Our Shared Shelf discussion

I think the current action taken by Taylor swift is laudable making a stand against overt sexism . What do OSS think, is such actions by high profile women a good thing. She has garnered a lot support from woman around the world.

Will it encourage other "ordinary" women to do the same and make a stand or do you need resources like Taylors to challenge companies and individuals.

It is easier for women like Taylor to speak out since she has the platform to do it. But i also think it helps give women courage to stand up for themselves when things like that happen and shows that sexism can happen to anyone in any part of life.

@James social media have enabled us to have a platform. These days, everyone can be heard. We don't have to wait for people like Taylor Swift to make a stand for us to do our part but it is good that she inspire millions.

I too second Keith's views on the topic.

I feel that it wouldn't really encourage large numbers of practical women(myself included),because somehow if we were in her place,our complaints might not have even been acknowledged by the company.

Whereas on the other hand,Taylor is a celebrity.So,there will always be a fear in the mind of the person being sued,as it would be flashed across newspapers,leading to a degradation of image of the company itself.

Therefore,according to me,the only reason the company complied was because it was a celebrity and not a normal person.Besides,even Taylor,with all her power,had certain difficulties convincing them.This might just drive a cynical attitude in most women towards not being able to achieve justice easily or towards the entire corrupt political scenario.

More like drawing the analogy that,if Bill Gates can't buy the most expensive diamond in a store,how can we.Because no matter what anybody would say,celebreties are always prefered and are on higher grounds than most commoners.

Benarji wrote: "@James social media have enabled us to have a platform. These days, everyone can be heard. We don't have to wait for people like Taylor Swift to make a stand for us to do our part but it is good th..."

Your correct, we dont have to wait and truthfully Benarji no woman has. Many women have tried in the past but as both Keith and Ashna have stated its far far more difficult for the average person to get immediate results compared to a celebrity like Swift. A celebrity could easily send a tweet and immediately there would be a swarm of support and companies (in this case radio stations/networks) know this and know it would be bad for business not to address a situation the moment it would come up.

So many women (my wife included) have issues of sexism or harassment that happen to them but because of the lack of exposure never get the support they need. While i certainly dont place blame for that on women like Swift it certainly is a whole different world for them compared to the average woman in terms of getting results. If all women had the kind of platform that women like Swift had i feel companies and employers as a whole would be far more pro-active when it came to sexism and sexual harassment cases. But many episodes on a daily basis get swept under the rug because employers have nothing to fear in terms of exposure. And we arent even talking about the legal expense in those cases which is another problem for the average woman.

The world is definitely biased. The world is unfair. Some people are more privileged than us but if we keep using that as an excuse, we will forever be at this level in life. What sets apart the rich and the poor is how they are conditioned to think. They don't have anything more that ordinary people don't have. Change our perspectives, change our lives but as far as feminism is concerned, anybody can make a difference. Sometimes even just an ordinary man, who is enjoying a hot cup of coffee while listening to some music on a warm afternoon.

Benarji wrote: "The world is definitely biased. The world is unfair. Some people are more privileged than us but if we keep using that as an excuse, we will forever be at this level in life. What sets apart the ri..."

I don't know which idealistic era you are talking about,but I know that in the Women's March there were thousands of commoners rallying alongside a handful of celebrities and yet it was not the commoners who were applauded for fighting for rights as much as those celebrities were.

So,as James says that there one tweet could hoard an army full of people willing to fight for them,whereas normal women won't have that kind of support.There is a lot of difference b/w being a celebrated person and a normal person.And they have many things,if not all,that we don't have.

Also,there is definitely a certain difference between dreaming of becoming Obama and dreaming of becoming Trump.Sometimes excuses are valid,because if for instance I step out of the house today and say I am going to become a millionaire,I won't be able to do it overnight.If such kind of magic could happen or rather human beings were so perfect,we wouldn't have been humans in the first place.We need to be fearful to some extent,need to make crazy decisions,need to fall and then get up,because we are not robots,we are people.If we were,there wouldn't have been any question of human psyche or human predicament or human emotions.

Henceforth the answer to your fact that,everything is the way it is because we make excuses.Maybe those are well analysed reasons rather than excuses.

Keith wrote: "Such actions must be a good thing. However, and please correct me if I'm wrong, didn't Taylor launch a counter claim following a $3 million claim against her for someone losing their job following a complaint she made? Civil action, wherever you are in the world, requires financial resource which most people don't have. So, in this respect, I'm afraid most "ordinary" women couldn't do this.

On the other hand, she made a complaint to the company and they listened and took action. Would they have done the same for an "ordinary" woman? - you would like to think so but I'm not too sure it would actually happen."

I agree with you, Keith. The fact that Taylor is taking action and not letting just happen what happened that day, is very brave and inspirational, but I'm not too sure either that every woman to whom the same thing happens or has happened will be able to do the same.

However, I am all for celebrities standing up for things like this, because it definitely makes people more aware, which is always a good thing.

@James fighting for a cause never gets easy, especially for common people who have other priorities, like being the breadwinner and raising a family. Taylor Swift, on the other hand, could probably go without an album for the next two years to focus on a cause without any repercussions. That is the challenge.

@Keith that is quite unfortunate that your government does so. For many of us, our livelihood depends solely on our jobs. So they chose to ignore the complaints and rather enforce a fee to take actions? What will become of the citizens if we can't complain? Does your government thinks that the citizen are robots? That isn't addressing the issue but rather taking the shortcut. Problem doesn't go away by miracles. People still have the problems, they just can't voice it out. I feel sorry for the people of UK.

The Podcast Strong Opinions Loosely Held ( by R29) recently did an episode on Taylor swift that might be of interest to people in this discussion.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

@ashna our human mind is an endless possibilities. Don't limit yourself. You are what you tell yourself to be. Most importantly, you gotta believe in yourself. Whether you wanna be a Obama or a Trump is your choice but never stop believing in yourself. Our human mind is a beautiful thing. If you keep feeding it positive and uplifting thoughts, you become powerful beyond measure. All of the things that you said would happen in a normal occurrence, won't happen or at minimal. You will rarely have doubts and negativity. Start feeding yourself one positive thought a day. Change our perspective, change our world.

I believe in ways it would inspire certain people to stand up because Taylor Swift is a huge celebrity. People look up to her, and is seen as a role model to many people. It is good that they took action (the company) but I would also question it whether they would do that with an ordinary person. Taylor's experience has been all over the news so it would seem stupid if they didn't take action. I'm not entirely sure that if she wasn't a big celebrity and it wasn't all over the news, that they would have taken action. It depends the company unfortunately and who runs it. We hope they would do the same with Taylor swift as they would anyone really because we are all human, we should all be treated the same- but we can never really be sure.

In my opinion using a platform such as Taylor Swift's is extremely effective. With one hundred and two million Instagram followers she can spread her message quickly and easily. Therefore, I do think she is right to speak out as she is using such a tool for a productive reason.

Phoebe wrote: "I'm not entirely sure that if she wasn't a big celebrity and it wasn't all over the news, that they would have taken action. ..."

Sadly you are probably right that the verdict would have been different for a less-highly-esteemed plantif. Hopefully Taylor Swift's steadfastness here will help change that a little for others in future.

I was happy to hear the Jury's judgment in the Swift case, not only because she should be defended rather than re-victimized in court, but also because of the legal precedent this case sets. I hope the "The Swift Case" will mark a shift in the trend of future legal rulings such that when people lack tangible evidence of assault, they are given some benefit of the doubt. Judicial precedent being what it is, future victims will have this verdict as an argument for support. High-profile cases like this have a tendency to stick around.

On a more personal note, I was thrilled with the outcome of the case because it responds simply and clearly to other recent, dominant voices. It was a long night in our home when President Trump was elected because my wife felt less safe with a president who advocates violent sexual assault. We both feared for her and for our minority/ marginalized friends and neighbors (for various obvious reasons). I appreciate the volume with which this verdict decries sexual assault such as to say, 'No no, this is not acceptable and will not be overlooked. We will not acquiesce into silence. Rather, we will stand tall and call for justice with a bold and steadfast voice.'

Robert wrote: "I hope the "The Swift Case" will mark a shift in the trend of future legal rulings such that when people lack tangible evidence of assault,"

Actually she had pretty good evidence, one being her bodyguard who saw it and the photo itself was pretty damning. I think both of those worked heavily in her favor here.

The evidence is what won the case bringing it for one $1was principled think to do. Bare in mind Taylor Swift action was a counter suit this creep tried to sue her first for three million.