such an astute and resoundful piece. as a Mexican-Filipino woman, i felt extremely weird about Sabrina's Nonsense outro in Mexico as well as her excessive tanning (in general but especially in her SKIMS ad.) you brought more attention to what a lot of other women of color were feeling and discussing in our own circles. i felt like i was going insane reading the comments of your original post! i am 4'11, just an inch shorter than Sabrina, and i did not feel at all that you were "targeting" Sabrina because of her height, nor did I feel llke the Lana comparisons were accurate. i also don't agree with people saying that you were being too "puritanical;" it feels like such a misread of your actual point.
all of this to say this was a brilliant follow-up and i've also enjoyed the *healthy discussions that came from your essay! we should absolutely talk about what Sabrina and other celebrity brands represent in a time where we can all agree that conservatism, nationalism, and fascism are on the rise.
thank you soooooo much for picking up what i put down marissa 💞💕 hope to see more folks getting my work the way you just completely have. i hope attempting to be direct will build some healthy solidarity across women while chipping away at white guilt and sensitivity—les keep doing it!
I loved your original piece (and am glad it brought you into my feed!) and I love this! I had felt I understood (and wholeheartedly supported) your inclusion of whiteness in the original piece but this opened my eyes even more. As a white woman, I’d never clocked how we racialise every other pop star and their work, except white ones but it’s so obvious now you’ve pointed it out!
BRILLIANT. I fell in love with your first article and have not stopped talking about it since. It is imperative to recognize the privilege that it is to be a white person in a white hegemonic industry. As a mixed person myself, I too try to break the barred rules of whiteness/sameness. You are so talented, and I hope to share stories even half of the way you do one day!
really liked that you mentioned Jewish women when talking about women who are othered. very important, too especially as I hardly ever see people actually discuss that. it's so often left out of these kinds of discussions, and the absence really shows the biases that other authors have.
also I would like to discuss how shortness generally is only seen as precious and cute when you are thin. I am 4'8" and am a fat transmasc person. I benefit little from my shortness. (horrible pun, not sorry)
When Sabrina sings Taste, it gives me a bad taste in my mouth (I'll see myself out) how she brags about how she, a tiny tossable white Woman, (you said she'd get woman'd soon, might as well be the one to do so) can and will take the other woman's man and how she's always there. it's so mean spirited.
Absolutely incredibly work dude. I read your Sabrina piece and I had been very pleased that the topic had been discussed, and now am even more pleased that you're so eloquently standing your ground! I really enjoyed the bit where you brought up that whiteness is not culturelessness, it's not the default expression of womanhood, and using the term SWANA - as someone from there myself! It is insane that so many people felt shaken by your original essay.
thank you so much, syl!!!! i love that you said “whiteness is not culturelessness”: i believe @principalinvestigator just posted a note last week about how diving into one’s (european or west asian or any now-defined-as-white) culture can be a powerful antidote for the sway of white supremacy. also, as a SWANA baddie myself, i love to spread the good word about this term. so happy to see a fellow baddie here and reading <3
Your sabrina post is how I actually discovered substack! A girl referenced it in a tiktok so I checked it out and loved your thoughts on sabrina. I actually posted about it lol! https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNddbFYsB/
Have you read Tressie McMillan Cottom's NYT piece on blondeness from 2023? It was a spot-on, well-reasoned piece that was more descriptive than prescriptive, and she got more angry comments/emails for it than anything else she's written to the point that people still stop her on the street about it. She connects that to the enforcement of silence about whiteness. She's recently brought up Sabrina Carpenter in her Instagram casual writing as a throughline of all these and trends in American power/culture/standards.
ETA: As a white woman taller than most men, the affronted comments by short women on your September post, none of whom talked about race or the little ruffle socks in the Skims ad, were...interesting.
i have not and now i’m going to go read it! i love that you brought up the enforcement of silence: i am writing my master’s thesis partially on white supremacy in mainstream u.s. feminism, and silence is the #1 tactic to maintain order underneath white ideologies (including white feminism). such a cool connection on your end, thanks for reading and for the recs!
I liked your article and this one as well. When you’re part of what’s considered “normal,” it feels offensive or threatening to point out that “normal” is subjective. I feel this way about a lot of other things I haven’t written about yet, but I can tell you I ran into this issue with a former friend who is white and thought she had figured things out, but was just recreating the racist system we live in.
white people saying that “white people have no culture” is especially insidious because it acknowledges they are blind to their own influence— they see it as the “norm”, implying everything else as the deviation. to continue with this idea within this political landscape is to contribute to the rise of whiteness and conservatism as the “norm” we’re “returning to” now.
such an astute and resoundful piece. as a Mexican-Filipino woman, i felt extremely weird about Sabrina's Nonsense outro in Mexico as well as her excessive tanning (in general but especially in her SKIMS ad.) you brought more attention to what a lot of other women of color were feeling and discussing in our own circles. i felt like i was going insane reading the comments of your original post! i am 4'11, just an inch shorter than Sabrina, and i did not feel at all that you were "targeting" Sabrina because of her height, nor did I feel llke the Lana comparisons were accurate. i also don't agree with people saying that you were being too "puritanical;" it feels like such a misread of your actual point.
all of this to say this was a brilliant follow-up and i've also enjoyed the *healthy discussions that came from your essay! we should absolutely talk about what Sabrina and other celebrity brands represent in a time where we can all agree that conservatism, nationalism, and fascism are on the rise.
thank you soooooo much for picking up what i put down marissa 💞💕 hope to see more folks getting my work the way you just completely have. i hope attempting to be direct will build some healthy solidarity across women while chipping away at white guilt and sensitivity—les keep doing it!
I loved your original piece (and am glad it brought you into my feed!) and I love this! I had felt I understood (and wholeheartedly supported) your inclusion of whiteness in the original piece but this opened my eyes even more. As a white woman, I’d never clocked how we racialise every other pop star and their work, except white ones but it’s so obvious now you’ve pointed it out!
BRILLIANT. I fell in love with your first article and have not stopped talking about it since. It is imperative to recognize the privilege that it is to be a white person in a white hegemonic industry. As a mixed person myself, I too try to break the barred rules of whiteness/sameness. You are so talented, and I hope to share stories even half of the way you do one day!
thank you my friend!!! can’t wait to read some writing of yours ❤️
really liked that you mentioned Jewish women when talking about women who are othered. very important, too especially as I hardly ever see people actually discuss that. it's so often left out of these kinds of discussions, and the absence really shows the biases that other authors have.
also I would like to discuss how shortness generally is only seen as precious and cute when you are thin. I am 4'8" and am a fat transmasc person. I benefit little from my shortness. (horrible pun, not sorry)
When Sabrina sings Taste, it gives me a bad taste in my mouth (I'll see myself out) how she brags about how she, a tiny tossable white Woman, (you said she'd get woman'd soon, might as well be the one to do so) can and will take the other woman's man and how she's always there. it's so mean spirited.
short n sweet?
nah,
rancid.
Loved your original piece on Sabrina and now this! Also v happy to see you write SWANA.
loveeeee to spread the gospel ab SWANA <3 thanks for being here!
Absolutely incredibly work dude. I read your Sabrina piece and I had been very pleased that the topic had been discussed, and now am even more pleased that you're so eloquently standing your ground! I really enjoyed the bit where you brought up that whiteness is not culturelessness, it's not the default expression of womanhood, and using the term SWANA - as someone from there myself! It is insane that so many people felt shaken by your original essay.
thank you so much, syl!!!! i love that you said “whiteness is not culturelessness”: i believe @principalinvestigator just posted a note last week about how diving into one’s (european or west asian or any now-defined-as-white) culture can be a powerful antidote for the sway of white supremacy. also, as a SWANA baddie myself, i love to spread the good word about this term. so happy to see a fellow baddie here and reading <3
Your sabrina post is how I actually discovered substack! A girl referenced it in a tiktok so I checked it out and loved your thoughts on sabrina. I actually posted about it lol! https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNddbFYsB/
wait you are sooooooo cutie patootie thanks for bringing my writing to tiktok :) glad you are here!
Have you read Tressie McMillan Cottom's NYT piece on blondeness from 2023? It was a spot-on, well-reasoned piece that was more descriptive than prescriptive, and she got more angry comments/emails for it than anything else she's written to the point that people still stop her on the street about it. She connects that to the enforcement of silence about whiteness. She's recently brought up Sabrina Carpenter in her Instagram casual writing as a throughline of all these and trends in American power/culture/standards.
ETA: As a white woman taller than most men, the affronted comments by short women on your September post, none of whom talked about race or the little ruffle socks in the Skims ad, were...interesting.
i have not and now i’m going to go read it! i love that you brought up the enforcement of silence: i am writing my master’s thesis partially on white supremacy in mainstream u.s. feminism, and silence is the #1 tactic to maintain order underneath white ideologies (including white feminism). such a cool connection on your end, thanks for reading and for the recs!
I liked your article and this one as well. When you’re part of what’s considered “normal,” it feels offensive or threatening to point out that “normal” is subjective. I feel this way about a lot of other things I haven’t written about yet, but I can tell you I ran into this issue with a former friend who is white and thought she had figured things out, but was just recreating the racist system we live in.
such a concise and perfect way to put it!! 💓
class is in session 📢📢
white people saying that “white people have no culture” is especially insidious because it acknowledges they are blind to their own influence— they see it as the “norm”, implying everything else as the deviation. to continue with this idea within this political landscape is to contribute to the rise of whiteness and conservatism as the “norm” we’re “returning to” now.
thank you for this essay. 🤝🏼
I love this unflinching look at what makes everybody else flinch.
Thanks for that, but, oh, you should see me flinch as I hit "publish!"
Another great and really insightful piece!
thank you rachel! thanks for always reading and commenting 🫂 appreciate ya
I really respect you for writing about this. So glad I am subscribed!
Wow I just read your original essay and now this, WOW WOW you are brilliant♥️