While Taylor Swift is by no means an unproblematic figure to stan, I wasn’t exactly here for the snide new meme mocking her that seemed prime for pitting powerful women against one another. At least, I wasn’t until I read some of the responses.
Twitter user Nutella tweeted: “Name a b-tch badder than Taylor Swift” last month, and people of course began quote-tweeting her words with “bad” figures including Dora the Explorer, Lisa Frank, and other sugary-sweet examples. While it would be easy to pull together a post just based on these jokes, something far more interesting happened afterwards.
Name a bitch badder than Taylor Swift 😍😛😤 pic.twitter.com/AkSyQBUIME
— Nick (@z3lIus) November 10, 2017
People began tweeting out examples of powerful and influential women throughout history who they felt fit the “bad b-tch” label, women from civil rights leaders to activists to imprisoned war heroes to pirates to fierce grandmothers. The thread quickly turned from a tongue-in-cheek dragging of Swift to an all-out celebration of brave and empowering women.
https://twitter.com/dabnorfish/status/929395956512165888
— Kalee D. Virtual Sessions Available (@GoddessKaleeLA) December 2, 2017
Safiyyah Khan, British-Pakistani girl who smiled down on an ultra right protester.https://t.co/4G22Ot9wI8
And she's wearing FREE PALESTINE t-shirt while at it. pic.twitter.com/vAOnp6to0F
— kesayangan kamu™ (@pitoist) December 3, 2017
Julie d'Aubigny was a French opera singer/swordswoman in the 1600s who killed over ten men in duels over other women and once took holy vows so she could break into a nunnery, sleep with a blonde nun, then burned the church down and escaped with herhttps://t.co/SaGN3FuELu
— ⚔️💘🌸 Wall Market Squat Champ (@Swordwields) December 2, 2017
Someone tried to steal my then-80yo mother’s purse and she grabbed it back, called the police, and then ran the rest of her errands. 💅 https://t.co/1gwzZSTJwD
— coco (@cococoyote) December 3, 2017
https://twitter.com/earlsfield_lab/status/937294999984754688
I mean – https://t.co/kMgEpStBpZ
— 👅 (@tbhidoontcare) December 3, 2017
Septimia Zenobia, Queen of Syria 260-271 AD. She named herself Empress and launched an invasion & captured Egypt, Anatolia, and the entire Levant. She was the most powerful woman in the world & it took the full might of the Roman Legions to send her into exile.
— The other Theodosius II (@marathonhog) December 3, 2017
Of course the original user meant her tweet as a rhetorical question, not as a challenge — but the fact that it has caused so many people to examine notable women in history and to applaud their actions shows the best of the internet.
Go here to scroll through the submissions.
