I never called you a bad feminist. I've never uttered those words in my entire life. I don't call myself a feminist, I certainly wouldn't call someone a bad one.

I disagree. I like TS and think she's a great role model. To each her own!

It's ok that you are not like them. They are who they are, you are you, I am me. It's all good!

But she is NOT far from their experience!!! They actually LISTEN to her music. She sings about liking the captain of the football team and being the dorky girl in the band and feeling small and insignificant. About crushing on a "bad boy" who uses her for a while then drops her like a hot potatoe. About having sex for…

I think TS's inspiration is to get her feelings out in song. People seem to like it, buy her songs, albums, and attend her shows. On top of that she's shown a lot of business acumen and poise. She doesn't shut her brain off because she 'a an artist which is something I want my students to know and emulate in their…

It's certainly subversive for a young woman to be able to attain the kind of power in the industry she has been able to amass at 23 years old. Women are just as marginalized in the music industry as are ethnic minorities. Every single major record company in this country is run by a man. What she has been able to do…

Thank you!

TS certainly is. Her music publishing deal is the most lucrative for a woman in history. She signed it when she was 18 years old. She doesn't have to get out of bed the rest of her life if she doesn't want to; her grandkids will be able to live comfortably on her residuals. That's badass to me.

Again, we'll have to agree to disagree. As a member of a gender and an enthnic group with shockingly little economic and cultural capital in this country, I work hard to help my students understand the vast power differentials at play between team owners and athletes, record companies and singers, movie studios and…

I absolutely disagree.

Well, the school I teach in is an urban public school in Brooklyn, NY where roughly half of the students qualify for the Federal free/reduced lunch program. It's not surprising, I guess, that they have American attitudes. The vast majority were born and raised in the US and many have never been out of the country.

I think being good at business is quite inspiring, especially for the mostly Black and Latina kids I teach. Many of them think the pinnacle of success and wealth is singing, dancing, acting, or being an athlete but then get confused how entertainers like TLC, MC Hammer, Mike Tyson, Terrell Owens can be broke after…

I am not talking about anyone on a meta level. I am around about forty-five 15 year old young women who are mostly Black and Latina twice a week for a total of 6 hours. I teach them computer coding and they open up to me about what boys they like, how they hate their braces and acne, what girls in their school are…

We just define "perfect" differently, it seems. I don't see her as perfect or or trying to project perfection. I don't get that vibe from her in any way; I actually see the opposite! I find her music to be vulnerable and pretty frank. The young women I know who love her (there are many) point to how relatable she is…

I'm completely lost. Half of all her songs are about being dumped by various guys yet she's projecting a "perfect" image.

And they do have other people they look up to. But few women around their age speak to them so precisely. I'm not sure how you think someone writing about being dumped (a good chunk of TS's songs) is being "perfect." When I get dumped I feel like the dirt under someone's shoe, i.e., decidedly not "perfect."

I like her music and find her talented. You don't. It's all good.

We'll have to agree to disagree about TS. I like a lot of her music and I think that it's important for young women to see that you can create your own content (as a writer) as a young women in the business and that THAT is the key to uber-success. In fact, TS's music publishing deal is where she makes a huge chunk of…

The old typography is waaaaaaaay better. The new one looks more suited for a sci-fi flick.

Where is the criticism?