Taylor Swift, unintentional feminist?

While Swift has amassed her fair share of critics and haters, feminist punk rocker Kathleen Hanna is not one of them. In fact, Hanna feels Swift is a kindred spirit, whether or not she realizes it.

Hanna, the former singer of Bikini Kill and one of the leaders of the '90s, alt feminist Riot Grrrl movement, revealed she is "totally into" Swift. Hanna actually suggested that Swift is an alterna feminist herself, since she cares about her female fans; is not catering to a male audience with her music; writes her own songs; appears to exert a healthy amount of control over her career; and doesn't resort to posing in scantily clad spreads for magazines in order to make fans.

In a chat with the Daily Beast, Hanna declared, "I'm totally into Taylor Swift. I think she has super-clever lyrics, and I love that she writes her own music. Some of the themes she writes about are stuff I wish was there for me when I was in high school, and I’m so happy she really cares about her female fans."

While much of Swift's country fanbase isn't always thrilled about her pop crossover status, Hanna made a critical point about Swift and her music being a source of comfort for her largely young and female legion. In that way, she goes beyond simple genre classifications.

Hanna also went as far as intimate that Swift is an against-the-grain feminist. No, she's not crusading for women's rights and marching on Washington nor does she need to slap a label on herself or give meaningless lip service to the "Girl Power" catch phrase.

But the fact that Swift isn't posing provocatively in men's magazines in favor being an "Aw, shucks" icon who endures similar heartache as her fans, further strengthening their bond, and the fact that she is in charge of her career, smacks of inherent, modern feminism...at least in Hanna's eyes.

"She’s not catering to a male audience and is writing music for other girls," she said. "I don’t care if she calls herself a feminist or not. There is something that she’s doing that feels feminist to me in that she really seems to have a lot of control over what her career is doing."

Hanna also addressed the singer's love life, an incredibly popular topic of conversation and one that might seem to sink the whole "She's a quiet feminist" theory. Hanna came to Swift's defense, saying, "She’s 23. People say she’s dating all these guys. Well, yeah, she’s a young person and is dating all these people ’cause that’s what you do when you’re young."

Hanna and Swift need to exchange some tweets and arrange for a tea date.

 

 

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