But what perhaps makes “basic” most insidious of all is that itseems almost harmless. So much of what it mocks exists at a surface level, where girls are used to the kind of bullying and language that strikes at their core. And so, women may brush off the concept of “basic,” or even accept that they are and say “so what” instead of retaliating.

All of which, of course, is precisely what the patriarchy cultivates and needs to thrive.