readingcomprehensionist

[readingcomprehensionist]

1. OP is discussing the trend among Taylor Swift fans of projecting queerness onto the pop icon. This is often done through the development of conspiracy theories that claim to provide evidence of her queerness, including her supposed relationships with other women (1, 2). Such fans (commonly self-described as ‘Gaylors’) will also frequently perform elaborate displays of mental gymnastics to explain why she has not yet publicly come out as queer (3).

2. OP is providing examples of pop stars who are openly queer. This is done to highlight the absurdity of projecting queerness onto a heterosexual celebrity, while actual queer pop stars go overlooked and under-appreciated.

3. The overall message of OPs original post is that there is an abundance of queer women in pop music, and that they can’t understand why a fan would go to such lengths to imagine a world where Taylor Swift is queer, rather than directing that energy towards supporting and enjoying actual queer women in music.

4. The issue that is occurring with several people in the notes and OPs list in the original post, is that many people are allegedly commenting that the sexualities of the listed pop stars are ones that do not exclude attraction to genders other than ‘woman’ (i.e., bisexuality, pansexuality). The most likely explanation for this issue is that the commenters misunderstood OPs original post in which they provide a list of “women who actually like women” to mean “women who only like women” or “women who are lesbians.” This could have been avoided by a careful reading of the original post before commenting (assuming a baseline understanding of the definitions of bisexuality and pansexuality).

5. There are multiple possible reasons as to why user ericrmalice may have believed OP was claiming that Taylor Swift is bisexual. A few of these possible explanations include, but are not limited to:

User ericrmalice may be one of the aforementioned ‘Gaylors’ who buys into conspiracy theories that “prove” Taylor Swift’s queerness. In this case, it is possible that ericrmalice may be so deeply invested in these beliefs that they automatically reject the notion of Taylor Swift being straight. Because the original post does not directly assert Taylor Swift’s heterosexuality, ericrmalice may have been operating under the assumption that “everyone knows Taylor Swift is bisexual,” or similar.

User ericrmalice may have been confused by the bisexual flag in OPs icon. This imagery may have subconsciously led ericrmalice to misremember the wording of the original post, or to assume that OP believed Taylor Swift is bisexual.

Based on the wording of user ericrmalice’s reply, it is possible they had spent a significant amount of time reading through the notes on the post before making their addition. In this case, I believe it is possible that their misinterpretation of the original post was influenced by other replies in the notes. It is also possible that the lapse in time between reading the original post and making their addition contributed to their misremembering details of the original post.

all goofing aside I genuinely don't understand the urge to reimagine Taylor Allison Swift as a secretly queer icon when the pop music scene(TM) is like. literally overflowing with women who actually like women. Gaga and Kesha and Miley and Halsey are right there. Rina Sawayama and Hayley Kiyoko and Rebecca Black and Kehlani and Victoria Monét and Miya Folick if you're willing to get slightly less top 100. Janelle and Demi for them nonbinary takes on liking girls. like what are we doing here. like I'm not even saying you can't enjoy Taylor but why would you hang all your little gay hopes on her.