White women try to "reclaim power" through #vanillagirl and #cleangirl beauty posts??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering the only current household name ballerina is black, associating balletcore with whiteness seems very silly. Anyway. I don’t think any of these aesthetic trends are uniquely white. They are probably uniquely UMC, but obviously it’s not only white people who are wealthy.

Misty Copeland is celebrated because of how incredibly unusual it is for a star ballerina to be black. Ballet is overwhelmingly associated with whiteness and thinness.

Cool, can you come up with a single while ballerina with similar levels of fame?

Misty Copeland’s level of fame does not negate the overarching whiteness of ballet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering the only current household name ballerina is black, associating balletcore with whiteness seems very silly. Anyway. I don’t think any of these aesthetic trends are uniquely white. They are probably uniquely UMC, but obviously it’s not only white people who are wealthy.

Misty Copeland is celebrated because of how incredibly unusual it is for a star ballerina to be black. Ballet is overwhelmingly associated with whiteness and thinness.

Cool, can you come up with a single while ballerina with similar levels of fame?

Misty Copeland’s level of fame does not negate the overarching whiteness of ballet.

How is that responsive to “she is the only household name ballerina”?

[Anonymous]

I can’t think of any nail polish color or manicure that isn’t popular among every race.

Also I think these discussions tend to erase every kind of minority except blackness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering the only current household name ballerina is black, associating balletcore with whiteness seems very silly. Anyway. I don’t think any of these aesthetic trends are uniquely white. They are probably uniquely UMC, but obviously it’s not only white people who are wealthy.

Misty Copeland is celebrated because of how incredibly unusual it is for a star ballerina to be black. Ballet is overwhelmingly associated with whiteness and thinness.

Cool, can you come up with a single while ballerina with similar levels of fame?

Misty Copeland’s level of fame does not negate the overarching whiteness of ballet.

How is that responsive to “she is the only household name ballerina”?

It is a response to “associating balletcore with whiteness seems very silly”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was listening to NPR yesterday while doing chores, and the "It's Been a Minute" segment came on.

They interviewed a Buzzfeed reporter, Steffi Cao, who has written that white women feel they've lost some of their political/power/beauty influence, and these #cleangirl and #vanillagirl trends are an attempt to reclaim some of that.

To kick it off, host Brittany Luse chats with Buzzfeed News internet reporter Steffi Cao about her essay, "white women want their power back: on bbls and balletcore, and the entropy of aesthetic." After scrolling on Instagram Reels, Steffi noticed that the clean girl, coastal grandmother and – most importantly – the vanilla girl trends are all ushering in a very specific aesthetic. Brittany and Steffi talk beauty as soft power and the rebrand of white womanhood.
https://www.npr.org/2023/03/28/1166458384/the-vanilla-girl-trend-shows-that-beauty-is-power

I just sat listening, incredulous, to the entire interview. It was the most bizarre thing I have ever listened to on NPR.

For context, I'm in my mid 50s, white, and have always liked minimalist everything. Minimal makeup, minimal manicure, etc. Other than perhaps my age, I'm everything she is talking about.

Having said that, since there has been a consistent push against cultural appropriation (which she touches on with the Kardashians and Miley Cyrus), I find it puzzling that she finds negative intent[b] in just being stereotypically white. She may find it boring, but I'm not sure why she thinks it's an attempt at a power grab.

I'm 100% behind centering women of color without appropriating their innovation and creativity as my own. But that doesn't mean if white women (mostly white, because there are some women of color posting in some of these trends) are posting about oval nails, delicate jewelry, or scandi home decor, it means they are trying to erase the popularity of other great content by women of color.

So, my question to the younger, more with-it crowd here, is this idea completely off its rocker, which is how it seems to me? Or am I missing some more nuanced cultural shift here?

Did white women ever care about "power" or intimidating people or taking offense where there is none to be taken?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering the only current household name ballerina is black, associating balletcore with whiteness seems very silly. Anyway. I don’t think any of these aesthetic trends are uniquely white. They are probably uniquely UMC, but obviously it’s not only white people who are wealthy.

Misty Copeland is celebrated because of how incredibly unusual it is for a star ballerina to be black. Ballet is overwhelmingly associated with whiteness and thinness.

Cool, can you come up with a single while ballerina with similar levels of fame?

Misty Copeland’s level of fame does not negate the overarching whiteness of ballet.

How is that responsive to “she is the only household name ballerina”?

It is a response to “associating balletcore with whiteness seems very silly”.

Whatever historical whiteness of ballet, today it is diverse for the simple reason that young people are diverse. If you hear “ballerina” and imagine a white woman that’s on you. A modern ballet class looks like modern kids: mixed, Asian, white, Latinx, black.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was listening to NPR yesterday while doing chores, and the "It's Been a Minute" segment came on.

They interviewed a Buzzfeed reporter, Steffi Cao, who has written that white women feel they've lost some of their political/power/beauty influence, and these #cleangirl and #vanillagirl trends are an attempt to reclaim some of that.

To kick it off, host Brittany Luse chats with Buzzfeed News internet reporter Steffi Cao about her essay, "white women want their power back: on bbls and balletcore, and the entropy of aesthetic." After scrolling on Instagram Reels, Steffi noticed that the clean girl, coastal grandmother and – most importantly – the vanilla girl trends are all ushering in a very specific aesthetic. Brittany and Steffi talk beauty as soft power and the rebrand of white womanhood.
https://www.npr.org/2023/03/28/1166458384/the-vanilla-girl-trend-shows-that-beauty-is-power

I just sat listening, incredulous, to the entire interview. It was the most bizarre thing I have ever listened to on NPR.

For context, I'm in my mid 50s, white, and have always liked minimalist everything. Minimal makeup, minimal manicure, etc. Other than perhaps my age, I'm everything she is talking about.

Having said that, since there has been a consistent push against cultural appropriation (which she touches on with the Kardashians and Miley Cyrus), I find it puzzling that she finds negative intent[b] in just being stereotypically white. She may find it boring, but I'm not sure why she thinks it's an attempt at a power grab.

I'm 100% behind centering women of color without appropriating their innovation and creativity as my own. But that doesn't mean if white women (mostly white, because there are some women of color posting in some of these trends) are posting about oval nails, delicate jewelry, or scandi home decor, it means they are trying to erase the popularity of other great content by women of color.

So, my question to the younger, more with-it crowd here, is this idea completely off its rocker, which is how it seems to me? Or am I missing some more nuanced cultural shift here?

What chores were you doing?

Dp. I was mucking out the barn and feeding the h.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Considering the only current household name ballerina is black, associating balletcore with whiteness seems very silly. Anyway. I don’t think any of these aesthetic trends are uniquely white. They are probably uniquely UMC, but obviously it’s not only white people who are wealthy.

Saying ballet is now well-diversified because of Missy Copeland is as absurd and false as saying rap is an even mix of Black and white performers because Eminem is a successful artist. Rap is still mostly a Black medium, and ballet is still a mostly white medium.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holy crap, just read the Steffi Cao essay that the piece was predicated on, and... wow.

"The white girl’s soft power is in victimhood. And without it, they are unable to afford the luxuries of committing violence under the guise of it, as they have done for decades."

I, uh, am struggling with my allyship in this moment.

Random but I always think back to this article I stumbled upon. I think the purpose is to anger the reader: https://mmosner.medium.com/6-reasons-why-schitts-creek-is-the-worst-show-on-tv-1a44d7015114

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Considering the only current household name ballerina is black, associating balletcore with whiteness seems very silly. Anyway. I don’t think any of these aesthetic trends are uniquely white. They are probably uniquely UMC, but obviously it’s not only white people who are wealthy.

Saying ballet is now well-diversified because of Missy Copeland is as absurd and false as saying rap is an even mix of Black and white performers because Eminem is a successful artist. Rap is still mostly a Black medium, and ballet is still a mostly white medium.

*Misty, I mean.

[Anonymous]

Beauty is about individual features so it’s always going to have a racial dimension that includes whiteness…. unless white women are just not allowed to be seen at all (tbh seems like the goal for many).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Holy crap, just read the Steffi Cao essay that the piece was predicated on, and... wow.

"The white girl’s soft power is in victimhood. And without it, they are unable to afford the luxuries of committing violence under the guise of it, as they have done for decades."

I, uh, am struggling with my allyship in this moment.

If ONE essay and ONE person’s opinion is making you “struggle with your allyship,” guess what you’re not?

-White woman

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Considering the only current household name ballerina is black, associating balletcore with whiteness seems very silly. Anyway. I don’t think any of these aesthetic trends are uniquely white. They are probably uniquely UMC, but obviously it’s not only white people who are wealthy.

This has real "I'm not racist! I have a black friend!" vibes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Beauty is about individual features so it’s always going to have a racial dimension that includes whiteness…. unless white women are just not allowed to be seen at all (tbh seems like the goal for many).

I think so too - so much projection form the other side. Maybe people should stay in their lane and deal with their own issues, instead of taking them out on other groups who could really not care less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy crap, just read the Steffi Cao essay that the piece was predicated on, and... wow.

"The white girl’s soft power is in victimhood. And without it, they are unable to afford the luxuries of committing violence under the guise of it, as they have done for decades."

I, uh, am struggling with my allyship in this moment.

If ONE essay and ONE person’s opinion is making you “struggle with your allyship,” guess what you’re not?

-White woman

race-based negative characterizations are NOT the way to create “allies.” Quite the opposite. You need to chose - do you want to vent and berate to make yourself feel better; or do you want to generate support for your cause?