1. anti-hero, taylor swift / 2, 19. “taylor swift’s ‘sexy baby’ lyric is more than a ‘30 rock’ reference,” sophia june for nylon magazine / 3, 4, 12, 22. taylor swift ages 14-16, photographed by andrew orth / 5, 23. dominique swain age 15, photographed for lolita (1997) / 6, 17. “the fetishization of girlhood,” m.c. easton / 7. lolita (1962), dir. stanley kubrick / 8. 22 (mv), taylor swift / 9. anti-hero (mv), taylor swift / 10, 14, 18. nothing new, taylor swift ft. phoebe bridgers / 11. “2008’s country lolita: taylor swift,” gavin edwards for rolling stone / 13, 21. lolita (1997), dir. adrian lyne / 15. okcupid dating chart: age preferences by gender / 16. all too well (ten minute version), taylor swift / 20. university of pittsburgh 2021-2022 undergraduate catalog / 23. would’ve, could’ve, should’ve, taylor swift
apologies for this ridiculously long megathread, but i found a ton of these photographs of taylor from when before she was famous, around ages 14-16, and ooh boy, did they get me thinking…
sometimes i wonder if she just really lucked out with the mostly desexualized “innocent girl-next-door” persona becoming her brand throughout her early career, because it looks like things could have gone in a very different direction for her in another universe.
like you can literally see taylor being de-aged between her debut and fearless era as her public image cemented…the posing, the makeup, the hair, the clothing…it’s all very deliberate and sinister.
and now, all these years later, no one knows better than taylor herself that the most desirable thing a woman can be is not a woman, but a girl…a sexy baby, if you must.
her heart-shaped sunglasses, nothing new, the ten minute version of all too well, would’ve could’ve should’ve…she knows all about society’s sickness, its simultaneous fetishization and destruction of girlhood. she knows because she’s lived through it.
we don’t often categorize her or think of her as one, but she was a child star, and she barely escaped its curse. just barely. but unlike so many other child stars, unlike dolores haze, she survived with her voice and her pen, and she can see it all now, it was wrong.
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lolita as a novel is a perfect example of how powerful rich white men can get away with heinous crimes, and the structure of the book itself supports that because it gives us an direct insight into the inner thoughts of one of these men and just how much mental gymnastics they do to justify everything. and i feel like despite what ppl believe(wrongly), this book is inherently anti pedophilia because it dismisses the common claim that it’s the young girl’s fault that something bad happened, and why so many girls who have had similar experiences find comfort in it, and in dolores as a character. this is why, on top of many other reasons, the centering of white girls is so heartbreaking to see in the coquette community. the themes in lolita deal with the sexualization and abuse of young girls, which girls of color, specifically Black and indigenous girls experience disproportionately higher compared to white girls. so of course more girls of color are going to find comfort in a community that when done correctly and with good intentions, give power to dolores haze and girls who have experience with csa/sexualization/inappropriate relationships with older men. but so many of them are turned away from it because they don’t feel comfortable in a community full of mean rich white girls. i know for a fact that if i haven’t discovered coquette in 2020/2021 as a 17 year old who was just coming to terms with some of the horrible stuff i went through, i would’ve spiraled so much once i left home for college, and to think that there’s a girl of color out there who could’ve really benefited from a community that acknowledges the dark sides of girlhood but stayed away from it bc she thinks it’s for white girls only breaks my heart.
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