How do we put this? Maxim magazine isn’t known for advocating on behalf of feminism. Like, at all. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a great place for it to happen. 

Things have changed at the men's mag this year. For starters, new editor Kate Lanphear has ditched the semi-naked focus of the Hot 100 list. And if you look at some of the previous covers, there’s definitely a switch up in the way women are represented...

Topping this year’s list, Taylor Swift has used her cover interview to highlight the importance of feminism and the need to challenge society’s misogynist double standards.

The fact that Maxim has traded in the bedroom shots for a decidedly more empowering way of celebrating women is really new to us. But we’ll take it! Maybe it's just the place for horned-up boys to learn about the effects of misogyny and oppression of women when they're perving for pictures of half-naked models.

"To me, feminism is probably the most important movement that you could embrace, because it's just basically another word for equality," Taylor told the magazine.

"Honestly, I didn't have an accurate definition of feminism when I was younger. I didn't quite see all the ways that feminism is vital to growing up in the world we live in," she said.

"I think that when I used to say, 'Oh, feminism's not really on my radar', it was because when I was just seen as a kid, I wasn't as threatening. I didn't see myself being held back until I was a woman. Or the double standards in headlines, the double standards in the way stories are told, the double standards in the way things are perceived. A man writing about his feelings from a vulnerable place is brave; a woman writing about her feelings from a vulnerable place is oversharing or whining. Misogyny is ingrained in people from the time they are born."

Well said,Taylor! And Maxim (?). Here's hoping people actually read the words instead of flicking through for some bikini-clad pictures.

In the meantime, we're just going to leave Taylor’s new female-filled video here. Because it rules.

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From the editors of Cosmopolitan Australia 

From: ELLE UK