Ever since Taylor Swift was photographed necking on the beach with Tom Hiddleston (very) shortly after breaking off a year-long romantic entanglement with Calvin Harris, celebrity gossip blogs have been abuzz about the “1989” singer’s love life.
The questions raised by the tabloids — Did she cheat? Did she have an illicit relationship with Hiddleston while still dating Harris? Why did she jump from one guy to the next? Is Hiddleston just using her to get some time in the spotlight of international fame to snag the role as the next James Bond? — imply that Swift is a cold-blooded man eater.
Really, her reaction is completely normal. I mean, who hasn’t jumped out of a failing long-term relationship and immediately moved onto a new flame? Just because Taylor’s moved on quickly doesn’t mean she cheated on her ex, nor does it demean their relationship.
In an interview with Vogue that was published in April, she described her relationship with Harris as “magical.”
“I’m just taking things as they come,” she said. “I’m in a magical relationship right now. And of course I want it to be ours, and low-key . . . this is the one thing that’s been mine about my personal life.”
By the songstress’s own account, she was happily dating Harris until fairly recently. Afterwards, she decided to end it and then to move on. Which is fine! After all, the entire point of dating is to spend time with someone romantically with the understanding that it could end abruptly.
In so many of these summations, Taylor is cast as a someone who’s incapable of having a relationship without it being part of a larger public relations stunt, for either her own gain or as a mechanism for someone else’s. Maybe there is a bit of truth to those assumptions. Maybe Hiddleston is using her to get some time in the limelight. But who cares? As arguably the reigning queen of pop, Taylor doubtlessly gets her fair share of hanger-ons who are only after her for the fame and attention proximity to her provides. And I have confidence in her ability to identify and deal with them.
But let’s be honest, this feigned concern isn’t what’s driving all the outrage. It’s the fact that girlfriend doesn’t sit at home and knit every day of the week. She dates men, different ones, and that irks people.
Not all that long ago, Taylor took a two-year-long hiatus from the dating scene in part to reduce some of the media buzz about her dating habits.
“You know, I went out on a normal amount of dates in my early 20s, and I got absolutely slaughtered for it,” she told Vogue. “And it took a lot of hard work and altering my decision-making. I didn’t date for two and a half years. Should I have had to do that? No.”
She’s right! She shouldn’t have to do that.
If Taylor freaking Swift isn’t allowed to date who she wants, when she wants, then what hope is there at all for the rest of us? Even after she behaves like she’s “supposed to” by not dating for two years, the girl still can’t catch a break. That’s absurd, because if anyone deserves to be cut some slack from the pearl-clutching ninnies who till the outrage machine, it’s Taylor Swift.
