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Thursday, May 27, 2021
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com MICHIGAN IN COLOR
The week begins with the
Moon in Scorpio from May 24 to
25. The Scorpio Moon unearths
our
innermost
desires
and
emotions, and lets us face them
in all their intensity. Dig deep
into your mind and abandon any
fears or limiting beliefs.
The powerful energy of the
Scorpio Moon transitions into
the even brighter full Moon and
a lunar eclipse in Sagittarius
on May 26. The full Moon
brings each sign closure, and
the eclipse magnifies the full
Moon’s power. Now is the time
to make peace with your past
and confidently move forward
with your life.
Venus
squares
Neptune
on May 27, leaving everyone
slightly on edge and prone to
disappointment. Be careful to
communicate clearly. On May
28 the Moon enters Capricorn,
which can motivate us to be very
productive and work tirelessly
toward our success.
Mercury begins its dreaded
retrograde cycle on May 29,
and it will exit its retrograde
phase on June 22. Mercury is
currently in Gemini, whose
flippant nature indicates that
each sign will need to face
many changes at the same time.
Remain flexible in order to
transform Mercury retrograde’s
challenges into opportunities.
On the same day, Mercury
forms a conjunction with Venus,
which brings cheerfulness and
lighthearted merriment.
The Moon enters Aquarius
on May 30, which encourages
us to think of new ideas, revise
our usual routines and interact
with others. The week closes
on a high note with Mars
forming a trine with Neptune,
which boosts our creativity
and energizes us for the week
ahead.
It was jean shorts and a
cropped
tank
top,
probably
because we were in the middle of
a hot summer, and it was a cute
outfit that let them stay cool.
Crowds of girls walked around
campus wearing similar outfits.
I didn’t see any problem with
it, but the people around me
sure did, and so did Instagram
and Twitter. Pictures of groups
of girls circulated throughout
Barstool’s
Instagram
with
“copy and paste” being a go-to
phrase in the comment section,
ironically
pointing
out
their
“lack of originality.” Their outfit
became the symbol of “basic,” a
term commonly used as another
way to shame women for almost
everything they do, when in
reality, it’s just a popular form of
individuality.
When I think of individuality,
I think of a spectrum. On the
extreme
left,
we
have
the
individuality complexes, where
every decision we make revolves
around
being
different
and
standing out from the people
around us. On the extreme right,
we have the opposite, where we
deny ourselves from any ounce of
individuality to simply fit in with
the crowd. In my experience, we
all have to dabble on both sides
of the spectrum before actually
finding ourselves in the middle.
For most of middle school, I
planted myself on the left side
of the spectrum. Walking into
school every day with dark blue
basketball shorts and a dry-fit
T-shirt made me feel like I was
different, playing into the “not
like other girls” trope. This
trope centers around — and
against — society’s description of
“basic” women as unintelligent,
uninteresting,
talentless
and
superficial in order to portray
them as inferior to men. It forces
many women to try to prove
themselves as worthy and further
distance themselves from the
“basic” girl stereotype put upon
them. Falling into a spiral of
trying to prove myself, I rejected
pop music, hated makeup and
the color pink and fixated on
sports. There’s nothing actually
wrong with hating or liking these
things, but this persona I adapted
by following the “not like other
girls” trope felt constricting. I
lost touch with the real me.
My box of earrings sat in the
corner of my room untouched. The
piercings on my ears closed up for
the first time since I was a baby.
My collection of nail polish was
quickly thrown into the trash, all
because I did not want to fit into
the “stereotypical girl” who liked
pink and jewelry and dresses.
But the clothes I wore to break
away from the stereotypes did
not represent me. I simply played
into them to stand out. I was not
the tomboy that I tried to present
myself as, and I felt trapped and
constricted playing into this “not
like other girls” cliché. By the
time eighth grade rolled around,
I got tired and felt unhappy
with having to avoid the “girly”
things I secretly liked for so long.
During this time, I started letting
new people into my life that
drastically changed my lifestyle;
our weekends were filled with
movie marathons of every “chick
flick” that we could think of. My
friends would talk about them
for hours after we watched,
highlighting
everything
they
loved and hated about the movies.
In every movie we watched, they
picked apart the hidden sexism
behind the characters and the
plot — the “not like other girls”
trope. Before this, I had never
even acknowledged the trope’s
existence, yet I unknowingly
went along with it. I quickly grew
to be embarrassed for acting
differently just for the sake of
being different and playing into
a misogynistic cliché. To get past
this phase, I pushed myself to the
right, but way too far.
Throughout the rest of middle
school, and even a large portion
of high school, I stayed on the
right side of the spectrum.
“through the late night” by
Travis Scott would blare through
my headphones while walking to
class, as I would adjust my hair
riddled with heat damage from
straightening my natural curls.
Leggings and a plain or floral
top, sometimes a little cropped.
White Adidas sneakers instead of
Air Force Ones only because the
latter were always sold out. And
don’t get me wrong, the outfits
were cute, but other than the
cushy sneakers, it wasn’t me. I
dressed like everyone else, used
the same slang and listened to
the same music — even though
I hated what I had become. If
everyone blended in, why would I
break the pattern? If I broke the
pattern, I felt like I would be seen
as the same person I was, wearing
those oversized basketball shorts
just to be perceived as different
from the rest. But in reality,
trying to conform made me the
same person I desperately tried
to get away from, but this time in
leggings.
A repetitive sequence of left
and rights followed, from strictly
alternative music and movies, to
exclusively pop, and then right
back to indie and arthouse. It
was
only
during
quarantine
that I was forced to focus only
on myself. When schools closed
and I wasn’t able to see others,
I was eventually able to stop
comparing myself to my peers
and get a remote sense of who I
am. But while social interactions
decreased, the use of social
media quickly replaced it causing
setbacks. The continuous use
of social media only pushed me
further away from discovering
myself due to the constantly
changing trends displayed on
TikTok and Instagram. Platforms
like Pinterest are often used to
show different style aesthetics.
While this can be helpful as
inspiration
while
concocting
your own style, the pressure
to conform leads to relying
too heavily on the application,
resulting in people recreating
the exact looks without adding
any personal touch. Limiting
my interactions with the app
and other social media, as well
as peers, pushed me to find my
own style, since there was no
one to compare myself to. It gave
me a balance between the two
polarizing sides: conformity and
explicit individuality.
Being in the middle of the
spectrum does not mean you’ve
found a balance between being
“unique” and “basic.” It simply
means that the way you dress and
act represents you. The middle
means you stray away from
trying to fulfill the “not like other
girls” view, but at the same time
you are not overcompensating to
conform. You act the way you do
because that is who you are and
the way you express yourself, not
because of how your peers act
or don’t act. I, for one, classify
myself as pretty “basic,” but it
does not bother me the way it did
before, because it is me.
From childhood, we’ve been
ingrained to believe being like
a “stereotypical” woman was a
bad thing through the movies we
watch and the music we listen
to. We’re insulted for acting too
“basic,” or like other girls. But
at the same time, we’re insulted
for acting differently. Society
uses the trope they created for
us and turns it around to insult
us. If a girl acts differently, she’s
labeled as “trying too hard” and
made fun of for being too quirky
or weird. Unfortunately, some
men and women will shame
you with the very phrase they
complimented you with minutes
earlier, commenting “not like
other girls” as an insult. At
this point, it seems like there is
not a single thing a girl can do
without facing any backlash from
society. It’s not only insulting
but also hypocritical since men
are not held to the same exact
standard. In many instances,
men “lack originality” in the
same way women do. They post
the same fishing pictures, listen
exclusively to the same rap
artists and wear the same Guess
shirt that was once the pinnacle
of male fashion. Yet, “basic” is
still mostly used toward and
against girls.
Where are you on the individuality spectrum?
Celestial Motion 5/24-5/30
ANDREW NAKAMURA
MiC Columnist
ROSHNI MOHAN
MiC Columnist
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