The other day I was reading an article that I'm a tiny bit ashamed to say was titled, "20 Signs You're a Stereotypical White Girl." Personally, I prefer the term basic and the reason is that all the things that make you "basic" are in fact basic. They're commonplace, they're not special, you can find them almost anywhere. And not only that, you can find a lot of people who enjoy these things almost anywhere.
My friends have told me I'm their basic friend. A little piece of me is proud of my level of basic-ness, yet there is a bittersweet twinge, between feeling proud and feeling embarrassed. Because, for some reason that I have not quite figured out, being basic and liking certain things has a negative connotation about it. The feeling is a little bit as if you are less than, because you like certain things.
Here's the thing: if liking Starbucks (specifically Pumpkin Spice Lattes), if wearing leggings almost daily, owning more than one pair of uggs, enjoying coats from The North Face, eating Nutella, and having all of Katy Perrys CD's makes me basic, then I don't want to be anything other than basic. Why? Because I thoroughly enjoy every single one of those things.
I didn't just wake up one morning and decide that my new life goal was to do everything I could to be basic, believe me. I think of a lot of things when I get up every morning, whether or not I'm going to Starbucks, so I can Instagram it later is not one of those things. But if you give me the choice between Starbucks and black coffee, I will choose Starbucks, every time. It just means I like it better, not that I'm dumb.
I have a pretty significant collection of Bath and Body Works products, and the entire top drawer of my vanity is dedicated to makeup. I bought Taylor Swifts' album, "1989", the day it was released. I color my hair and get my nails done regularly. Maybe those things define me, but I like to think they don't. I can quote "Pitch Perfect", and I love sitcoms/romcoms. Apparently, that qualifies me as basic. But that's cool. The reason that these places are successful, and that romcoms and sitcoms are popular, is because so many people like them.
In society, many people talk about how you shouldn't classify people by their stereotypes because that's unfair. Well, I agree with that wholeheartedly. Just because I enjoy the things that would qualify me as basic, it doesn't mean that's all I, or any other person who likes those same things, is.
Us basic girls, we're so much more than our stereotypes. We're students, we have jobs and careers; we contribute to our communities. We're not dumb and we're not cold-hearted. We're people. We're living life and just because we like coffee and a certain brand of clothing, doesn't mean we're bad people. So no, being basic isn't a bad thing. In fact, I like it.
