ROOTING FOR THE ANTI-HERO

 Taylor Swift Forced to Minimize Her Disordered Eating Experience Because People Complained

Swift removed a visual where a scale read “FAT” in her “Anti-Hero” music video. Is her portrayal of her disordered eating really the problem?

Taylor Swift had to water down her artistic expression and how she chose to portray her lived experience with disordered eating because people found the use of the word “FAT” in her “Anti-Hero” video offensive.

During one scene of her “Anti-Hero” visual, Swift originally looked down at a scale, and instead of her weight appearing, the word “fat” showed up in all caps. Some people found the imagery problematic and called the scene fatphobic because it “reinforces the idea of being ‘fat’ as bad,” according to an op-ed from The Cut. Now, the close-up of the scale has been cut entirely from Apple Music and YouTube.

But the visual was simply a representation of Swift’s struggle with disordered eating. If fans can decipher the most minuscule of easter eggs in Swift’s videos, they too can understand that Swift expressing that she felt “FAT” might actually represent her real-life, personal body image issues when looking at the scale, given the context of what she’s shared in the past.