Taylor Swift and the Dissonance Within Feminism

For six years, Taylor Swift quieted the naysayers who claimed she couldn’t keep a man, dating actor Joe Alwyn in an uncharacteristically private relationship from which came two of her most traditionally aesthetic albums—Folklore and Evermore. In one, she dons long modest dresses; in the other, her hair is set in simple braids. She plays into feminine tropes in both albums, at one point literally “begging” for her man to lead her future in the song “Willow.”