Taylor Swift, You Are On Notice

As far as teenybopper pop stars go, Taylor Swift is probably one of the best. Her songs are catchy and filled with the kind of lyrics you would have written on your high school notebooks.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have call shenanigans on Taylor Swift for her latest song and video, "You Belong To Me," wherein she perpetuates the tiiiiiiiired stereotype that girls who read books, play in the band, and wear glasses are big old losers who spend their nights dreaming about the slightly douchey football star who, of course, is dating the bitchy, pretty cheerleader. After pining over the hunk for most of the video, she finally shows him that he does, in fact, belong with her, by—-wait for it—taking off her glasses and revealing that she's actually a total babe at the school dance. Because everyone knows that the difference between hot and not is a pair of specs, no? See for yourself:





Can we cut the bullshit here, Swift? This shit was lame and tired when I was in high school, 10 years ago, when Rachael Leigh Cook, also beautiful, put on a pair of glasses and was pegged as a total geek in "She's All That." Of course, after a makeover, she was the belle of the ball. Teenage girls constantly have this this dumbass fairy tale down their throats, led to believe that a makeover is all it takes to feel good about oneself and attract the kind of guy worth dating. It also pushes the idea that the cheerleader girl is a stupid shallow bitch who doesn't "deserve" the hot guy. It's always about trashing the other girl instead of focusing on the fact that the dude might just be a shallow jerk. It's wrong and stupid and stereotypical and misleading and frankly I think we're all a bit tired of it.

Here's some advice, teenage girls: if a dude only wants to date you because you've taken off your glasses and dolled yourself up enough to compete with his cheerleader girlfriend, kick him to the curb. It's not worth selling yourself out to someone else's standard of beauty to date some superficial jerk. Yes, high school is rough, and yes, looks play into it a lot, but trust me: beauty does not come from a dress or a pair of contacts or a trip to the salon. It comes from knowing yourself and loving yourself and all of that good stuff. Perhaps instead of wishing a boy would see you in your glamorous glory, you should try to surround yourself with people who see you for who you are, and think you're beautiful no matter what.

Oh, and just wait until you see Hunky McHighschool five years after graduation. You'll be glad that you had your awesome specs on to see right through him.

Send an email to Hortense, the author of this post, at commenters@jezebel.com.

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