Swift's team complained to Mueller's bosses, providing the photograph the pair had posed for as evidence.
He was fired. Two years later Mueller sued Swift, asking a court to award him $3 million in damages to compensate for his lost earnings. He said he didn't do it. Swift then countersued, seeking a single US dollar in compensation.
And yesterday, she won.
So why sue for a measly $1.00, when you're one of the highest earning pop-stars in the world? The reasons make Taylor Swift an absolute legend.
1. BECAUSE NOT MANY WOMEN REPORT SEXUAL ASSAULTMany young women experience sexual harassment and assault in the workplace but don't think what's happened to them is 'serious enough' to report. Michelle Ruiz and Lauren Ahn conducted an extensive survey for Cosmopolitan magazine in 2015 where they asked women if they'd been sexually harassed at work. 16 per cent responded that they had.
However when the questionnaire probed more deeply, it turned out that the actual percentage was at least five times that. Women reported having received lewd texts from colleagues, being touched inappropriately at office functions and having bosses proposition them in the office. Of all the women who had experienced some form of harassment, a whopping 71 per cent never reported what happened to them.
Taylor Swift's fans are precisely the same cohort who read magazines like Cosmopolitan. By standing up and speaking out, Swift is showing them that sexual assault is never okay. She is using her power to make them more powerful. She's giving them the confidence and the encouragement to report what has happened to them. She's telling them that sexual assault is always a "big deal".
2. BECAUSE IT'S NOT OK TO BLAME VICTIMSWhen women make claims of sexual assault or harassment they are regularly not taken seriously. Some other motive is ascribed to their allegations, or they're ridiculed for being uptight or no fun.
Sometimes they're blamed for or made complicit in their own abuse; told that they shouldn't have been drinking, or wearing a particular outfit, or being in an unsafe place.
Despite these same tactics being used against her in court, Swift refused to back down. By doing so she spoke for thousands of sexual assault victims who've been made to feel like what happened to them was their own fault.
It would have been far easier for Swift to settle Mueller's original claim out of court and to keep this issue away from the tabloid press. Instead she sat confidently in a courtroom and responded fiercely to every question from Mueller's legal team that was intended to discredit and undermine her case.
Key to Mueller's case was an allegation that Swift got the wrong guy, that she misidentified who it was that actually assaulted her.
When this line of questioning was put to Swift, she said calmly, "I am not going to allow your client to make me feel like it is any way my fault, because it isn't ... I am being blamed for the unfortunate events of his life that are a product of his decisions and not mine."
3. BECAUSE NOT EVERY WOMAN IS IN A FINANCIAL POSITION TO FIGHT BACKLegal fees are notoriously expensive and pursuing a court case is time-consuming, so seeking compensation through the legal system simply isn't an option for many women. Sexual assault can also be difficult to prove because it's often one person's word against another.
Most women can't afford take the risk of fighting a case, losing and being left with substantial legal bills.
Taylor Swift is in the rare and privileged circumstance of not having money as a concern.
She's rich and influential enough that exorbitant lawyer's fees and the prospect of losing and having to pay Mueller's costs wasn't a deterrent. That meant she was in an extraordinarily powerful position compared to the average woman who is a victim of sexual assault.
The fact she only sought $1 in compensation is telling, in regards to Swift's motives. This wasn't about financial recompense or bankrupting Mueller; this was about making a point on behalf of women who don't otherwise have a voice. Notably, Swift also provided financial assistant to fellow pop-star Kesha last year, to pay her legal fees in a case brought against her former producer for sexual assault.
Taylor Swift has done a terribly important thing for her young fans around the world, many of who have experienced or will experience sexual assault in their lifetimes. She's taught them that sexual assault is serious and that its damage is real. She has taught them about accountability and standing up to power. She's taught them about boldness and bravery and she has given them a voice in a world that often fails to take them seriously.
Bravo Taylor Swift. Take a bow.
news.com.au
Jamila Rizvi is writer, radio presenter and news.com.au columnist. Her first book, Not Just Lucky is available now. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
