From award-winning singer-songwriters like Taylor Swift to micro-celebrity content creators like Dream, famous artists are constantly expected to be beautiful and confine themselves to societal beauty standards in order to be taken seriously. But why is this so? 

Taylor Swift receives a lot of disrespect, mostly from men who hate her music and hate her. But what has Taylor Swift really done to warrant this hate? While Taylor Swift is a leading contributor to pollution because of her private jet’s CO2 emissions, and her fan base spends ungodly amounts of money on their parasocial relationship with her, the main hate she receives revolves around her appearance and her popularity.  

But why is her popularity poorly received by some? Isn’t it a good thing that young girls can have someone to look up to and inspire them to chase their dreams? When I was out for dinner with some friends, after making a Taylor Swift joke to my best friend, the boy across from us rudely interrupted us with his unwarranted comment that “Taylor Swift was a 6.”  To be frank, Taylor Swift is by no means ugly. She might not be a 10 to everyone, but what does that matter? 

Men, intimidated by a confident woman in power, try to break her down in any way they can. Women are more consistently held to a higher beauty standard compared to men. Online, if someone calls Ryan Gosling a 6, thousands of men would come to his aid to defend their glorious king, but when it comes to Taylor Swift, feel free to say whatever misogynistic rude comments you have! 

As stated earlier, this unrealistic standard doesn’t just affect award-winning recording artists. When Dream, a notable gamer on YouTube, posted his face reveal, the internet was very…underwhelmed. People became angry, feeling as though they were robbed of who they were expecting versus who they got. While this situation was a little different because he had an anonymous profile throughout his whole career, after seeing his appearance, no one could appreciate his videos for what they were. People wanted to spread hate and trash him because he didn’t fit into the standard of the person they created in their heads and imagined him to be. But the whole reason he initially gained a following was because people could relate to him and enjoyed his content. 

So if a famous person, artist, or content creator is spreading positivity and fostering a community of inclusion where people can relate to each other, feel understood and acknowledged, and make new friends, then who cares about their looks? Jealousy and hate toward people like Taylor Swift stems from trying to fit into a group of people that is specifically anti-that person. It might make you feel unique and special at that moment, but when you take time to mature and see things for what they are, you’ll realize that your unwarranted hate is just immaturity. 

Why do these artists have to be good-looking in order for society to just appreciate their work?