Taylor Swift talks feminism, support for other female artists


The newest member of the Emma Watson Fan Club is none other than Taylor Swift, who shared her thoughts on Watson's much-discussed U.N. speech on gender equality and feminism while appearing on the Canadian talk show Tout Le Monde En Parle.
"I wish when I was younger, I wish when I was 12 years old, I'd been able to watch a video of my favorite actress explaining in such an intellectual, beautiful, poignant way the definition of feminism," Swift said. "I would have understood it and earlier on in my life would have proudly claimed that I was a feminist, because I would have understood what the word means."
Swift added that it's "an incredible thing" for Watson to discuss feminism on the global stage. "So many girls out there say, 'I'm not a feminist,' because they think it means something angry, or disgruntled, or complaining, or they picture rioting and picketing," she said. "It is not that at all. It simply means you believe women and men should have equal rights and opportunities."
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Swift also showed her support for her fellow pop stars when asked about Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears and their choices in attire. "Honestly, I think that I cheer on anybody who is living their life on their own terms, wearing what they want to wear and representing what they want to represent," she said. "I think that no other female artist should be able to tell me to wear less clothes, and I'm not going to tell any other female artist to wear more clothes." Watch the entire interview below. --Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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