Ruby Rose Slams ‘Incredibly Stupid’ Criticism of Taylor Swift’s ‘Trad Wife’ Lyrics on ‘Showgirl’: ‘Stop It’

The critical response to Taylor Swift‘s new album, The Life of a Showgirl, has been all across the board, but there’s one section of the discourse that Ruby Rose — a longtime friend of the pop star’s — isn’t standing for.

In a series of posts on Threads on Monday (Oct. 13), the actress hit back at claims that Swift is pushing a socially conservative narrative with her lyrics about marriage and wanting to start a family on Showgirl. “As someone who has spent many nights discussing the world, social injustice and life, with The Show Girl herself,” Rose began, noting that she refuses “to say [Swift’s] name in the same sentence as the hate group, Wackadoodles,” seemingly referring to MAGA Republicans.

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“Given her public position against Trump, and his against her,” Rose continued of the 14-time Grammy winner. “If you are falling for the propaganda ‘Trad wife’ ‘X,y,z’ claims, you are most definitely walking into the biggest man made, rage bait, black hole. Stop it.”

According to Merriam-Webster, the Internet-coined term tradwife — “trad” meaning “traditional” — refers to a “married woman who embraces traditional gender roles and values.” It’s often applied to young women who choose to be homemakers, and it’s “closely associated with a 2020s social media trend widely viewed as ultraconservative.”

Swift is certainly a far cry from this definition of a so-called tradwife. The singer has spent the past 20 years building up one of the most successful music careers of all time, and she only recently got engaged at the age of 35 to fiancé Travis Kelce.

On Showgirl, however, Swift does at times sing about wanting to get married and have children. “When I said I don’t believe in marriage, that was a lie,” she croons on “Eldest Daughter,” while “Wi$h Li$t” finds her gushing about how she wants to “have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you … got me drеaming ’bout a driveway with a basketball hoop.”

The references were enough for some people to suggest that Swift was promoting conservative ideals, including one Jezebel essayist who expressed their disbelief that “one of the greatest songwriters of our time couldn’t think of a more interesting way to convey her deep love without a pick-me undertone or resorting to the girlhood fantasies of domestic bliss that the far-right is pushing hard.”

But Rose isn’t having any of it. “It’s not true, and it’s incredibly stupid,” they added on Threads. “It’s also embarrassing and hurtful to see energy put into this. Keep that energy and let’s take it where it’s necessary and needed.”

As for whether Swift’s billionaire status somehow indicates that she isn’t a generous person, Rose added on Threads, “She used to scroll go fund me like a social media app. Clicking ‘reach their donation’ like the ‘like’ button.”