I ADORE THESE GIRLS. @angelcandice @iammarthahunt @LilyAldridge @UzoAduba @karliekloss @BeePrinsloo @GiGiHadid pic.twitter.com/nDDxMwu4T0
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) July 12, 2015
Taylor Swift’s ever-expanding squad has been one of 2015’s defining pop culture phenomena: her Bad Blood video, which gathers 16 of Swift’s BFFs for an ass-kicking demonstration of female solidarity, has now been viewed more than 660 million times. But in a hard-hitting essay for The Hollywood Reporter, Camille Paglia has denounced the singer for creating a girl squad with a “silly, regressive public image” defined by “tittering, tongues-out mugging.” Rather scathingly, the revered but controversial social commentator also urges Swift to “retire that obnoxious Nazi Barbie routine of wheeling out friends and celebrities as performance props” in her live shows, and concludes her essay by saying: “Writing about Taylor Swift is a horrific ordeal for me because her twinkly persona is such a scary flashback to the fascist blondes who ruled the social scene during my youth.”
These less than complimentary comments about Swift are destined to go viral, but it should also be noted that the Paglia uses her essay to argue that the idea of a “girl squad” can potentially be helpful to women. “Girl squads ought to be about mentoring, exchanging advice and experience and launching exciting and innovative joint projects,” Paglia writes. “Women need to study the immensely productive dynamic of male bonding in history. With their results-oriented teamwork, men largely have escaped the sexual jealousy, emotionalism and spiteful turf wars that sometimes dog women.” Swift and her squad members have yet to respond to the essay, but it seems highly unlikely that the singer will be welcoming Camille Paglia to the stage any time soon.