“It’s Culture Not Costume, Moron”
“When I find myself in some artsy Sydney den, watching girls get wasted with flowers in their hair and Bindis on their pale foreheads, I’m cut adrift with genuine wonder if people even realise that wearing the Bindi as a fashion accessory is like wearing a pope hat with a bikini because you thought it would look ‘totally cute’. My disdain with exoticism grows from the hipster obsession with Bindis and native headdresses and the total lack of gravity they give to their cultural borrowings. What’s more disturbing is the sense of entitlement they feel to wear them because they’re wholly ‘appreciating’ the culture…
It’s the thing where you can walk out of your house and you don’t get any weird looks or any hassles, no-one laughs at your accent, your attire or the colour of your skin, day in, day out. And the reason? Because you’re wearing it as a fashion accessory, rather than actually taking on the entire culture…
You’re probably thinking, “Chill out dude, we all wear those black chiffon button ups and cross necklaces we got from General Pants; we’re disrespecting equally.” Actually, it doesn’t work like that. Why? Because cultural appropriation differs in terms of history and power.”
Terrible title, but I feel like this is pretty good — short, based on the author expressing her experiences/feelings, and covers the topics that are important. Like, hopefully someone can read this and see the differences between celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and Cinco de Mayo.
Related:
“Just Eat It: A Comic About Food and Cultural Appropriation”← super useful, made me realize some stuff I’ve been doing; “Fashion’s Cultural-Appropriation Debate: Pointless”; “Coldplay and Beyoncé’s ‘Hymn for the Weekend’ Video is More Orientalist Than Appropriative”
