Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, and the limits of Girl Squad Feminism

Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, and the limits of Girl Squad Feminism,Women can disagree about substantive issues and still be feminist

 

 

 

   The Grand Taylor Swift / Nicki Minaj Twitter Debate (Three days! Numerous Tweets! Three and a half celebrities! Ed Sheeran doing something stupid!) was many things. One of those things, of course, is "over." But we may also eventually look back on it as the event that defined exactly where Girl Squad Feminism falls short.

 

The basics of the exchange (or "spat," or "feud," or "catfight," or whatever dogwhistle language you employ to convey that some hysterical ladies are getting in a tizzy about their feelings) are now the stuff of Internet History. But here's the recap: Minaj felt understandably slighted when her video for "Anaconda" — which broke the VEVO record for most views in a single day, and was unavoidable in the fall of 2014 — didn't get a Video of the Year nomination at the VMAs. And, in an error common to any woman with a Twitter account and too much faith in humanity, she took time to explain the problem.

"If I was a different ‘kind' of artist, Anaconda would be nominated for best choreo and vid of the year as well," she tweeted. "When the ‘other' girls drop a video that breaks records and impacts culture they get that nomination."

A "spat," "feud," "catfight," or any other synonym for hysterical ladies in a tizzy
"Other" means white, of course, and Minaj is not wrong. Out of the five times "Video of the Year" has been awarded in this decade, four of the winners have been white: Lady Gaga (2010), Katy Perry (2011), Justin Timberlake (2013), and Miley Cyrus (2014). Twenty-seven acts have been nominated for the award since 2010; two of those nominees have been black women. Minaj could have been talking about Perry, Gaga, Cyrus; hell, she could have been talking about Iggy Azalea, who is white, is not fond of Minaj, and was a 2014 nominee. But, more to the point, she was talking about a pattern of discrimination.

Unless, of course, you were Video of the Year nominee Taylor Swift. In that case, Minaj was obviously talking about Video of the Year nominee Taylor Swift.
And thus, it began: The accusations of betrayal ("I've done nothing but love & support you"). The allegations that Minaj had broken the compact of sisterhood ("It's unlike you to pit women against each other"). The offer to throw Minaj a bone ("If I win, please come up with me!! You're invited to any stage I'm ever on").

The response came fast and hard, and in its wake, a lot of salient points got drowned in trivialization. (Who unfollowed who? Are we in the midst of a Taylor Swift Backlash? Is Nicki Minaj too angry? Which one is prettier? Fav for "Minaj," RT for "Swift," log off Twitter and go outside for human dignity.) If it wasn't about Swift before she spoke, it was afterward. And there's still something telling about Swift's proposed solution: Taylor gets the award, and Nicki gets to stand next to her, on her stage. Swift's idea of generosity was to offer another woman second place.