Let's Talk: Taylor Swift and Body Image — Professors in Nutrition and Food Sciences Lead Research Discussion at Dana Health Sciences Library

Taylor Swift can fill a room. Apparently, so can professors Lizzy Pope and Kelsey Rose. On Thursday, October 3, 2024, 30 people attended a talk in Dana Health Sciences Library titled "Let's Talk: Taylor Swift and Body Image." A discussion was led by the authors of a recently published paper - Lizzy Pope, associate professor and director of the Didactic Program in Dietetics and Kelsey Rose, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences. Their paper, "It's All Just F*cking Impossible: The influence of Taylor Swift on fans' body image, disordered eating, and rejection of diet culture," was published in the journal "Social Science & Medicine" in August 2024.

"Last year, a lot of my students were talking about Taylor Swift," said Pope. "People were referencing the documentary 'Miss Americana' where she talks about her disordered relationship with food and her body and recognized that how she was feeling was not okay."

Pope and Rose set out to find out if Swift's disclosure was helpful or harmful to people. Their discovery: Overall, Swift's sharing of her own eating/body image struggles positively influenced her fans' relationships with their eating behaviors and body image. The research additionally showed that, yes, celebrities hold power to positively influence cultural issues, but that there are limitations to the impact of personal disclosures around the topic of anti-fat bias.

To contextualize, the authors explained Swift's video for the song "Anti-Hero." In this video, Swift is depicted stepping on the scale and the scale reads "Fat" instead of a number. Swift received immediate backlash, and then removed the scene with no explanation. There was then more backlash - from those who were both for and against the video's removal. Pope and Rose shared that if Swift had explained why she was editing her video, then it may have further helped to educate her fans about how anti-fat bias.

The authors shared some of the ways they approached research for the paper including an examination of TikTok and Reddit posts and comments. This qualitative analysis led them to uncover themes and values and not be hemmed in by the metrics of quantitative research alone.

Some of these uncovered themes included:

• People were highly impacted by Swift's own body image disclosures.
• Swift's fans felt seen, and they felt that they could seek out treatment because Swift did. There was a prevailing theme of "If Taylor can get better from this, I can get better."
• Objectification is complex. People, even self-described "fans," would say that the media needs to stop objectifying Taylor Swift, but then objectify her themselves in their comments.

Pope and Rose received backlash of their own, specifically from those devaluing their research because of its focus on pop culture. The two counter their work as worthwhile because Swift is a cultural driver. As a positive role model, she has great potential to help individuals pursue their own wellness - none of this should be dismissed.

To this end, Pope and Rose insisted that their work be published in an open-source publication. Often, scientific research is locked behind paywalls, but open-source publications are free to access, "ensuring that this study is available to all and might reach more people," said Pope.

Pope and Rose were transparent about the flipside of their mostly positive findings - specifically about the dangers of parasocial relationships. These one-sided relationships are where one party expends emotional energy, interest and time, and the other party is completely unaware of the other's existence. This kind of relationship is most common with celebrities like Swift.

"Sometimes this sort of relationship is helpful and sometimes it is not," said Rose. "There is danger in having a celebrity be your validation for self-worth. But celebrities also have an inherent responsibility. And Taylor Swift did serve a purpose in this way."

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