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In the introduction to her next album, 1989 (Taylor’s Version), Taylor Swift discusses her se*uality and relationship history.
For years, the American singer had remained mute amid rumors that she was having an affair with her former best friend, Karlie Kloss.
In her prologue, the singer, 33, called out the public for sexualizing her female friendships.
When she was 24, she was trying to’silence’ the voices criticizing her for ‘dating like a normal young woman.’
Swift admitted that being branded as a ‘boy crazed maniac’ was’ really starting to sting’ after years of being a ‘target of’ relentless’ slut shaming’ and facing endless jokes about the ‘number of boyfriends’ she had.
‘It became clear to me that for me there was no such thing as casual dating, or even having a male friend who you platonically hang out with,’ she wrote.
The Cardigan hitmaker continued: ”If I was seen with him, it was assumed I was sleeping with him. And so, I swore off hanging out with guys. Dating, flirting, or anything that could be weaponized against me by a culture that claimed to believe in liberating women but consistently treated me with the harsh moral codes of the Victorian era.’
As a self-proclaimed ‘consummate optimist,’ she assumed that if she ‘simply changed’ her behavior it would ‘fix’ the narrative.
‘I swore off dating and decided to focus only on myself, my music, my growth, and my female friendships, she continued. ‘If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn’t sensationalize or sexualize that right? I would learn later on that people could and people would.’
Swift appears to be referring to speculation that the pair were romantically involved after a grainy picture emerged on social media that appeared to show them kissing at a 1975 concert in 2014.
At the time, a spokesperson for the performer was quick to nix the rumor to Gossip Cop, branding it ‘hilarious.’
In 2019, the Cats actress explicitly told Vogue the she was ‘not a part of’ LGTBQ+ community, but was passionate about speaking up for the community.
‘I didn’t realize until recently that I could advocate for a community that I’m not a part of, she admitted. ‘It’s hard to know how to do that without being so fearful of making a mistake that you just freeze. Because my mistakes are very loud. When I make a mistake, it echoes through the canyons of the world. It’s clickbait, and it’s a part of my life story, and it’s a part of my career arc.’
The musician also addressed her reason for surrounding herself with friends in her mid-twenties as an attempt to ‘make up for a lack of them in childhood’ not to start a ‘tyrannical hot girl cult.’
In the prologue, she also praised listeners and fans for seeing ‘the seeds of allyship and advocating for equality’ in her track, Welcome To New York, in which she sings: ‘Everybody here was someone else before/And you can want who you want/Boys and boys and girls and girls.’
Swift, who is currently dating Travis Kelce, has been previously romantically linked to several men including Harry Styles, Conor Kennedy, Jake Gyllenhaal, Lucas Till, Cory Monteith, and Joe Jonas.
