“My most vivid memory of growing up was my mom and dad telling me I was different and unique and special and that I could do whatever I wanted with my life.” — Taylor Swift (2016 iHeartRadio Music Awards Speech) (p. 55)
Misty L. Heggeness was a former Principal Economist and Advisor to the U. S. Census Bureau. She is now a professor at the University of Kansas. Swiftynomics both presents economic findings about women in our Economy and Heggeness uses the career of Taylor Swift to illustrate how a woman can become a billionaire in the treacherous U.S. recording industry.
“On May 30, 3035, after rerecording four of her early albums, and backed by the financial success of the Eras Tour [which made $4 billion] Taylor announced that she had bought back the rights to her originals and now, finally, owned her entire music catalogue.” (p. 13)
Heggeness shows how the rise of women in the Economy is determined by the amount of freedom and control they can use. She gives examples of the falling number of children women are choosing to have as their careers play a larger role in their lives.
More women graduate from College today than men. Women are starting Small Businesses and hiring more women to help them run their enterprises. The trend towards women’s positive impact and personal growth is clear. Efforts to curtail women in the U.S. will ultimately fail. But it will be a tough fight… GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Preface: Dear Reader — ix
Introduction: Our Economic Power Era — 1
Ch 1: Reinvention (Taylor’s Version) — 15
Ch 2: Survival: Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince –24
Ch 3: Misogyny: You Have the Right to Prove Them Wrong — 41
Ch 4: Care Work: Invisible — 55
Ch 5: Generations: marjorie / The Best Day — 86
Ch 6: Motherhood: Bigger Than the Whole Sky — 110
Ch 7: Self-Investment: You Don’t Own Me — 128
Ch 8: Negotiation and Planning: Mastermind — 143
Conclusion: Is It Over Now? — 164
Afterword: Timeless — 176
Acknowledgements — 181
Notes –– 181
Selected Bibliography – 225
Index — 233
I’m still reading – and I love SF:
“On May 30, 3035, after rerecording four of her early albums …”
Reminds me of “In the year 2525” and shows what AI can do!
Transcription is a game of letter-by-character proofreading…AI often less helpful than it should be.
Todd, AI is still a work in progress.
Wolf was joking about the date-typo in your post, set In the Year 3035…still uncorrected as I see it now. 2025 is what’s desired, I’m guessing. Steve Lewis had a similar date-kluge in his post today…clearly, it’s contagious.
Steve’s 2923 citation is also still up, at last refresh on my end, a minute ago.
Todd, I’ll have to go to Steve’s blog to check that out!
Wolf, AI is changing the entire music industry!
Well…Swift’s situation is both indicative of greater equanimity of access for women, and the continuing overvaluation of the few at the expense of the many. “We simply remove the ‘Boys’ part of the ‘Boys Club’ sign.”
Todd, Taylor Swift gives young girls and women a role model.
Tell that to Donald Trump and Pete (He Man Woman Hater) Hegseth, George, not to mention the others on the right who believe we need to return to the days where women knew their place was the kitchen and the bedroom, giving birth.
Taylor is an outlier, not the future.
Jeff, I’m not sure women will buy into Trump and Hegseth’s return to the Past.
No, except for those who support or vote for them (Heggie has prez ambitions), for some murky reasons.
Todd, Heggie’s mishandling of the Iran War should disqualify him.
No, not if they have a brain anyway.
But these “fetal personhood ” bills are taking away women’s autonomy over their own bodies.
It’s the thin end of the very Handmaid’s Tale wedge.
Jeff, Margaret Atwood saw it all coming…
I knew a professional photographer who met Taylor Swift when she was starting out and was impressed by her and her family. He said they were wonderful people and he saw good things for her. He died well before she took off so couldn’t see how she became a truly nice successful person.
Maggie, Taylor Swift’s parents made many sacrifices to help their daughter’s career. Wonderful, supportive parents!
So, women are to blame for the messes up economy! Glad to hear one of them admit it!
Bob, you are going to be a Lonely Man if you keep that up!
In German we have a bad joke (or maybe some man believe in it:
Women belong in the KKK – Kinder, Küche, Kirche
Well, Wolf, Drumpfoids are way too close to Nazis, all too often.
Wolf, that sounds Kooky to me…