Don't Create, Don't Rebel

I thought of The Slits' "Typical Girls" while waiting in line to buy an issue of Nylon.



This is going to make me sound more obnoxious than usual, but I've never really been a TV person¹ and never really cared about celebrities except for obscure-ish musicians. Last week one of my instructors was telling the class about how she admired J. Lo for being a musician, entrepreneur, and fashion icon. I was suppressing a derisive sneer until I remembered that I admire Kim Gordon for pretty much identical reasons.² Sure, our tastes differ immensely, but rather than snarkily dismiss her, I now found myself able to empathize with my instructor. (However, I still reserve the right to snark at J. Lo in private.)

I'm going to be subjected to a lot of bad music this year. I was talking to a few of my classmates about a show I'd gone to on a school night (by way of explaining my "sleep-deprived and personality-free" state), and none of them had even heard of Goldfrapp, not even the ones who looked like they might have. That wasn't a good sign. Yeah, I am a snob and a misfit. Sometimes I wear the badge proudly because what else can you do? I'm always going to be an outsider in some way, a spy infiltrating Typical Girl HQ. But I hope I'll continue to find that I actually have more in common with people than I think, and the only way I'm going to learn that is by (gasp) talking to them. And trying to empathize, rather than retreating to my My Pop-Culture References Can Beat Up Your Pop-Culture References ivory tower and basking in my alleged superiority. That is so '90s. Atypical girls fall under spells, buy magazines, and feel like hell, too!

¹True confession: I've never watched an entire episode of ANTM or Project Runway, but I intend to start. I have a feeling I'll enjoy them. I've just always been weird about TV.

²Well, and also, even leaving aside the fact that Kim Gordon influenced an entire generation of musicians which I don't expect anyone at hair school to care about, there's the whole feminist thing. I may not be as principled as I should be, but I consider myself a feminist all the same. And don't talk to me about how the beauty industry perpetuates the objectification of women blah blah. That's a subject for another post.