An Open Letter to T. Alison Swift

Dear Ms. Swift,

I'm sure you hear this all the time, but pop music really is a lot like the academy. Both professions are having difficult, long-delayed, discussions about voice, representation, and appropriation.

That said, I realize we do not have similar standing in our respective fields. In my world, you would be a Judith Butler or Wendy Doniger. While I in yours would be the assistant to they guy Bon Jovi throws his latte at. 

However, in imperial China, at least in theory, the humblest scholar could address the throne as his privilege and duty. In the Islamic world to this day, the practice of counsel (naṣīḥa) can let the boffins advise the sultan where their learning gives them purview.

In that spirit, I'd like to make two remarks about your responses to Nicki Minaj yesterday. To recap for our readers:

She was upset about her snub for an award from MTV and said that such awards invariably go to artists who celebrate a very specific type of feminine appearance and sexuality.

You took offense, repeating your dictum that women should not tear down women. You said Ms. Minaj should take up her grievance with one of the men who was nominated.

She replied saying that she wasn't referring to you, but that you ought to say something critical about beauty and body given your unchallenged standing. 

Here, is what got to most of us: you then offered that she was welcome to join you on any stage you graced. Oy.

My two remarks concern 1) a different response you could have made and 2) what might be helpful to do in the future. 

First, you could have not addressed her tweet at all.

To illustrate, I would guess that you are not interested in Jon Hamm or John Legend's use of the term "feminist" because feminism today is not concerned with what well-meaning men say or don't say; it is about women's voices, full stop. A politics concerned with men's opinions or judgments would be... something else.

Similarly, a good way to show your respect for Ms. Minaj would have been to give her the space to speak-to not in other words, make it about you-to not make it about what situation you think she should be addressing rather than the one she is. Remember Patricia Arquette?

My second suggestion is what to do next. Recently, scholars have started talking about the homogeneous look and sound of panels of experts at academic conferences. Too often, an audience is presented a row of three or four white men.

While certainly not limited to the obscure world of research scholarship, there is a broader point to be made about recognition and desert, about who has a voice.

Some in our largely white and disproportionately male world have agreed that if we are presented such a forum that only involves people who look like us, we won't go.

Maybe white men of the left should make a public point of this; maybe we should be good allies and not try to grab attention. I don't know. But, the people who thought of this convinced me. If I'm asked to be on one of those panels or books, non serviam.

Obviously, that does not pertain to you in this specific case; the "Video of the Year" nominees include Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar. But I think you recognize in your tweets that Ms. Minaj has a point.

Given that you are probably running out of shelf-space for these accolades, it might make a meaningful impact if you declined a hypothetical invite like that or just retweeted an observation you can see has a point, even if it is not precisely your point.

That does it for my thoughts here. They represent things I have considered in the course of my work, in which your work has been a life-sustaining diversion.

I hope you have a chance to get out of the city this year. That New York summer is infernal; come back to see us in Chicago.

Still love the game,

Tim