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In Defense of Being Basic
Embracing the basic as an act of feminist rebellion
Note: This article primarily addresses the experiences of white, middle-class and above, heterosexual girls and women. Most of the items, hobbies, and trends mentioned here require a certain degree of privilege and socio-economic status to even access.
It’s that time of year again. The air is crisp, the leaves are showing the first hints of their fiery future, and the pumpkins have officially taken over.
Your morning coffee? Pumpkin. Your Friday night beer? Pumpkin (and cinnamon-sugar rimmed). Your cheese? Yes, that too is now pumpkin-flavored because nothing is sacred. And I love it.
After sweating through my clothes on the subway every morning for three months, I’ve finally made it to the other side. With Labor Day Weekend in our rear-view, it’s unofficially fall and time to take our blanket scarves and leggings out of storage, pin rustic-chic wedding ideas to Pinterest boards we created despite not actually being engaged, and sip our damn PSLs in peace.
And yet.
My excitement for the coming season will almost definitely be greeted by eye rolls. There will be memes decrying the unoriginality of nearly every item and activity the season has to offer, from corn mazes to crafting rustic…
