Today's Question: Is Taylor Swift a Feminist?

No. 

Well, really, who knows? According to Swift herself, she's not really a feminist. But thanks to our old friends at Feministing, I found a nice little blog post that attempts to rationalize the whole issue:

Swift’s songs, although groundbreaking and catchy at the same time, seem to follow a moneymaking formula. And formulas are just that—set in stone, incapable of changing. Often times, fans struggle to support their beloved artists at the first sign of change. They want that same sensation that left them still in their tracks and wanting more. In the case of Taylor Swift, the problem is more severe, for what makes her songs hits are their breezy girlish charm—their innocence. I’m not criticizing Swift at all. She’s obviously very smart and knows what she’s doing. Red sold 1.21 million copies in its first week. I’m more concerned with society’s inescapable pressure to remain the same. Let’s hope that her fans will let their golden girl grow—in content, in form, and as a feminist—and not succumb to the human impulse to fear change.

So I guess what the author is saying is that "girlish charm" and "innocence" are incompatible with feminism, or with being a feminist. Which is odd, because the author, in another paragraph, defines feminism as "men and women [being] equal." 

So gender equality and innocence are not compatible. Equality thus necessarily being the opposite of innocence, it stands to reason that feminism is sinful! How do these people come up with these things?