I think the cultural appropriation thing started from a good place–don’t use sacred objects as door stoppers, don’t wear head dresses (which have specific, important cultural significance to many Native American tribes) as concert wear, etc–but has gone to the point of ridiculousness. I studied Japanese for a number of years and have a lot of Japanese stuff around my house–calendars, wall hangings, a translation/transliteration of my name into a Japanese one, some framed kanji, etc. I’m not Japanese, so I guess I’m culturally appropriating by having all of this?
I’ve also had a Japanese friend make gifts (calligraphy of specific Japanese words/characters) that I could give to some of my friends, who have no connection to, knowledge, or particular interest in Japan, as thank you gifts. Is it cultural appropriation for them to display them, even when they only have a passing knowledge (if that) of what they mean? According to many definitions of cultural appropriation I’ve seen, it is. IMO, that’s where this all gets to the point of ridiculousness and stops being about respecting cultures and more about, well, segregating them. (FWIW, my friend was super happy to make them and wanted pictures of my friends with their gifts).
There was an interesting issue at MFA in Boston where some protesters got upset about Kimono Wednesdays, where visitors could wear kimono as part of a Monet exhibit because they saw it as culturally appropriative. It was followed by a counter-protest wherein some people, including Japanese immigrants and the Japanese consul in Boston, were saying that they were all for the visitors learning about their culture, including wearing the kimono. https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2015/07/18/counter-protesters-join-kimono-fray-mfa/ZgVWiT3yIZSlQgxCghAOFM/story.html
"I feel like, first, dressing as a specific character (Pocahontas) is permissible. "
I wonder how many people dressed like Kim kardashian this year, and whether adding a large rump with a champagne glass would be considered ok.
“However, using @Pizzagirl 's example, it is cultural appropriation/Not cool to wear culturally significant items (burqa, shalwaar kameez, kimono) when it is something that individuals are subject to discrimination over.”
Was it cultural appropriation for me to wear a burka in Saudi Arabia - no, it was the law! Was it cultural appropriation to wear shalwar kameez when I was in India, where from a modesty and coverage standpoint I could have worn my typical western clothing and been fine?
Would wearing a nun’s habit or pope’s costume be ok? As I mentioned up thread the WH T-O. T had a toddler who was dressed as the pope. Catholics certainly have been subject to discrimination. Who decides who are the “sacred” people to protect? I say this seriously And not jokingly.
Look, I get that trivializing past wrongs is wrong - I don’t want to dress like a Nazi prison guard or a southern slave owner with a slave in a chain. I’m not quite sure how a kimono or mariachi garb is on the same plane.
It also strikes me that if Marina Abramovic took pictures of herself wearing the outfits we are talking about and made an exhibit from them, it would be termed a breathtaking piece of modern art forcing us to confront our prejudices and feelings of discomfort. (I happen to like her.)
Reminds me of one of the funniest Halloween costumes I’ve ever seen: a near-naked buff guy wearing nothing but a leather G-string, high jack boots, Nazi officer’s cap, a swastika arm band, and sporting a riding crop.
I asked him what he was supposed to be.
Waving the the riding crop in my face, he replied, “I’m the naughty Nazi…”
Ha - on my Facebook feed this morning I have a picture of a girlfriend dressed up as a nun going to a party with her husband. She’s Catholic, if that makes a difference.
The Afro wig seen in Wal-mart is obviously offensive.
A geisha girl, hippie, hobo, surgeon - that’s iffier.
What about a maniacal surgeon with blood all over him - is that offensive to surgeons even though its a costume and going for a fictional horror theme…?
It really shouldn’t be this confusing. True offense is usually pretty obvious.
Here. Dressing up as a nun or the pope isn’t offensive. Dressing up as a priest molesting a child is offensive. See the difference? One is just a costume, the other makes light of a tragedy.
I’m not sure they’d all be considered in the same level of “iffier” as the geisha girl has long been used to negatively stereotype Asian/Asian-Americans and their culture in US and other Western societies and reinforce discriminatory attitudes against them. It’s one reason many Asian/Asian-American activist groups and women who are otherwise not activist types feel it creepy, cringe, or even take umbrage if others suggested they dress up as a geisha or another stereotypical Asian character/occupation which has been heavily sexualized in Western mass media over the last century.
Also, I have heard arguments that dressing up as a hobo could be viewed as the non-poor and destitute wearer making fun of the poor and destitute in ways reminiscent to how Marie Antoinette’s dressing up to play peasant girls and milkmaids at Le Petit Trinon before the French Revolution was perceived by Revolutionaries who seized upon that as another sign she and the French aristocracy were not only out of touch, but outright mocking the poorer commoners who were suffering such severe food shortages that violent food riots were commonplace.
Not too sure the hippie or moreso, the surgeon fits as well. While the hippies as a group may have been heavily discriminated against and disdained by mainstream American upper/middle class society in the '60s, that’s no longer seems to be the case considering their culture and style has been heavily embraced by that very mainstream nowadays and many former/current hippies are actually part of the current upper/upper-middle class mainstream American establishment whether it’s the stereotypical corporate “Yuppies” of the '80s to leaders in academia and law…including corporate biglaw.
And unless I’m mistaken, surgeons are considered to be among the elite specialization groups among doctors who as a group are usually considered to have earned a highly respected and privileged place within our society.
So, my young D’s should not have gone as Japanese ladies, complete with white make-up and kimonos, even though they chose that because they admire and are intrigued by it? My S should not have had the chance to go as a person in the military even though that’s what he thought he wanted to do when he grew up? My D should not have gone as a doctor one year even though she wants to go into sports medicine? Another D should not have gone as a Native American girl even though she loves reading about their culture?
I have an idea: Let’s all just dress up by wearing all black and putting a brown bag over our heads with cut outs for mouths and eyes. Those would, of course, have to be uniform–just circles and a generic smile.
I’m all for being sensitive. In fact, I’m a person who thinks of others’ and weighs all opinions. However, some of the scenarios in this thread take things too far, IMO.
The argument I read on that heated forum debate wasn’t that one shouldn’t dress up as a military member. It’s that one shouldn’t use an actual US military uniform and/or rank insignia, unit patches of actual units, badges, medals, etc if one didn’t earn them by joining and earning them in the course of being in the military. Fake uniforms and insignia are ok.
It’s using actual uniforms, rank insignia, unit patches of actual existing units, badges, medals, etc. I posted about it as the PC issue with Halloween costumes to illustrate this isn’t exclusively the domain of the progressive left.
Those who are against the use of actual uniforms because they feel it "makes light of the sacrifices actual military members who sacrificed in training and on the job to “earn the right to wear the uniform” and insignia seem to be overwhelmingly right-wing in their politics and feel the use of actual uniforms and insignia as Halloween costumes is part of the “culture of disrespect” they blame on “progressives” and “liberals”.
They also brought up the “Stolen Valor Act” law which outlawed wearing of medals one didn’t legitimately earn in the military and expressed outrage at how that law was struck down by a recent Supreme Court ruling on First Amendment grounds. Another thing they blame on the evils of “liberal” influences on US society.
It’s Halloween fgs. You are supposed to dress up. I think this whole issue is ridiculous. Leave the kids alone and let them have fun. Jeesch.
Btw, I have really curly & frizzy hair and I had an Afro in college and I am Caucasian. It was unfortunate looking but that was life before flat irons.
My niece who normally flat irons her hair went with her natural super coarse frizzy hair ("big hair) to an 80’s themed party and wore exercise clothes (a la Jane Fonda). She is also a naturally dark skinned Caucasian girl. She was accused by another student of “blackface” until luckily another student who really knew her told the accuser “Um honey she’s just a dark white girl with a natural fro. You better apologize”
Today I attended a Dia de los Muertos celebration billed as a family event for the Mexican population, complete with face painting, skull decorating, and coloring for the kiddies. A group from the local university had arranged to be included in the event in order to promote gay rights. They provided entertainment in the form of guys in drag lip syncing to Mexican love songs. What do you all feel about that?
As someone who is transgender, I have to comment on dressing as someone who is trans for Halloween. Please don’t do it. Seriously, you’re not being funny. It’s very hard to actually be trans. There’s a lot of bullying and self-doubt involved, especially when it’s apparently okay to dress as a trans person as a joke. There’s also a higher suicide and homelessness rate for trans people. Trans women of color face an disproportionately large murder rate. And I know some of you won’t take me seriously, as I’m not an adult-- I’m 17-- but hear me out on this. A part of a person’s identity isn’t a costume. I have to deal with being trans 24/7 365 days a year. You can’t just pretend it for one night as a joke because it’s apparently “funny.” Call me over sensitive if you wish, but I do find an actual issue with cisgender people dressing as a trans person, in this case Caitlin Jenner, as a costume.
I will admit that I have not thought about this much, but I have a question.
I do not see how a kid wearing a Pocahontas or Mulan Aladdin costume is offensive. I understand the history of discrimination, but the kids are wearing it because they admire those characters, not to mock them. To me, it is no more offensive than watching the Disney movie. If you were not offended by the movie, then why should you object to the costumes?
Again, before I am harshly attacked, this is not my position, I am just trying to think it through.
I am sure it is not the same but I am Irish, and the Notre Dame leprechaun doesn’t bother me at all, and that is a caricature. Why is he always fighting, anyway? lol