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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 10, 2023

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How are people encountering Dylan Mulvaney ads? I have never organically encountered her content outside of culture war discussions about what it means that she's prominent/has brand partnerships. Is she huge on TikTok or something? Was this a targeted thing aimed at Gen Z or is she going to be in ads run during the NBA playoffs?

I don't know what's going on with Dylan Mulvaney but there were a bunch of articles on 'bimboificiation' and the 'rise of bimbos' a while back so cis women social influencers are also performing parodies of high femininity. I think it's kind of an Elle Woods thing where the idea is that you can act stereotypically hyper feminine and still be competent and agentic. I wonder if it's a way to respond to the pressure of always having to present an image or something. Chrissy Chlapeka is cited in a bunch of those essays and she recorded a song about being so hot she wants to fuck herself, which reeks of autogynephillia except she's cis (I think).

I can kind of see drag, and the way some trans women act as an insulting parody of femininity, but then the people I know who watch RuPaul's Drag Race are mostly straight women. I also thought Lana Del Rey was kind of performing a man's idea of a woman, but she has a huge female fan base so I don't know what's going on there.

Chrissy Chlapeka is cited in a bunch of those essays and she recorded a song about being so hot she wants to fuck herself, which reeks of autogynephillia except she's cis (I think).

And yet she somehow manages to be more butch than James Charles. I honestly don't know which one I would kick out of a women's bathroom for trespassing.