Why we don't trust the 'vanilla girl'

This week is all about beauty and diet trends. In this first interview from March, host Brittany Luse chats with Forbes staff writer Steffi Cao to discuss her essay, "white women want their power back: on bbls and balletcore, and the entropy of aesthetic." Steffi points to the online rise of the 'clean girl' and 'vanilla girl' aesthetics, just as the myth of innocent white womanhood erodes in the public sphere following outrage at "Karens" and critical looks at stars like Miley Cyrus who borrowed from Black aesthetics for years.

This episode was produced by Alexis Williams and Barton Girdwood. It was edited by Jessica Placzek and Jessica Mendoza. Engineering support came from Tre Watson and Carleigh Strange. Our executive producer is Veralyn Williams. Our VP of programming is Yolanda Sangweni and our senior VP of programming is Anya Grundmann.