusive and “cool” their crew is than about their actual relationship as a group of friends. Due to Taylor’s fan base being primarily younger women, I fear that this sends a message to girls that friendships should be exclusive rather than inclusive, and the consequences of this will leave young girls feeling excluded, left out, and not good enough in social situations.
By no means am I saying that Taylor Swift and her friends are bad examples for women everywhere, because in reality they are quite the opposite; they are all very accomplished women who are doing some really stellar things, but what I am saying is that due to their friendship being very public and in the spotlight a lot recently, it would be great to see them emphasize what I’m sure is true, but just not seen: that friendship is not about awesome Instagram posts with the same group of girls to make sure everyone knows about all of the cool things they're doing together, but is about being there for someone and always having their back through thick and thin. Tay, I love you, and have since I first heard "Our Song," and you have the ability to use your celebrity status for so much good, so let’s try to inspire young women to be accepting and inclusive of each other.
