Open Thread: What Are Your Thoughts About Being “Basic”?
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Do you consider yourself “basic” — and are you OK with that? What are your thoughts in general about the idea and phrase?
It's November, which means besides falling leaves and football, it's PSL Season. Has a drink ever been so maligned? (I dunno, maybe Mountain Dew? Four Loko? Kombucha?) More than the actual drink prompting eye-rolling, though, the target is usually the women who love it. They're seen as …”basic.”
Readers, what do you think? Is “basic” just a harmless way to describe a particular sort of (white, middle- to upper-class) woman? Is it sexist? Are you proudly basic (or semi-basic?) yourself, and craving a PSL at this very moment? (My favorite Starbucks drink is a boring old hot chocolate with “real” milk, personally.)
(Note that, like a lot of slang that's become popular among white people, “basic” has its origins in Black / hip hop culture, though its meaning has evolved. Also worth a read.)
{related: what trend are you totally sick of?}
Definitions of What it Means to Be Basic
To get us on the same page when we chat about the word basic, here's an extremely popular definition of “basic bitch” on Urban Dictionary:
Someone who is unflinchingly upholding of the status quo and stereotypes of their gender without even realizing it. She engages in typical, unoriginal behaviors, modes of dress, speech, and likes. She is tragically/laughably unaware of her utter lack of specialness and intrigue. She believers herself to be unique, fly, amazing, and a complete catch, when really she is boring, painfully normal, and par. She believes her experiences to be crazy, wild, and different or somehow more special than everything that everybody else is doing, when really, almost everyone is doing or has done the exact same thing.
Yes, the terms “basic” and “basic bitch” have been around for years — they're much older than current negative labels for women, like “pick-me,” which as a 40-something, I'm not totally clear on — but we've never discussed basic-ness. Though we've talked about trends, frump, and other judgments on style, basic also encompasses the woman herself.
{open thread: what are you a snob about?}
One good counterpoint to poking fun at women for being basic comes, surprisingly, from College Humor, with “Defender of the Basic” (video slightly NSFW). (On the flipside, four years earlier they made “How To Tell if You're a Basic Bitch.”)
So, popular stuff is popular. And it's fun to be excited about stuff you like, even if millions of other people do too! (Finally, when it comes to stereotypes, why aren't IPA-drinking, The Witcher-watching, or fantasy-football-playing white dudes labeled as basic?)
Readers, do tell: What are your “basic” favorites? (And attention, pumpkin-spice fans: Check out PSL-lover April's posts over on CorporetteMoms about PSL-themed body wash and baby items!)
Stock photo via Pexels / Nathan J. Hilton.
I’m 47 so I probably do qualify as basic or bougie or Karen. Just another way of telling women we’re not cool enough for school.
Same age and yes, I get dismissed (openly or covertly) as a Karen all the time with PTA stuff. Uh, I’m a volunteer and really, it’s so awful to ask about stuff that happens at school and how I could help?
Basic is a word made up to denigrate the consumer choices of (white) women and after the summer of Barbie and Taylor we can happily move past caring about those who will judge our small, purchaseable, joys. Savor the things we enjoy while we can enjoy them!
Agreed.
Welcome back! I’m not American and have no clue what basic means. But I’m sure I’m very basic:)
When I conjure up an image of a “basic b” in my head, it’s someone who is superficial, intellectually incurious, conformist and materialistic.
I don’t consider myself basic but I love pumpkin spice lattes!
I hate it when people use that word as a pejorative. It’s definitely sexist, and it’s not seen as embarrassing for men to enjoy fantasy football or whatever sunglasses are in style or the newest Madden game or whatever. I want people to like what they like, and if they’re having fun– who cares?
As for what “basic” thing I like — pumpkin spice within certain parameters! I don’t like Starbucks in general because of how sweet the drinks are, but if I see a PSL or PS cappuccino or whatever at a local coffee shop, I almost always get it. They’re usually kind of savory and spicy and not too sweet. I also enjoy a pumpkin muffin or similar. I don’t prefer all the other iterations– the body wash, the candle, etc., but I don’t begrudge anyone who does.
Speaking of supposedly “basic” things (whatever), I have to say to people who just don’t “get” Taylor Swift: I’m still not a huge fan or anything (not that there’s anything wrong with that!), but I gave Folklore a try when it came out, because it was getting so much praise, and I have now listened to it countless times. I love it! Give it a try. :) That is my PSL — I mean, PSA for today.
Ha :) I grew up with Taylor and like all her stuff, but Folklore and Evermore are on a different level than the rest of her work. I think Evermore is even better than Folklore!
I think it’s more an overall attitude of blindly following mass market trends regardless of how much you actually like or don’t like the item in question, than it is about specific actual preferences.
This.
I think denouncing interests as basics is another way to denigrate women and to express cynicism about things that most people enjoy. It’s a really negative way to live life!
I grew up with no money so all these expensive “basic” things seem very fancy and special to me. It gives me great joy to get out of my Prius wearing my Uggs and carrying my Clare V bag to go pick up my PSL. Judge all you want.
I think it’s a way to gatekeep women and their likes and dislikes. No one speaks that way about men.
I mean, don’t we laugh at bros?
Definitely. No one is accusing me of being basic but both men and women have described my BF as a “bro” or “frat bro”, which only doesn’t fit because he went to a school that did not have fraternities and he probably would not have chosen to pay for one if he had.
In my experience, sometimes, but not the same way we do at women. There seems to be a lot more gatekeeping and labelling when it comes to women (the recent thread about ‘girl lunch’ comes to mind) that just isn’t there when it comes to men.
I can’t muster up enough energy to figure out what sexist label some randos think best fits me. You’re not my husband, boss, or my friends – why does your opinion matter again?
I agree!
Also, I think the most conformist thing to do these days is to get a tattoo. At the beach, it seems like everyone had one. Not having one seems pretty original, in my opinion.
Not just for women:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V7nQrtMQEw
It’s a way to shame women for liking things.
Here’s my theory around the emergence of the term ‘basic’: When millennials were growing up, there was, in general, positive clout with having the ‘it’ item of the moment, or just simply wearing the same type of items that your peers were wearing (examples from various times in my youth include Uggs, True Religion jeans, Birkenstock boston clogs, Abercrombie tee shirts/jean/jean miniskirts, certain purses). It wasn’t “being basic,” it was just wearing what everyone was wearing, and its was normal.
Now, on the other hand, there is clout in flaunting individuality, or distinguishing yourself from the crowd, and not to emphasize your crowd-following tendencies. Of course, we all do this (that’s why trends exit at all), but it isn’t as cool to lean into that anymore. Add a layer of white women’s interests as being easy targets for ridicule, and voila! Basic.
Genuine question – what would make that video slightly NSFW???
Sure, but brands are nothing new. I grew up in the preppy 80s coveting Vuarnet, Club Monaco, Treetorn, Lacoste, etc.
I had a pair of white Vuarnet Skilynx sunglasses in the 80’s and thought they were the coolest thing ever. I maybe still do. I’ve had at least one pair of canvas Tretorns in my closet for over 40 years. I wish you could still buy the ones where the little design on the side was tartan.
I think it would be really interesting to put together a popular outfit, head to toe and fully accessorized, for each decade.
I don’t like most usage of the terms such as “basic”, “Karen”, and the like. These terms are designed to dismiss and denigrate women. I think that certain men have managed to successfully line up older white women in the line of cultural fire as a diversionary tactic. Having been patted on the head while being called honey by a judge in his robes stepping off the bench (late 1990’s and yes I was fully suited up), having flatly been told “we only hire women for the administrative staff” (1987), having overheard two partners saying they don’t want to make any women partners because it will screw up the annual hunting retreat and clients don’t want them anyway (1992), and having been talked over in court by a male lawyer who really needed to take a seat (last Friday), and so on, ad nauseum, I resent being cast as a member of a group of people who are all at once, in control, ridiculous, needy, and abusing their power over others.
Rant over. Sorry, needed to get that out I guess.