Masculinity in Taylor Swift’s Music | Better Man, The Man, Father Figure

I’ll be your father figure. In this Show and Tell episode, Jenn, Jodi, and Maansi unpack masculinity as a cultural construct, from powdered wigs and heels in 18th century France to Travis Kelce happily playing the less famous partner on New Heights.

Jenn kicks things off with Better Man, flipping every one of the ex's flaws to sketch the man Taylor actually wants (grateful, consistent, kind, and secure enough not to talk down to anyone). Jodi brings The Man and gets real about the double standards that turn a woman's "edge" into a man's ambition, plus why leaning in never quite worked. Maansi closes with Father Figure, tracing every Jaguar, chateau, and glass of brown liquor back to the patriarch. (And yes, she researched the history of dick measuring contests. For science.)

Along the way, the hosts map R.W. Connell's hegemonic masculinity, Aragorn versus Commodus, the Byronic hero, Hemingway's code hero, and the colonial baggage packed into a single word like "conquest." Pour yourself a whiskey (or don't, it tastes like fire) and press play.

Episode Highlights

00:59 Intro to the topic
11:36 Jenn's pick, Better Man, plus its Little Big Town backstory
22:35 Jodi's pick, The Man, and the rebranding of female ambition
37:48 Maansi's pick, Father Figure, and the patriarch in the title

Mentioned in This Episode Books

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
Masculinities by R.W. Connell
When Women Lead by Julia Boorstin
Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Browse every book we've mentioned at our Bookshop.org storefront.

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Intro music by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.

AP Taylor Swift is an independent podcast and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Taylor Swift, her management, or her record labels.

Masculinity in Taylor Swift’s Music | Better Man, The Man, Father Figure | AP Taylor Swift E144

Show notes