Taylor Swift’s newest music video is a departure from the fairytales and romance of her old classics. “The Man” is Taylor’s directorial debut, and it stars her in an extremely new look, Taylor Swift. The video features manspreading on a crowded subway, peeing in a subway station and body shots. But the point of this song is to show the outrageous things men can do-and get away with. 

Since beginning her career at age 14, Taylor has faced the sexism of the music industry. She was accused of dating too many guys, then writing too many songs about them. When Taylor was 19, she was interrupted on stage by a 32-year-old man telling millions of people she shouldn’t have won Video of the Year. Magazine headlines called her “too skinny” or debated if she was pregnant. Slut shaming, being told you’re not good enough, and never seeming to have the right body are struggles all women, and others, have faced.

“The Man” addresses these experiences, both lyrically and visually. Swift told Vogue she wrote the song to imagine how her career decisions would have been taken if she, well, was a man. Her lyrics hit back at how the media treats her compared to male celebrities, singing “And we would toast to me, oh, let the players play, I’d be just like Leo, in Saint-Tropez.” Leonardo DiCaprio is able to vacation in Europe with extremely younger girlfriends while the media obsessively focuses on his lack of Oscars over his creepy dating habits. Swift can’t go out to dinner with a man without judgement. 

“The Man” also hits at Taylor’s struggle to get ownership of her Masters. Her old label, Big Machine, refused to give her ownership of the songs she has been writing for years. The lyrics “they’d say I hustled, put in the work, they wouldn’t shake their heads and question how much of this I deserve” seem to hint at the deal that Big Machine Executive Scott Borchetta and executive Scooter Braun made to take control of her work for a few million dollars. In the video, a “No Scooter” sign can be seen, surrounded by the names of Taylor’s older albums. Another sign reads: “if found please return to Taylor Swift.”

Taylor has grown as an artist over the years, but also as an activist. She faced a sexual assault trial in 2017, after she was sued when a man grabbed her without consent. She countersued for a dollar, even though she had seven witnesses and a photo. Millions of women face this struggle, especially without the resources Taylor has. In her documentary Miss Americana, Taylor explains how this case opened her eyes and pushed her to be politically active. In the fall of 2018, she endorsed the Democratic senate candidate in Tennessee and encouraged her social media followers to early vote. In the 24 hours that followed one of her Instagram posts, Vote.org reported 65,000 new registered voters. Early voting in Tennessee increased by 300% after Taylor urged her followers to participate. This was after Taylor’s management team attempted to dissuade her from being political. Interestingly enough, her management team is mostly men.

The video ends with Swift in the director’s chair, telling the male star of the video to “try to be sexier” and “more likable”, statements women are not unfamiliar with. Imagine being one of the bestselling musicians of all time and being told you still aren’t good enough. Men don’t deal with that to the same extent at all. Men can do the bare minimum and simultaneously be the best at whatever they only kind of did.