A study showed that the singer’s openness regarding her body image issues could have lifted her fans’ stigma helping them to seek help.
ADVERTISEMENTTaylor Swift has made headlines recently with her Eras world tour, breaking revenue records as well as being criticised for prolonging effects of inflation and her high carbon footprint.
But one of the first studies regarding the artist’s impact on fans has been conducted and it turns out that the pop star may be good for their health.
Researchers from the University of Vermont (UVM) in the United States published a paper in the journal Social Science & Medicine regarding Swift’s impact on her fans on eating habits and body image.
“Our findings suggest that fans who felt highly connected to Swift were influenced to positively change their behaviors or attitudes around eating or their body image because of Swift’s disclosures and messages in her music,” Lizzy Pope, an associate professor at UVM and dietitian nutritionist, said in a statement.
Pope and Kelsey Rose, a UVM clinical assistant professor who specialises in treating eating disorder, analysed 200 TikTok and Reddit posts totalling 8,300 online comments.
In the past, the singer admitted struggling with body image and an eating disorder during her career. Notably, she opened up about these issues in the documentary Miss Americana released in 2020 on Netflix.
She also hinted at “starving her body” in her song ‘You’re On Your Own Kid’ released in 2022.
Researchers noted that overall, Swift's sharing of her personal struggles with eating and body image has positively impacted her fans' relationships with their own behaviours and recovery.
Objectifying still going on
“Fans seemed to take inspiration from the fact that Swift had recovered from disordered eating and subsequently appeared to be thriving,” Rose said.
The analysis also highlighted how Swift’s transparency could have a positive impact in lifting the people’s stigma in seeking help or treatment.
However, the research also noted that a lot of comments analysed kept objectifying Swift and pushing body-focused narratives, even if it was motivated by admiration with comments such as, “she’s gained weight, she looks so happy and healthy now”.
“Even if it was meant to be positive, fans would still comment, which means that they didn't completely internalise her message of, ‘please do not comment on people's bodies anymore,’” said Pope.
There’s been a long tradition of objectifying women’s bodies, especially celebrities at events such as award shows where female celebrities are praised more for their red-carpet outfits than their professional achievements.
“Taylor Swift can do more to change attitudes with a few sentences than we can do in our entire careers,” said Pope.
“So, it’s important to study people that have that kind of impact,” she added.
ADVERTISEMENTBoth researchers also noted that Swift’s current tour features a cast of body-diverse dancers, challenging the notion that expert dancers must conform to a single body size.
