The Vilification of Basic Bitches

Why is being basic so bad?

I think I’ve been on the internet/an active observer of culture for about a decade at this point. I’ve seen a lot of trends come and go in that time but one idea has remained evergreen: being a Basic Bitch is BAD. 

I’m confident we all have a mental image of someone who epitomizes a Basic Bitch but I would like to propose the idea that there are actually two Basic Bitch archetypes. 

OG Bitch

This is the woman whose closet consists of Lululemon and Aritzia. She transitioned from a girl to a woman not in a ceremony chanting Torah for the first time, but rather by replacing her Hydroflask with a Stanley Cup. When asked about her interests she’ll mention Love Island, working out and her little dog Lola Coco Bella. Her obsession with avocado toast and tacos morphed into a taste for acai bowls and sushi. Her Bachelor’s degree is in nursing, education or communications and she did in fact go to the Eras Tour this past summer. If you look out your window right now, you may even see her Jeep Wrangler parked outside.

Wannabe Alt Bitch (WAB)

This woman is…me. As soon as we discovered Arctic Monkeys and Tame Impala in middle school, we vowed never to be like the OG Bitches. We cultivated our teenage identities through thrift stores, That 70s Show, Doc Martens and psychedelic tapestries. We carry around our reusable water bottles in our tote bags on our way to our yoga classes. Many of us have piercings and tattoos and try desperately to maintain all of the houseplants we’ve collected. We’re bilingual with astrology being our second language and if you look out your window in the other direction, you’ll see us pretending to read Joan Didion in the park.

Whether you’re an OG Bitch, a WAB, or a combination, it’s all pretty innocuous stuff. Yet, Basic Bitches continue to get shit from many different kinds of people, including other women. We all are living in a reality where calling someone basic is an insult but if you really stop and think about it, why is being basic such a bad thing?

Of course part of it could be sexism in the form of trivializing traditionally feminine interests but  I think there’s more to it than that. I don’t think it's a coincidence that the Basic Bitch phenomenon and social media both came to fruition as the Millennials were growing up. And of course Millennials, Gen Z and everyone younger than us cares about the expression of individualism more than the generations before us (who didn’t have social media). So if A=B and B=C, that means the invention of social media gave birth to a need to express individualism.

Because we all have access to each other through social media, this obviously creates more opportunities to compare ourselves to each other. And because of all of these opportunities, we’re faced with the harsh realization that we’re actually all pretty similar. And if I’m just like everyone else, that means I’m not special. And if I’m not special, where do I derive my value from? Is anyone going to remember or care about me? Will I leave some sort of legacy or does my life not mean much to people of the present and future? I think in a way, people’s vilification of Basic Bitches is the manifestation of fear about how little most of us impact the world around us.

So that’s the glass-half-empty way of looking at it. But there’s actually a beauty in Basic Bitchery.

As I previously confessed, I too am a Basic Bitch. Another thing about me: I’ve always been good at making female friends. Sure part of that is due to my dazzling personality and sometimes simply declaring to people “okay, we’re friends now,” but part of it is due to my WAB interests. Because I like things that so many other girls like, I am able to connect with them upon meeting and then have something to build a foundation of friendship upon. This ability to bond with new people is helpful to literally everyone in any stage of life. And given how the world has grown to feel increasingly combative, I think that’s really nice and important and special to be able to bond with new people.

Also, let’s not forget that often the reason things are popular is because they’re GOOD. Having my Hydroflask was a game changer as a camp counselor running around all day in the Texas heat. I always feel physically strong and in tune with my body after a yoga class. Tacos and sushi and avocado toast are delicious, incorporate a variety of food groups AND are conducive to many different dietary restrictions. (I still can’t get behind acai bowls though, it’s just a sad, cold soup.) If we let popular opinion dictate what restaurants to add to our Yelp list or what Amazon product is worth ordering, why is it so bad if it dictates what workout classes we go to or what vehicle to drink our beverages out of?

Obviously I’m just like everyone else so that means I want to be memorable and special too. However, I don’t think there’s actually anything wrong with being a Basic Bitch. And whether you’re an OG, a WAB, or a combo, anyone who gives you shit for it is likely reckoning with their own fleeting existence. And while they do that, we’ll go enjoy the good things in life.