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The false empowerment of naked dresses

In May 2015, I wrote a blog for About-Face about Taylor Swift’s recently-released video for “Bad Blood.” In the post, I argued that the scantily clad women in the video were “devalued from being strong warriors to being traditionally sexy females with bodies that exist to be objectified.” I posted it to my personal social media pages, and… Continue Reading →

Just “Bad Blood,” or bad body image?

[media url=”youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcIy9NiNbmo/A&W=415″] Nude bodices, come-hither poses, and full body scans of a barely clothed body: Taylor Swift’s latest video, “Bad Blood,” is the culmination of her sexual evolution, which we began to see with the release of her album 1989 in 2014. Sexual, or at least sensual, lyrics trickle through the album (“his hands are… Continue Reading →

We need to change more than clothes in the dressing room

Brace yourselves, everyone. I’m about to make a huge confession. I’m about to astound and confuse millions upon millions of people. I’m about to dispute the core of beliefs of department store marketers and romantic comedy writers. I’m a 22-year-old, warm-blooded American woman who does not enjoy shopping for clothes. Shocking, right? I’m a young… Continue Reading →

The harm in body-shape guides

Have you ever fallen prey to a guide that tells you what to wear based on your body shape? It probably said something like “your body is apple-shaped” or “you’re an hourglass shape!” and then proceeded to tell you to cover specific areas of your body with certain types of garments that may be more… Continue Reading →