On Friday, Taylor Swift released her tenth studio album called Midnights. The 32-year-old singer-songwriter also released a music video for the song ‘Anti-Hero’, the same day. As it gathered over 21 million views and over 1.5 million likes on YouTube, many pointed out the ‘subtle fatphobia’ in one of the scenes in the five-minute-long video. In ‘Anti-Hero’, Taylor Swift grapples with topics like self-loathing and the fear of being unlovable. In the now-controversial scene, Swift steps on a weighing scale and, instead of her weight, the scale shows the word “Fat”. Many people took to Twitter to explain how being fearful of being fat shows internalised fatphobia. They argued that struggles like eating disorders stem from socially mandated norms which dictate that being overweight equals to being unattractive. Criticising Swift, a Twitter user wrote, “as an actual fat person genuinely how are we supposed to feel seeing this? watching a thin person remind the whole world that one of their biggest fears is being fat. is looking like me. demonizing the word fat while never having the experience of living in a fat body? Fatphobic”. However, others defended the Love Story singer and argued that accusing her of fatphobia is an overreach as she was merely expressing how her body dysmorphia made her feel irrationally bad about gaining weight. Echoing this view, a Twitter user said, “Taylor at no point said being a certain size was bad. She didn’t say being fat was a problem. She literally said that she views herself as bigger than she clearly is due to her body dismorphia. Regardless of what that scale said she would always see herself as fat…”. as an actual fat person genuinely how are we supposed to feel seeing this? watching a thin person remind the whole world that one of their biggest fears is being fat. is looking like me. demonizing the word fat while never having the experience of living in a fat body? fatphobic pic.twitter.com/JYnPXiXRiH — ♀️ (@fatfabfeminist) October 21, 2022 Well, I'm pretty sure the whole point of that clip is the fact that Women get called/think they're fat ALL THE TIME! It's not about actually being a fat person. Sadly, I have no doubt it my mind that EVERY WOMAN EVER, at some point was told or thought this about themselves. — Jesse (@The_Hawaiian4) October 21, 2022 Let me be clear— taylor absolutely deserves to share her message and feelings. It was the word choice that i take issue with. It shows internalized fatphobia she needs to unpack because fat is not a feeling. — lucie (@luciewald) October 22, 2022 Jesus Christ. It’s her art, how she felt, how she is portraying her battle. It’s not about you. — Munuminah (@NNNN996) October 22, 2022 Jesus Christ. It’s her art, how she felt, how she is portraying her battle. It’s not about you. — Munuminah (@NNNN996) October 22, 2022 Taylor Swift’s music video, where she looks down at the scale where it says “fat,” is a shitty way to describe her body image struggles. Fat people don’t need to have it reiterated yet again that it’s everyone’s worst nightmare to look like us. — Shira Rose (@theshirarose) October 21, 2022 she literally mentions her DEPRESSION and EATING DISORDER and people are telling her she should be doing better and thinking differently? in a song where she literally calls herself and antihero and is feeling guilty about everything?? — spooky liya 🖤 (@aathena10) October 22, 2022 I’ve been overweight for most of my life. When I wasn’t, I was anorexic and/or bulimic and ended up in an ED treatment facility. I agree that being fatphobic is bad, but Taylor has been very open about her body image struggles. We should respect her experience instead of judging. — 𝙴𝚡𝚎𝚌 𝙳𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝙺𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚜 (@kittennursekc) October 21, 2022 hi there 👋 i’m the creative director who told taylor swift she should step on a scale in that music video and have it say “fat.” taylor originally wanted it to say “poor” but i convinced her to do fat because it’s more disgusting. — caleb hearon (@calebsaysthings) October 22, 2022 girl shut up if we keep cancelling words there’s gonna be nothing in the english language left 😭😭😭 — the great war no1 stan (@cmatstan9) October 22, 2022 You think she’s fatphobic, to use your terminology, or she’s pointing out societal fatphobia? — bhaktilicious (@bhaktik) October 22, 2022 Previously, Swift has spoken about her struggles with body image issues. In the 2020 documentary film ‘Miss Americana’, Swift talked about how her eating habits were affected by how people view her. The multiple Grammy-winning star said, “I saw a picture of me where I feel like I looked like my tummy was too big, or someone said that I looked pregnant and that’ll just trigger me to just starve a little bit — just stop eating.”
