taylor swift maxim

A very different look for Taylor Swift and a very different interview too. You wouldn’t normally expect the Hot 100 list in Maxim to be a place where Taylor Swift would be talking about feminism but look at her go!

Swift used her #1 ranking to call out the double standards women face everyday and  why she’s been more vocal about feminism recently:

“Honestly, I didn’t have an accurate definition of feminism when I was younger. I didn’t quite see all the ways that feminism is vital to growing up in the world we live in. I think that when I used to say, “Oh, feminism’s not really on my radar,” it was because when I was just seen as a kid, I wasn’t as threatening. I didn’t see myself being held back until I was a woman. Or the double standards in headlines, the double standards in the way stories are told, the double standards in the way things are perceived.”

It might have a lot to do with the fact that this is Maxim is on its fourth issue since Kate Lanphear was announced as its first female editor-in-chief last year. Lanphear has made it clear that Maxim is turning away from it’s smutty, bro-geared former style and that includes picking women for the annual “Hot 100” based on their cultural relevance and accomplishments, not just their looks.

“I was really determined with the issue to try and redefine what hot means for the brand,” Lanphear told WWD. For me, the barometer of hot isn’t just beauty; it’s relevance. Our audience likes to look at beautiful things and, among them, beautiful women, but they are interested in so much more than that.”

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In the Q&A in Maxim, Taylor says this has been her “favorite year of [her] life so far,” and talks about the time she spends with all the ladies in her life.

“You have to have time to breathe and have a happy life, and friendships are so important to me. Thankfully — thanks to the fans — now we get to play stadiums, so we do two or three stadium shows a week. I’ll see my friends in whichever city I’m closer to.”

She does a little complaining too but it’s a pretty thoughtful complaint about the everyday sexism that still exists in the music industry.

“A man writing about his feelings from a vulnerable place is brave; a woman writing about her feelings from a vulnerable place is oversharing or whining. Misogyny is ingrained in people from the time they are born. So to me, feminism is probably the most important movement that you could embrace, because it’s just basically another word for equality.”

Taylor choosing to identify as a feminist is especially important because, back in 2012 in “The Daily Beast,” , she stepped away from the word, saying she didn’t view matters as a “guys versus girls” situation. It’s so very awesome to see her not only getting what the label really means but sharing it with what is usually a pretty male audience in Maxim readers. She’s grown up to be such a good role model and just an overall great person.

As to what has her topping the list, according to Maxim T-Swift is “deeply unconcerned with whether or not you consider her attractive, which of course only makes her more so.”