Taylor Swift Calls Feminism ‘Probably the Most Important Movement That You Could Embrace’

Taylor Swift happily ignored plenty of critics in the early part of her career, singing her way to the top of the charts with adolescent love songs like "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me." But the teenager who crafted those hit tunes has turned into a grown woman with one of the most thriving music careers of all time, and she is using her powerful voice to proudly proclaim that she is a feminist who isn't about to back down.

"Honestly, I didn’t have an accurate definition of feminism when I was younger," the 25-year-old tells Maxim magazine. "I didn’t quite see all the ways that feminism is vital to growing up in the world we live in. I think that when I used to say, 'Oh, feminism’s not really on my radar,' it was because when I was just seen as a kid, I wasn’t as threatening. I didn’t see myself being held back until I was a woman."

Throughout her career, Swift has remained stoic while naysayers scoff at her soul-baring lyrics and series of headline-grabbing romances.

"[The] double standards in headlines, the double standards in the way stories are told, the double standards in the way things are perceived," Swift continues. "A man writing about his feelings from a vulnerable place is brave; a woman writing about her feelings from a vulnerable place is over-sharing or whining. Misogyny is ingrained in people from the time they are born.

"So to me, feminism is probably the most important movement that you could embrace," she adds, "because it’s just basically another word for equality."

Although the "Bad Blood" singer has turned her focus from country to pop, there is clearly no bad blood between Swift and the genre that launched her into becoming a global superstar.

“I feel no need to burn down the house I built by hand,” she says of her country roots. “I can make additions to it. I can redecorate. But I built this. And so I’m not going to sit there and say, ‘Oh, I wish I hadn’t had corkscrew-curly hair and worn cowboy boots and sundresses to awards shows when I was 17; I wish I hadn’t gone through that fairy-tale phase where I just wanted to wear princess dresses to awards shows every single time.’”

Swift is currently out on her 1989 World Tour, which heads to Louisiana this weekend. A list of all of her upcoming shows is available on her website.

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