A long opinion article published in The New York Times and in which there is speculation about the sexuality of the music superstar Taylor Swift has sparked anger on the Internet, where some social media users called for the American newspaper to retract it.
The 5,000-word column published in the newspaper’s opinion pages suggests that the popular singer is sending veiled signals to her fans that she is “queer,” despite publicly identifying as heterosexual.
Neither The New York Times nor Swift’s representatives immediately responded to an AFP request for comment on the article or the reaction.
Speaking anonymously to CNN, a person close to Swift called the column “invasive, disingenuous and inappropriate.”
The essay by Anna Marks, editor of the opinion section of the New York newspaper, threads a list of times in which Swift has apparently suggested that she is “queer”, a word commonly used to describe a gender and sexual identity that is different from heterosexuality.
“In isolation, a single dropped hairpin may be meaningless or accidental, but taken together, they are the unfolding of a ballerina’s bun after a long performance,” Marks wrote.
“Those dropped hairpins began appearing in Ms. Swift’s artwork long before queer identity was undeniably marketable to mainstream America. They suggest to queer people that she is one of us,” he maintains.
In 2022, Marks published another guest column speculating about the gender identity of Harry Styles, a pop star Swift has dated, examining accusations against him of “queerbaiting.” marketing of expressions, behaviors or clothing related to “queer” without the individual considering themselves as such.
Marks opened her Swift column by referencing the inner anguish of Chely Wright, a “queer” country musician and activist who has described staying in the closet for years for both professional and personal reasons.
After the essay was published, Wright called it “triggering”: “I think it was horrible of @nytimes to publish it. Triggering for me to read it – not because the writer mentioned that I almost ended my life – but to see that talking about a public person’s sexuality is annoying.
Swift continues her successful “Eras” tour and catapults herself to otherworldly stardom.
For months, the 34-year-old singer has openly dated NFL player Travis Kelce, drawing new legions of viewers to football games as the camera routinely pans to Swift.
His love life has long been the subject of tabloids, fans and his songs. Swift has been linked to high-profile men, such as actors Tom Hiddleston, Jake Gyllenhaal and Joe Alwyn, as well as singers Styles, Matt Healy – frontman of 1975 – and John Mayer.
Swift herself has never publicly indicated that she identifies as “queer” or homosexual, although it has been speculated for years.
She has been an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, which she spoke about in a 2019 interview with Vogue: “I didn’t realize until recently that I could advocate for a community that I’m not a part of.”
And in the prologue to the recent reissue of her album “1989,” Swift reflected that in her twenties she swore “not to date boys” because of media assumptions that she slept with every man she spent time with.
Kayla Gagnet—director of digital content at Equal Pride, an umbrella brand of queer-focused media that includes The Advocate and Out—said that when it comes to celebrity news coverage, “pointing out obvious signs is not inherently problematic.” “.
Noticing signs of homosexuality, he told AFP, “should be no different” than the media realizing that Swift was dating Kelce before the couple had confirmed it.
Furthermore, according to Gagnet, the reaction to The New York Times column “really focuses not on the reading of homosexuality in her work, which I think is totally valid, but rather on ignoring or dismissing what she herself has done.” said about it.”
Pop culture fans will always be interested in who celebrities date, he continued. “It’s fair to be interested in what that might mean about their sexuality.”
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
