2010 called, they want their sexist joke back. It’s no secret that Taylor Swift has had her share of sexism in her career but there has been a more recent situation that took her to Twitter calling out Netflix.
On Feb. 24, Netflix released a “Netflix original” named “Ginny & Georgia.” The show is about a mother-daughter duo that deals with unfortunate events and secrets and growing up as a teenager.
In one episode of the show, there is a joke about Taylor Swift. In the scene, the actress says “Taylor Swift made an entire career off of her ex’s.” In the past, Swift has addressed the topic of writing songs about her past and current relationships and has shut down the deeply sexist comment in an interview with an Australian radio show named Jules, Merrick and Sophie. Swift said that other male artists write songs about their past relationships and no one asks them why. “No one says that about Ed Sheeran. No one says that about Bruno Mars. They’re all writing songs about their exes, their current girlfriends, their love life, and no one raises the red flag there,” Swift said on the Jules, Merrick, and Sophie radio show.
“I feel it is situations like these that normalize sexism. Sexism is so apparent yet so normalized in society,” Caroline Duke, a freshman business management major, said.
In the same scene of the Netflix original, the actress also says “What do you care? You go through men faster than Taylor Swift.”
“I believe Taylor Swift is breathtakingly resilient considering the sexism she’s lived through,” Duke said. “I honestly don’t care if she writes a song about hating all men, I believe she deserves the world and more importantly a break.”
Taylor Swift was quick to address the situation. She took to Twitter and said “Hey ‘Ginny & Georgia’, 2010 called and it wants its lazy, deeply sexist joke back. How about we stop degrading hard-working women by defining this horse shit as FuNnY. Also, @netflix after Miss Americana this outfit doesn’t look cute on you Happy Women’s History Month I guess.”
“We just need to remember that sexism isn’t new,” Duke said. “Taylor Swift has probably been insulted with an identical comment several times before,” She thinks Swift handled the situation just as any other woman in her place would have. “Women are frustrated, as they should be,” Duke said.
“File:191125 Taylor Swift at the 2019 American Music Awards.png” by Cosmopolitan UK is licensed under CC BY 3.0
Since the situation has hit the media, one of the main characters of “Ginny & Georgia” took to Instagram to address Taylor Swift’s criticism. Antonia Gentry, known in the show as Ginny, did not address Swift’s comment directly but she more or less was thanking everyone for their support for the show. In the Instagram post Gentry says, “As someone who grew up feeling voiceless and unimportant, and who did not see herself reflected on screen, Ginny Miller was finally a reprieve.” Gentry, who is biracial said that she never would have imagined doing something like “Ginny & Georgia” as a little girl. Towards the end of her statement she says that her character “makes mistakes– morally, mentally, physically, emotionally– and not just within herself, but within the broken world she lives in.”
Taylor Swift’s fans are still upset over the situation and believe there should be an apology.
“Women MUST support women, we already are alone in the feminist battle. Without each other we have no one,” Duke said.
