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

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Why is “coastal grandmother” racist lol? There is totally a Black version of coastal grandmother.

The fact that there is "a Black version" is pretty much the whole thing.

DP. Huh? How do?

Having a black version implies that the normative version is white.

I don't have much of an opinion about coastal grandmothers, black or white, but let's remember that only maybe 15% of the US is black.

And nearly all of them are descendants of enslaved people. There’s a relevant 400-year history, not just population numbers, playing a role in what is “normative”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is “coastal grandmother” racist lol? There is totally a Black version of coastal grandmother.

The fact that there is "a Black version" is pretty much the whole thing.

DP. Huh? How do?

Having a black version implies that the normative version is white.

I don't have much of an opinion about coastal grandmothers, black or white, but let's remember that only maybe 15% of the US is black.

And nearly all of them are descendants of enslaved people. There’s a relevant 400-year history, not just population numbers, playing a role in what is “normative”.

I take that 400-year history seriously, but I don't think it has any bearing on the coastal grandmother look. My ethnicity isn't associated with coastal grandmother, either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is “coastal grandmother” racist lol? There is totally a Black version of coastal grandmother.

The fact that there is "a Black version" is pretty much the whole thing.

DP. Huh? How do?

Having a black version implies that the normative version is white.

I don't have much of an opinion about coastal grandmothers, black or white, but let's remember that only maybe 15% of the US is black.

And nearly all of them are descendants of enslaved people. There’s a relevant 400-year history, not just population numbers, playing a role in what is “normative”.

No, a small minority is literally unlikely to be normative.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I don’t know when the left collectively decided to absolve itself and especially its white men from any and all misogyny but it is remarkable to see the self-delusion.

Middle class, middle aged soccer moms from the midwest secretly run the left, didn't you hear?

Those teen and early 20s women (both white and not) who earnestly believe this are going to be so disappointed when they hit their 40s and come to find out women in their 40s don’t run anything. Except maybe the PTA at their kids’ elementary school.

They run plenty. They run corporations, governments and everything else under the sun. Maybe stop playing into misogyny.

A cool thing about this thread is that no matter what you say, you are espousing internalized misogyny.

It's a trap!

Also, you are either doing white trends (racist!) or appropriating non-white trends (also racist!)

The logical conclusion of all the push to eliminate cultural fusion-- rebranded as "appropriation"-- is racial segregation. Im amazed that everyone sits around, dumb as cows, while NPR spends government funds to report out that being a white woman on the internet is an act of aggression. This wont end well if we dont cut the crap.

[Anonymous]

I understand why “clean girl” has racist, misogynist, and classist overtones. I mean, it implies the existence of “dirty girl” and also makes an inherent judgment about a person’s health, hygiene, and even ethics/morality of women based on their appearance. There is a looooong and ugly history of categorizing women as either “pure” or “impure” and WOC, working class and poor women, unmarried women, have long been categorized on the impure side for reasons that have nothing to do with their skin care routine. So I get the criticism of this, though I also think anyone subscribing to “clean girl” west ethics is half a victim of it, because the pressure/expectation that women be pure and clean and perfect is not really empowering. So I disagree with the argument that anyone embracing this aesthetic is “reclaiming” power. It’s more that the are subscribing to some toxic attitudes about women.

But I don’t get calling “coastal grandmother” racist. It’s a little classist, but the idea isn’t even to BE a coastal grandmother. It’s to dress or maybe decorate like one. And there’s nothing inherently racist about wearing comfortable linen separates or chunky knits in soft neutrals. I have seen Ina Garten, Martha Stewart, and Diane Keaton in Nancy Myers movies cited as CG icons. Yes, those at all rich white ladies. But they are also all: older women retaining power and control over their lives, women whose aesthetic preferences comfort and self-care over appealing to men. Is that really the worst thing? I don’t think emulating certain white women is automatically racist, and emulating rich people is really common in fashion and beauty trends.

But we live in a world that has long devalued older women and also insisted that the goal of fashion and beauty should be to please men and try to look younger and hotter. Coastal grandmother refreshingly celebrates older women and the concept of dressing for yourself. Just because it comes from white culture doesn’t make it de facto racist— I think white culture has the ability to produce good things!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is “coastal grandmother” racist lol? There is totally a Black version of coastal grandmother.

The fact that there is "a Black version" is pretty much the whole thing.

DP. Huh? How do?

Having a black version implies that the normative version is white.

Does that make the normative version inherently a tool of reasserting white supremacy?

In the United States? Yes, 99% of the time it does.

So anything majority white is white supremacist. Got it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand why “clean girl” has racist, misogynist, and classist overtones. I mean, it implies the existence of “dirty girl” and also makes an inherent judgment about a person’s health, hygiene, and even ethics/morality of women based on their appearance. There is a looooong and ugly history of categorizing women as either “pure” or “impure” and WOC, working class and poor women, unmarried women, have long been categorized on the impure side for reasons that have nothing to do with their skin care routine. So I get the criticism of this, though I also think anyone subscribing to “clean girl” west ethics is half a victim of it, because the pressure/expectation that women be pure and clean and perfect is not really empowering. So I disagree with the argument that anyone embracing this aesthetic is “reclaiming” power. It’s more that the are subscribing to some toxic attitudes about women.

But I don’t get calling “coastal grandmother” racist. It’s a little classist, but the idea isn’t even to BE a coastal grandmother. It’s to dress or maybe decorate like one. And there’s nothing inherently racist about wearing comfortable linen separates or chunky knits in soft neutrals. I have seen Ina Garten, Martha Stewart, and Diane Keaton in Nancy Myers movies cited as CG icons. Yes, those at all rich white ladies. But they are also all: older women retaining power and control over their lives, women whose aesthetic preferences comfort and self-care over appealing to men. Is that really the worst thing? I don’t think emulating certain white women is automatically racist, and emulating rich people is really common in fashion and beauty trends.

But we live in a world that has long devalued older women and also insisted that the goal of fashion and beauty should be to please men and try to look younger and hotter. Coastal grandmother refreshingly celebrates older women and the concept of dressing for yourself. Just because it comes from white culture doesn’t make it de facto racist— I think white culture has the ability to produce good things!

NP. I could see “vanilla girl” being racist too.

But as a middle-aged white woman, I’m baffled about how I could adopt any style besides something like Coastal Grandmother or Crunchy Old Hippie or Conservative Pearl Clutcher without veering into Kardashian or other territory and being accused of cultural appropriation. It’s like Cao is setting up a “gotcha” situation for any thing I put on.

[Anonymous]

I thought “vanilla girl” was supposed to be like a reclamation of “basic b” but I guess it’s an actual thing? Like where you like beiges and neutrals and cozy things and sugar cookie scented candles?

[Anonymous]

I'm white and I'll wear my hear and clothing as I please. If you have a problem with that, go seek therapy. You don't own me, isn't that the whole slavery argument? And now certain ethnic groups in this country think they through entitlement in their minds can own another race of people and tell them how to speak, how to present themselves, if they can wear braids, how they should dress, beyond laughable. Go sell crazy somewhere else, I am living my life whether you approve or not.

[Anonymous]

Agree with you, 100%, OP. Totally ridiculous NPR segment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NPR is black, black, black, gay, gay, trans, trans, trans, school shooting, white boy, white boy, white boy.

It isn't news. It's an ad.

I used to mostly enjoy listening to NPR but every time I turn it on now, I have to turn it off within minutes because it’s so bad. What am I supposed to listen to when I’m driving around (lots of short driving trips for work)? Do all of you just load up podcasts?

[Anonymous]

[But they are also all: older women retaining power and control over their lives, women whose aesthetic preferences comfort and self-care over appealing to men. Is that really the worst thing? I don’t think emulating certain white women is automatically racist, and emulating rich people is really common in fashion and beauty trends.

But we live in a world that has long devalued older women and also insisted that the goal of fashion and beauty should be to please men and try to look younger and hotter. Coastal grandmother refreshingly celebrates older women and the concept of dressing for yourself. Just because it comes from white culture doesn’t make it de facto racist— I think white culture has the ability to produce good things!





This is fantastic and should be celebrated, especially by younger women. I am reaching menopause and while it’s discomforting, I’m starting to realize how much freedom there is in dressing however the eff I want as I get older and my body changes. Our culture sees older women as useless, and these women are turning their backs and doing and wearing what they want. So I guess someone - a “feminist” or “ally” - has to try to take them down.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I'm a woman of color and I find the article silly. What I guess I don't understand is the tremendous outrage it seems to have triggered here among white women. If you think it's dumb, that's fine, but what is it about this that makes white women so damn fragile about it all?

Being constantly told you’re a “Karen,” being constantly told you are not recognizing your privilege (never mind people having no idea what struggles you or your family have faced), being constantly told you’re a “basic B” or “have no culture,” being constantly told you’re not recognizing other people (again, when people don’t actually know who you are or what you’ve done), being told you’re not an ally, or not ally enough, or that your allyship is “performative,” being constantly told you are “fragile”…basically, you are never doing it right. Which is all fine and part of life and not a hard burden to bear, but it is never-ending.

I’m a white woman and no one tells me those things (let alone constantly!!!)

Have you considered that this experience of how you feel labeled as a basic Karen may have more to do with your personality than your race?

Doesn't the fact that there is a widely recognized word for white women but not white men clue you in to how pervasive misogyny is? Easier to pick on the girls than the boys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NPR is black, black, black, gay, gay, trans, trans, trans, school shooting, white boy, white boy, white boy.

It isn't news. It's an ad.

I used to mostly enjoy listening to NPR but every time I turn it on now, I have to turn it off within minutes because it’s so bad. What am I supposed to listen to when I’m driving around (lots of short driving trips for work)? Do all of you just load up podcasts?

Yes, I stopped donating to NPR and stopped listening to their race-war tinder. I listen to podcasts. The Daily is good, Morning Wire, etc.

[Anonymous]

Plenty of people would like to disempower white women, so I suppose push back is fair.