May's Sad Rich Girl Salon dove into taste--

I could honestly do 10+ Salons on taste. People had so much to say and the convos were fascinating. The central question I posed was: Who gets to claim good taste? Who is excluded from having it (even when they adopt all the "right" signals and symbols)?

The reading/media below was not required by any means, but I was pleasantly surprised by how many people dipped into it (2 people told me they watched The Square which is one of the best disturbing/uncomfortable movies about elitist art/culture professionals).

Suggested Reading & Media

• Tasteslop by Emily Segal

• Little Nolitas Everywhere in The Cut

• Tech Bros Have Just Discovered Taste (reel)

• "I Found It: The Best Free Restaurant Bread in America" in The Atlantic

• When Harry Met Sally wagon wheel coffee table scene

• American Dad! Season 10, Episode 2 “A Boy Named Michael” (on Hulu or Amazon Prime)

• Xavier’s Substack (he’s harsh & very funny. a lot of what he says is just saying the ugly parts of status/power out loud, which is uncomfortable to some people)

• T Magazine “How to be Cultured” (I hate this soooo much)

• “Bitches with taste” reddit

• Ruben Östlund's The Square (2017)

• Bourdieu’s 500 page tome Distinction (if you want to join my book club and read this with us, tell me but you have to take it seriously)

• David Brooks' Bobos in Paradise

• Chris Lehmann's Rich People Things

• Martha Stewart interview (full length, 1 min clipping on taste)

Discussion questions:

• Who was the first person that you thought had ‘good taste’?

• Can taste be faked?

• What are the typical metrics of good taste?

• What are the less-obvious, subtle signals of “good taste” that are used to gatekeep?

• What is taste really a euphemism for?

• Does taste look diff for women/men?

• What’s wrong with “learning” taste (if anything)?

• “Taste can’t be divorced from class, except when _________[fill in the blank]”

• What is it “pretentious” vs “tasteful”?

• Who in your life would you go to for recs about taste? (it could be yourself lol)

• Has "having taste" become more or less accessible?