Reason behind social researcher’s wild call for Taylor Swift to get married, settle down and have babies

A controversial theory proposed by a leading social researcher is calling for popstar Taylor Swift to get married and start a family, in a move likely to enrage feminists, writes Des Houghton. Here’s why.

Taylor Swift should get married, settle down, and have babies.

That’s the intriguing theory posed by Sophia Worringer, a social researcher and director of Britain’s Centre for Social Justice.

According to Worringer, that is the best way for Swift to empower young women and to help stem the ageing crisis that will have a vast negative economic impact, especially in Australia, the US, Japan and Great Britain.

It is also an idea that will no doubt enrage most feminists.

Worringer, who usually comments on more gritty topics like poverty and prison policy, says Swift’s potential for good cannot be underestimated.

“We need more positive public figures to embrace the joys of marriage and motherhood, just as we need a serious reckoning about the declining fertility rate,” she wrote in an opinion piece in The Article.

“Taylor’s fans have grown up with her, walking with her through teenage heartbreak, coming-of-age confusion and finding their feet as professional women.

Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs kisses Taylor Swift. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

“The next chapter could be equally symbiotic. Taylor may be one of the most influential and successful women in the world, but if she really wants to influence the future of America, and the West, for the long term, she should employ the Taylor effect to tackle one of America’s biggest problems: the decline in marriage and birthrates.”

The marriage rate is also in decline in Australia, so her marriage would send a positive message here as well. It might be unfashionable to say so, but families are the glue that hold society together. The age at which Australians marry is gradually rising. The last Census found that for the first time in our history fewer than half the adult population, those 15 or over, was married. That may have been a big turning point.

It is of course preposterous to tell Taylor Swift or any other woman when they should marry and procreate, if ever.

Yet Worringer has a good point, albeit a provocative one.

Swift can be a positive force for young people everywhere.

She showed a hint of that in the run-up to the last US presidential election in 2019, Worringer said, when she posted a short message on Instagram encouraging her then 272 million followers to register to vote. An extra 35,000 people did so overnight. So Swift is also a protector of democracy in a land where extremists on both sides threaten
civil disorder.

Taylor Swift concert at the MCG. 2024. Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jake Nowakowski

Worringer speaks of Taylor Swift’s “amazing amount of soft power”.

Swift also has 79 million followers on Facebook and 95.4 million on X.

Her influence staggers me. The NFL reported 53 per cent more girls aged 12 to 17 are now watching the NFL. Swift’s appearance at the Super Bowl thriller between the San Francisco 49ers and the victorious Kansas City Chiefs helped boost the television audience to a record 123.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings. And there Swift stole the show with the passionate embrace and kiss of boyfriend Travis Kelce, a hairy hunk who plays for the Kansas City Chiefs. It’s OK to fall in love. Taylor Swift just said so.

Can marriage and motherhood be far away? For a young woman with a private jet and a $1.1bn fortune, Swift appears to be “normal”.

The Catholic journalist Greg Sheridan, the keeper of faith and morals at The Australian, wrote how delighted he was when Swift declared she was a Christian in a US interview.

I haven’t a clue about the merits or otherwise of Taylor Swift’s music, but her shows look like a lot of fun.

And there is a welcome feature about the Swifties who come to see her. They too, appear normal. And they are obviously happy. They remind me of Beatles fans.

Swifties don’t elbow one another or get angry. At Swift concerts there have been no reports of violent behaviour that I have seen. No drugs either, and no hectoring placards.

No animosities. Just people enjoying themselves.