Recently I came across an article about the backlash from the cultural “basic bitch” movement titled “How I went from basic to bad bitch in 30 days” on Thought Catalog. After laughing for a solid 10 minutes, I scanned this satirical masterpiece again. At about the third time re reading I found a few minor flaws. 

The article highlights a labeled “basic bitch’s”  journey to badness, and may I say it is extremely entertaining. During her transition she focused on actions that would improve her so called “bad bitch status.” These extracurriculars include exercising, reading up current events, eating in public, dumping guys who treat you poorly, putting together your own furniture, and holding your liquor.

Correct me if i’m wrong but these “bad bitch” qualities just seem like things that decent human beings should do in general. However ridding your closet of Free People, protesting Halloween, trading in your dog, boycotting brunch, and giving up smiling all seems a little superfluous. First, brunch is bad ass in itself. It follows no rules and makes drinking hard liquor socially acceptable before 11am. But where I really drew the line was when the author claimed that she “will need to be more intimidating” and stop smiling at other people. This is actually where the stem of the issue begins. Not only do I find someone who smiles attractive, but also confident, which is both sexy and intimidating at the same time.

Then it dawned on me that this girl is not really a bad bitch at all. The author of this article generalizes that a bad bitch does “whatever I want, whenever I want, wherever I want.” From the looks of it she isn’t doing what she wants, but what this new, seductive stereotype wants. What is next? Dumping the 25 days of Christmas? 

So after all of these extreme and unnecessary steps, if she isn’t the pinnacle of bad bitchery, who is? I have to admit this article was on the right track. After reading multiple definitions of what the term bad bitch really means, here is what I have gathered. A bad bitch is someone who doesn’t let society label her so simply. She is confident, and she ignores societal influences that try to change who she is. She smiles, wears cable knit sweaters, and sings along to One Direction if that is what she really wants to do. But most importantly? A bad bitch doesn’t let anyone push her around. She doesn’t feel bad for being exactly who she is. She is tough, brave, and isn’t afraid of a double baconator. 

So next time you drop the word “ basic” think about this. Martha Stewart survived jail, Madonna wore bows, Rosie the Riveter rocked polka dots and Maya Angelou loved herself some pearls.