The Taylor Swift and Katy Perry four year feud has come to an end.

 

In light of the reconciliation, it sparkles the questioning of the media’s role in perpetuating the gossip, speculation and general obsession with celebrity female fighting.

 

In a time when attention has been drawn to issues such as gender inequality, the pay gap, and female lead movements such as Time Up, why are women still being pitted against each other? Famous or not women are constantly made out to hate other women.

 

#SquadGoals and girl squads are active labels the media encourages, usually to unite girl power, but the feud between the two women just goes to show that it has a dark side.

 

 

#ReadyForItMusicVideo. Link in bio.

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The labelling of girl squads can also be used to intimidate and undermine other women.

 

The media played a key role in defining who exactly “Bad Blood” was written about - though neither woman officially confirmed this - only speculatory conclusions were drawn using tweets and commentary given by Taylor and Katy.

 

 

In an interview with the Rolling Stones, Swift explained her inspiration behind the song:

 

“For years, I was never sure if we were friends or not. She would come up to me at awards shows and say something and walk away, and I would think, ‘Are we friends, or did she just give me the harshest insult of my life?’

 

She did something so horrible. I was like, ‘Oh, we're just straight-up enemies’. And it wasn't even about a guy! It had to do with business.”

 

“She basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour. She tried to hire a bunch of people out from under me. And I'm surprisingly non-confrontational – you would not believe how much I hate conflict. So now I have to avoid her. It's awkward, and I don't like it.”

 

“I know people will make it this big girl-fight thing. But I just want people to know it's not about a guy.”

 

 

LADIES OF THE ROAD MUST STICK TOGETHER & SUPPORT EACH OTHER!@nickiminaj

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The press did just that; the emphasis Taylor put on the track not being about a man was overlooked and a frenzied focus on the girl fight commenced, with the quote “straight-up enemies,” becoming a media favourite.

 

The Telegraph later asked Swift if Bad Blood was about Perry, and she was quick to shut it down:

 

“I'm not giving them anything to write about. I'm never going to talk about her in my interview. It's not going to happen.”

 

However, you cannot avoid the impression the Bad Blood video creates of women in a 'squad', and one who is seeking revenge against an individual.

 

 

It was the media who branded Taylor's girlfriends as a squad to begin with (she interestingly, never used the terminology herself), and no doubt Swift took her inspiration by being labelled a 'leader' of her group of friends, which included people like Ellie Goulding, Selena Gomez and Karlie Kloss. 

 

It wouldn’t be the first time Swift used media portrayals in her video - in her song “Blank Space” she depicts herself as a devil. The idea had come from a parody video made by Bart Baker which said Swift was the devil in disguise.

 

Additionally the reference to snakes in her ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ video is a reflection of her Instagram which featured snake emojis throughout summer 2016, and her online reputation that she is a snake.

 

 

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And it goes further than snake symbols; fellow singer and rapper Nicki Minaj took issue with the judges at the MTV’s Video Music Awards, where Taylor won the Video of the Year for Bad Blood, and as a result, thought that Minaj’s tweets were directed at her.

 

 

In a deleted tweet, Swift said: “I've done nothing but love & support you. It's unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot.”

 

And though Minaj's tweets had nothing to do with Swift in the first place, Perry was quick to point out how ironic Taylor's now-deleted comments were:

 

 

Then, with the release of Katy Perry’s Swish-Swish (which featured Nicki Minaj),  the media were quick to speculate the singer was targeting Swift in her song, when in fact, the lyrics had a much deeper meaning, but again, it didn't stop the rumours of who-hates-who-more resurfacing.

 

Even in the wake of their renewed friendship, the press is still hooked on who supports a particular singer, such as Nicki Minaj's tweets being described as an “alliance” to Perry.

 

The fact that Karlie Kloss is still being reported to have unfriended Taylor,  and Perry has stolen her friendship, again goes to show how quickly the media is ready to pit one woman against the other. In fact, there is no bad blood between Taylor and Kloss, and they talk "frequently," 

 

At the end of the day, Girl Squads have the ability to empower women to come together, but as we see in the Swift Vs Perry debate, the terminology can so easily be flipped into something profoundly negative - who else has since rolled their eyes when reading of Swift and her Squad? After all is said and done, it's safe to say that our views on what was initially a group of women publicly supporting each other, have become warped.    

 

The media have a strong part to play in this; perhaps instead of talking of female rivalries with endless speculation of who "hates" who, they could admit that yes, sometimes women fall out with other women - but it's normal. Men do the same but it's women constantly painted as the villains; males can 'feud' without the mass hysteria.  

 

Swift and Perry don't care about all the drama half as much as we like to think they do. It's been years, they've made millions. They moved on.    

 

Maybe it's time we all take the olive branch, and talk about something else. 

 

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