“Being a basic bitch is a privilege, not a right. White women haven’t earned it yet.”

So, white women, you just want things to quiet down and get back to normal? Not so fast, writes Tressie McMillan Cottom. All the pumpkin spice lattes in the world won’t make up for the fact that white women have done it again and voted for Donald Trump.

Basic is about a kind of consumption. It is the mindless intake of tepid cultural tastes. Basic isn’t really about the Pumpkin Spice Latte or the cottagecore home design or the Hallmark Christmas movies. Those are just signifiers. Basic is about the cultural production and consumption of an apolitical relationship to the everyday world that inocculates the basic from being offended — and perhaps most importantly — from being offensive to others. A basic bitch is, above all, safe.

You Haven’t Earned The Right To Be A Basic B*tch Just Yet