Alex Abad-Santos is a senior correspondent who explains what society obsesses over, from Marvel and movies to fitness and skin care. He came to Vox in 2014. Prior to that, he worked at The Atlantic.

Let us begin, as we so often do, by acknowledging that the term “basic bitch” has been expertly Columbused by white people. In 1984, the R&B group Klymaxx had a hit Billboard single with “Meeting In ...