The best bits of being a basic bitch

Charlotte McGing shares her thoughts on being labelled a ‘basic bitch’…

Now, I will admit, I do have all the required qualities to be a basic white girl – I’m white, I drive a Fiat 500, I drink Starbucks on the regular and I LOVE Taylor Swift (‘1989’ is a work of art, don’t fight me on this). However, I was astounded when a male I was conversing with presumed these qualities meant I was shallow and uncultured. In fact, he then proceeded to interrogate me, asking what my favourite piece of art was, if I’d ever listened to classical music or even had a favourite composer (as if Nicki Minaj doesn’t count?). He asked me if I’d read “the great literatures of the world”; if I’d “ever travelled anywhere before”; if I was “well read on politics or history”. When I finally submitted my essay-long answer detailing several of my cultural interests, he then asked me if I’d Googled them.

I want to know when people started deciding that liking certain popular music or items labelled you as shallow…

Now, at the time, I felt a mixture of infuriation and amusement but then I started to think about this issue in greater detail. Why had he presumed that my love for Taylor and Tchaikovsky were mutually exclusive? Why can’t I love Starbucks and Shakespeare at the same time? Does my Bridget Jones DVD collection mean I can’t have an opinion on the recent air strikes in Syria?

I want to know when people started deciding that liking certain popular music or items labelled you as shallow or basic. It’s not only condescending, it’s – dare I say it – sexist towards modern women, to decide that shared interests populated by a certain demographic are somehow worth less than others.

I know a lot of females who love the same things as I do – they just aren’t as open about it. One of my close friends admitted the other day that she loves a new Bieber track, but then had to go and listen to her Smiths vinyl to “cleanse her soul”. Why? Why must we dissociate ourselves from popular interests in order to seem cool or cultured? It’s almost as if females feel an innate need to distinguish themselves from the typical woman, or as she is now known, the ‘basic bitch’.

Every female book or movie character claims they aren’t like the other girls: they are different, unique, special. Women are told they have to stand out from the crowd, because there’s something wrong with the “basic” women that they are so clearly in competition with. Women are taught from an early age to be more than their gender, to separate themselves from typical feminine qualities in order to seem more than they are. However, collecting MAC lipsticks, loving Pretty Little Liars and quoting Mean Girls in every other sentence does not mean you are less intelligent than anyone else – I promise you, there is no correlation between being a ‘basic white girl’ or a ‘basic bitch’ and being smart, cultured and accepting.

Quoting Mean Girls in every other sentence does not mean you are less intelligent than anyone else…

If you hate Beyoncé, that’s fine (sort of); if you can’t stand the colour pink, by all means, choose another colour; but please ladies, let’s encourage each other to own our femininity and decide for ourselves what we can and can’t enjoy! Embrace your inner stereotypical white girl, stick on Legally Blonde and realise that the only person who can define who you are is you.