The Queerest Thing About Taylor Swift
Over the decades, as it evolved from a slur into a term of tribal pride, the word queer was converted by academics into a verb. To queer a text is to look for hidden, un-straight meaning—to theorize that sexual repression shapes Holden Caulfield’s bad attitude and Nick Carraway’s unreliable narration. Typically, readers queer a work through their interpretation. What the author really meant is, in many cases, unknowable; the text and its effect are what matters most.
Perhaps pop culture should relearn this use of , judging by the latest controversy surrounding Taylor Swift. Last week, speculating that Swift isn’t straight; this weekend, one of Swift’s as “invasive, untrue, and inappropriate.” The situation reveals how fans and celebrities have become too rigid in their relationship to each other, missing the lessons that queerness has to teach.
