modern fascism
We’re seeing the subtle infiltration of fascist ideology into the public subconscious through aesthetic ideas.
Looksmaxxing, features vs facial harmony, the four types of pretty 🐱🦌🦊🐰, “aging well” as a virtue, angel skulls vs witch skulls, long hair theory — all of it, like all of it, is just phrenology with lip gloss. A sanitized, influencer-era revival of deeply racialized, pseudoscientific hierarchies cloaked in wellness language and Eurocentric beauty standards.
The pipeline is increasingly visible: clean girl to tradwife to femcel to “race realism” are just incremental leaps the algorithm trains your eye to believe in via inherent beauty hierarchies. These aren’t just trends — they’re virtuous signals. Cultural dog whistles that converge on a growing right-wing visual identity, one that is overwhelmingly white, reactionary, and reeking of eugenic undertones. What begins as skincare and Stanley cups ends with (sub)consciously identifying with eugenic ideologies.
That’s not hyperbole. And its gotten political - look at DOGE staffer Marko Elez. The 25-year-old, who was discussed on multiple pods, has resigned after being linked to a now-deleted X account posting wildly racist content: calls to repeal civil rights legislation, endorsements of eugenic immigration policy, and lines like “you couldn’t pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity” & “Normalize indian hate”. Think how racist you have to be to get fired by DOGE 😵
There’s also a visual of the new right. Fashion has always been political, but Republican women have taken this to a new level—weaponizing femininity itself . According to multiple studies, GOP congresswomen are perceived as more “feminine” than their Democratic counterparts, and it’s by design. From Kristi Noem’s veneers to the viral obsession with quiet luxury, Republican women are dressing to align with power. This is not simply about style; it’s about signaling adherence to traditional gender roles and reinforcing a specific vision of “ideal” womanhood. This can be seen as a modern form of physiognomy, where outward appearance is used to infer inner character.
This isn’t accidental. There’s an active campaign to recode traditional, conservative values as aspirational. Boring is the new radical. Clean is the new sexy. Conservatism is being sold in silk headbands and neutral palettes. These trends can be interpreted as a desire for a “pure” and “uncontaminated” society, a hallmark of fascist ideologies.
Khadija Mbowe made a public prediction that Kim Kardashian — a barometer of cultural shifts — will start dating a tech bro or conservative politician. I can totally see it.
!!!!update 3/15 hahaha called it https://www.instagram.com/p/DHMbA0MSj1H/?img_index=5
In the end, aesthetics aren’t just style—they’re soft propaganda. The phrenological gaze has gone digital, viral, and dangerously normalized. All of this is without having mentioned the simultaneous rise of anti-semitism (re: Kim K’s ex Ye. We need to start treating it with the seriousness it deserves.
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