I listen to Taylor Swift, read young adult books and watch Dance Moms.
Some might call these guilty pleasures, but I don’t want to feel guilty about them.
My favorite books are young adult books. I write about young adult books on the Internet and I recommend them to people at the bookstore where I work. I will fiercely defend the value of these books, and argue ardently that adults don’t need to hide the cover of the young adult books when they’re reading them in public. I’m tired of apologizing for the fact that my favorite books are written for and about teenagers when people ask about my favorites, tired of evading the question when people ask what I’m reading. I’m tired of watching Dance Moms on demand when I’m home alone, tired of making a joke of my love of Taylor Swift and One Direction.
If I were cool, I would love these things ironically. But I’m not sorry that my love for them is sincere. Trying to enjoy these things in secret feeds into the idea that I should feel guilty for loving them. People joke that Real Housewives or Grey’s Anatomy are their guilty pleasures but I don’t see why we should feel guilty for things that make us happy. These things bring me real joy. They make me smile. I discovered that Taylor Swift’s 1989 can bring me back from the brink of panic attacks. Young adult books can distract me from the stress and sadness of day to day life.
Societally we view these “guilty pleasures” as lesser than other media. We should feel guilty for enjoying them because they are more base than reading Hemingway or listening to indie pop. I shouldhave moved on to adult books by now people tell me. I should read the classics. Have you tried Jane Austen? Yes, I have. And I love her works. But I still find understanding in young adult novels, in the lyrics of a lovesick Taylor Swift. I listen to Tegan and Sara and Mayday Parade in the same playlists as One Direction and Carly Rae Jepson. These entities can coexist because they bring me joy and understanding in different ways. Humans are emotionally complex, and different things can appeal to different emotional experiences. For me, these “guilty pleasures” give me understanding and simple happiness, and I’m not embarrassed of that. The time has come for me to stop apologizing for things that I simply enjoy. I don’t feel guilty and you shouldn’t either.
Now I have to go, the new episode of Dance Moms is on.
