Taylor Swift has been accused of being a feminist since the early days of her career, but has often denied it.

Many people thought that her music was a reflection of her feelings on the topic, but Swift said that she didn’t really consider herself a feminist, but did believe in equal rights for women and men.

In 2012 Swift spoke about the topic during an interview. When asked if she thought of herself as a feminist she said,

“I don’t really think about things as guys versus girls. I never have. I was raised by parents who brought me up to think if you work as hard as guys, you can go far in life.”

Thoughts on feminism from Lena Dunham, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Shailene Woodley, Halle Berry and more http://t.co/EFNosJyEwm

— TIME.com (@TIME) August 10, 2014

Lorde and Taylor Swift are quickly becoming teen feminist icons: http://t.co/7nm0b1zxeH

— Teen Vogue (@TeenVogue) March 8, 2014

She recently talked about the subject again and said that she feels like the term feminist often gets a negative rap and that people think it means something that it doesn’t.

“As a teenager, I didn’t understand that saying you’re a feminist is just saying that you hope women and men will have equal rights and equal opportunities,” Swift said in an interview. “What it seemed to me, the way it was phrased in culture, society, was that you hate men. And now, I think a lot of girls have had a feminist awakening because they understand what the word means. For so long it’s been made to seem like something where you’d picket against the opposite sex, whereas it’s not about that at all.”

She also said that her friendship with actress, director and known feminist, Lena Dunham, helped her come to this realization.

Swift’s fans come in all genders, ages, shapes and sizes and she is always courteous and friendly to all of them. While it seems like Swift is very much in favor of empowering women and equal rights, she also wants to make it known that she is not against men in any way nor does she feel there should be any competition between the genders.

What do you think of Taylor’s feelings about feminism?