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Cultural Appropriation?
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I reread the BadKitty article (for the fifth time), and its view of cultural appropriation is more limited than some of the other thought pieces out there – it is concerned with the perpetuation of racial stereotypes, as opposed to the use of cultural elements in pole pieces by people outside that culture. It’s interesting how the article implicitly gives a pass to people using stereotypes from their own culture, which could fall into the realm of shucking and jiving if done wrong (I realize “shucking and jiving” is slang referring to Black persons acting out African-American stereotypes so that people can laugh at African-Americans, but I can’t think of a term that would apply to all racial minorities) or could still be offensive regardless. It’s also interesting that Natasha Wang appears to have cornrows in her Pole Art piece, which the article does not address – I’m not sure that the author would see that as problematic, though. The other piece by Amy Hazel used a Pocahontas song providing a strong Native American point of view of the English conquest (at least insofar as a Disney movie can be trusted on this level), which suggests that the article thinks that cultural concepts can be used by persons outside the culture.
I hope this thread shows that this is a complex topic which can’t be reduced to generalities. The answer that the easiest method is to simply avoid the issue altogether is a bit sad – while it may be true, it also is a simplistic, lowest common denominator approach that serves to silence all speech, as opposed to only offensive speech. It’s kind of like, “There’s a line and I don’t know where it is so just don’t go anywhere within 1,000 feet of it.” Avoiding it may not be considerate if the determination is made without considering the opinions of persons from the affected culture – to give an example, for my Buddhist denomination, if someone outside the faith wanted to honor aspects of the faith in a piece, we would be overjoyed and may even replay the routine for all the members at a meeting. If someone decided not to do it out of fear of offending us, we’d try to figure out what that person’s concerns were and work with them to figure it out. Other Buddhist denominations may feel differently, which just underscores that this analysis is context-driven. Likewise, if a straight man wanted to do a drag queen impersonation of Ursula for a piece, that could be AMAZING (and I would note that Ursula was appropriated from gay culture since she was based off the infamous drag queen Divine, and Ursula is the best Disney villain of ALL TIME).
Also, I’m not sure where exactly I fall on the power privilege spectrum on this issue as I have white privilege (and members of racial minorities, Latinos, Middle Easterners, and North Africans can have white privilege depending on their appearance), but not cultural privilege considering that I was not raised within the mainstream of U.S. culture lol. I’m well aware of my privilege, and the various ways I am more privileged or less privileged than others – my perspective on this is not uninformed.
That said, regardless of the merits of this debate, I still have to figure out a darn makeup scheme to render myself incognito which will be pleasing to an audience while reflective of a theme I’m interested in, and I don’t get to decide the political makeup of the audience. The quality of my rhetoric and the soundness of my arguments here will be irrelevant once the audience makes their snap judgments. Maybe I’ll just be a drag queen and hope that no one gets offended that I’m making fun of women (which is an existing criticism of drag queens). 😛
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This has been quite the interesting read, and I have learned a lot just from looking at other people’s responses! Regardless of whether we think dressing in a certain way is degrading to a particular culture, I think it would be useful to examine why the thought of people getting offended can send us (and I use us in a general fashion) into almost defensive mode. instead of trying to say hmmm…I don’t think so, but why would someone feel that way..we (again loosely used) are quick to say well some group will always been offended son that’s that. I find myself doing it a lot actually and then I’m like woah just completely dismissed the notion that I could have hurt someone and now instead am trying to make myself feel better. and maybe I was offensive and maybe I wasn’t, but then why am I so quick to shy away from that possibility? Just some thoughts.
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Ok so a few people put it really eloquently, but I’m going to put it into my terms:
If I go up to someone and playfully call them a bumblebutt, to me that’s not offensive. To me that’s sorta cool and fun and I enjoy it.
But then if that person says, “Hey, actually, that word is actually really hurtful to me because in my culture bees are a really sacred part of life”, it changes things.I can either go “well wow you’re just being overly sensitive, it’s not even a big deal it’s literally just the word bumblebutt, I’m not calling you a dickhead”, or I can say “ok sure bees are important to you, I know that and respect that, that’s why I’m doing it, because I respect that you love bumblebees, so I’m going to keep saying bumblebutt to show my admiration for your love of bees”.
The problem with the first response is: When someone tells you that you hurt them, you don’t get to decide that you didn’t.
I’ll say that again.
When someone tells you that you hurt them, you don’t get to decide that you didn’t.
I don’t know about you, but if someone tells me that something I’m doing is hurting them, I stop, because I don’t enjoy hurting people.
The problem with the second response is: If they say the word bumblebutt is offensive, and I tell them I’m saying it in a loving and respectful way, it doesn’t matter, because I’m still saying the word bumblebutt, and that word is still offensive to them. It’s an extreme example but if someone burns down my house and says it’s not their intention to offend me when they do it – yo, my house is still being burned down.
So the third response is: “Oh damn, I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I won’t say the word bumblebutt from now on”. Then they will go, “Hey, it’s totally ok that you didn’t know. Thanks for listening and stopping!”
And then we’ll hug and be best friends.
And on their sacred bee day, I’ll send them a text going, “hey, I heard it’s bee day, hope you and your family have a great celebration” and then I’ll be maid of honour at their wedding and everyone is happy.The pole community is a beautiful place, let’s make a real effort to keep it as a safe and respectful place 🙂
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