In Defense Of Taylor Swift

Ever since the release of Taylor Swift’s music video for Anti Hero off of Midnights (released October 21st) her scale scene drew controversy, and many people took this as a chance to attack her character. Throughout her career Taylor struggled with anorexia, and body dysmorphia as she spoke about in her movie Miss Americana. The definition of body dysmorphia as per NHS United Kingdom is “ a mental health condition where a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in their appearance [,] [t]hese flaws are often unnoticeable to others.” The media has constantly analyzed how she looks in her career and she’s been called “fat” and “pregnant”. This scene was meant to display how she views herself, and there should be no shame involved in her expressing that, but she unintentionally triggered people who also struggle with eating disorders. Now that part in the scene was removed from the video because she realized the effect it was having on viewers. But what about the consequences the media has had on her self image for over a decade? As a fan I wish that she was able to talk about her illness without being attacked for it.