BFT
PENNSYLVANIA
Taylor Swift credits Lena Dunham with making her a feminist. The singer made comments in 2012 about not seeing herself as one, causing backlash amongst her female fans. But Taylor has changed her tune since then, and credits Lena with changing her mind.
‘Becoming friends with Lena – without her preaching to me, but just seeing why she believes what she believes, why she says what she says, why she stands for what she stands for – has made me realize that I’ve been taking a feminist stance without actually saying so,’ Taylor told UK newspaper The Guardian.

The 24-year-old goes on to explain she misunderstood the term from the start, wrongly assuming it meant a dislike of men. Now that Taylor is aware of what a feminist is, she considers herself proud to be one and hopes other young women follow her example. ‘As a teenager, I didn’t understand that saying you’re a feminist is just saying that you hope women and men will have equal rights and equal opportunities,’ she explained. ‘What it seemed to me, the way it was phrased in culture, society, was that you hate men. And now, I think a lot of girls have had a feminist awakening because they understand what the word means. For so long it’s been made to seem like something where you’d picket against the opposite sex, whereas it’s not about that at all.’