Despite a fall from grace sparked by numerous journalistic infractions, writer Olivia Nuzzi’s new book, “American Canto,” debuted this week following a significant media blitz.
Released by publishing giant Simon & Schuster, her memoir largely focuses on her sordid past relationship with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., currently the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, back when he was a 2024 presidential candidate – and a primary source of hers.
Between Nuzzi’s anticipatory book excerpts and a glossy, highly stylized profile in The New York Times, another news story was breaking through that salacious din – one about University of Oklahoma student Samantha Fulnecky, who began garnering her own press coverage when Turning Point USA, the nonprofit for conservative youth founded by deceased pundit Charlie Kirk, shared an essay of Fulnecky’s that had recently received a failing grade.
The reason this was even deemed newsworthy in the first place: Fulnecky’s essay, a psychology course assignment, asserted that traditional gender roles should not be considered “stereotypes,” pointing to the Bible as her sole evidentiary source. The failing grade was handed down, the instructor said, largely because of her argument’s lack of empirical backing.
Both Nuzzi and Fulnecky are now enjoying full press rounds – and rewards. Major newspapers are reviewing “American Canto,” with some even encouraging giving it a “hate-read” (from which she’d profit all the same), all as she retains her job as an editor at Vanity Fair, as of publication, and lands onscreen interviews. Fulnecky, too, has received numerous sympathetic signal boosts from the likes of Fox News.
There is a reason why these women have been given book deals and nationally televised appearances – despite Fulnecky’s story, especially, being of little broader consequence. There is a reason why they want grace in the face of wrongdoing, and tacit acceptance of their controversial work. There is a reason why they seem to expect all of it.
It’s because they’re white women. Classically beautiful ones, at that.
The tendency of this particular group of women toward entitlement and victimhood is not imagined – in fact, it’s all study-proven. Frequently summarized as “white women’s tears,” our defensiveness when we receive any sort of pushback has often been used by us to manipulate situations – specifically, situations where we white women are challenged in any way.
The result is usually that those at the centers of these stories are given passes for their failings – sometimes, they are even loudly defended. In regards to the two news items at hand: Op-eds cite Nuzzi’s troubled past as explanation for her questionable present-day morals; professors at other universities are leaping to Fulnecky’s defense and slamming her failing grade as “inappropriate.”
Research has also shown that when white women cry, there are often personal and professional consequences for any less-privileged individuals who dared to push back against us. In Fulnecky’s case, the instructor who doled out the failing grade – who is reportedly a transgender individual – has been placed on administrative leave.
It remains incumbent upon white women to unlearn our entitlement. It is our responsibility to spot patterns of false victimhood, in ourselves and in others, so that we may deaden it whenever we see it arising.
And, it is upon us, too, to appreciate how our privilege can instead be wielded in defense of others (rather than ourselves). We’re less likely to be harmed by militaristic police forces, for example, and can therefore use our presence – our bodies – to great protective effect at protests. Our comparatively easier access to funds can turn us into donors with the power to build movements and create change.
We’re also more likely to be passed a metaphorical mic – and we can do so much more with that power than just weep in defense of ourselves when we’ve fallen short. ◼️
