foodiewin:

cephalopodqueen:

”Ethnic Fashion” Obscures Cultural Identity - By, Sunita Puri

cassket:

I live a hyphenated existence. South Asian-American. Indian-American. Punjabi-American. Physically, I am also a patchwork of different cultures: I wear jeans and t-shirts, I braid my hair in Punjabi kudiya style, have a nose ring, and wear a bindi, a small colored dot worn in between the eyebrows by South-Asian women. Depending on who you talk to, though, I can be seen as an Indian trying to be “fashionably ethnic” in superficially “multicultural” American surroundings. While my extended family sympathizes with my efforts to reconcile my sense of belonging to both India and America, I do not meet with such understanding from those surrounding me who interpret my wearing bindis as a fashion statement rather than a statement of cultural belonging.

I recently had a conversation with an acquaintance who believed that I wear bindis because, in his words, “It’s a, you know, convenient way to sort of like assert an identity. Like, you’re making a statement, but it’s not offensive or anything. It’s actually fashionable.” I was shocked, especially at his claim that many others agreed with him. I wear my bindis to demonstrate my adherence to and respect for my culture and religion and the large roles they occupy in my identity and everyday life—not to imitate a pop icon. My acquaintance then pulled out a picture of Destiny’s Child, taken at a recent awards program. Not only were the women clad in outfits made from sari material, but they all sported matching, colorfully flashy bindis.

This is cultural imperialism at its worst. Pop icons like Madonna perpetuate a faulty understanding of Indian culture by selecting exotic images from India, such as the bindi, taking them completely out of cultural context and popularizing them in the West. What people like Madonna don’t realize, however, is that appropriating the bindi in such a way has devastating effects on the symbol’s meaning in South Asia. For example, while in Delhi over the summer, I was hard pressed to find plain red bindis, finding instead very flashy, so-called “export quality” bindis, replete with sparkles and a variety of colors. The bindi is no longer what it once was—a symbol of being Hindu and of having a symbolic union with God. Now, it is not only a fashionable item to wear, but is also produced mass-produced specifically for export to other countries. The Madonnas and Gwen Stefanis of the world—along with those who have blindly followed their example—have successfully changed the meaning of the bindi in South Asia, for the worse.

And this new meaning obviously extends to South Asian Americans, among them young women such as myself who are labeled as consumers of teenybopper culture rather than as heirs to the cultural legacy represented in small part by bindis. My stomach turns when I see non-South Asians wearing bindis to proms, social events, or simply “as part of their outfits.” Without realizing it, they are transforming the meaning of the bindi from an inherently sacred entity to an accessory whose popularity will undoubtedly fade, as all trends do. And the popularization of this trend may suggest to our peers that those of us who wear bindis to bridge our hyphenated existences do so only to assert cultural identity in an acceptable, Americanized way.

While I do not mean to imply that all Americans think this way, even knowing a handful that do is insulting, both to me personally and to South Asian culture. How am I, for example, supposed to react when I enter a bookstore and see The Bindi Kit lying on the shelf marked “International Books?” Am I supposed to be happy that bindis are now being sold along with body paint in kits that encourage girls to wear bindis as exotic belly button ring substitutes surrounded by colorful paint?

One could argue that the bindi phenomenon is a good thing because it could motivate interested Americans to examine diverse South Asian cultures and histories more closely. Even though this might be true, I resent the fact that a culture should be considered worthy of study or attention because of the fashion appeal of its symbols or traditions.

Assigning new cultural meanings to symbols with very old traditions or deep personal significance is inappropriate and insensitive. It reduces the complexities of South Asian culture to mere physical items, rather than the continual process that culture is.

So please—don’t wear bindis, and don’t think of my homeland simply as the origin of yoga, incense, and exoticism if you are going to ignore the context and meanings of these cultural components as well as the reasons why we “ethnic folk” appreciate, treasure, and cling to them.

Ashah, you should read this.

THANK YOU, THIS

On Diwali my mom would dig out her little cellophane packet of “Disco Bindi” and let us pick out colour-coordinated ones to wear with the saris we wore once a year.  They were adhesive and re-usable so once puja was over and all the diyas had gone out, back into the packet they went until next year.  The only other time we wore bindi was when we went to prayers or the mandir and the pundit put them on us.  

Seeing non-desi women wear little sparkly ones as if they’re meaningless jewelry?  This essay sums up why that makes me so upset I get incoherent.  DON’T DO IT, for fucksake.

(via thesavagesalad)

derbrandtaucher asked: Listen, it’s not a question of you “not communicating your argument” clearly. We’ve heard it all before. You were quite clear. When people tell you something is racist, especially if they’re a minority, you should have the grace to listen. It’s okay to be wrong, but only if you learn from it.

butwithawhimper:

Nonononono, The point i meant to get across was that I don’t like when people are wearing something, even if they don’t know anything about it, and get freaked out on because of it. If someone were to get asked nicely to take something off and letting the person know its offensive, then that’s respectable. And I am trying to listen, but I’m getting a lot of mail from people just blindly calling me stupid and freaking out on me. The mail that I get from people being nice but assertive at the same time, I can definitely learn from that. 

and I’m not advocating the use of sacred objects used for fashion, I’m just saying, I can’t stand when people get virtually yelled at because of it.

I can’t stand when I see white people wearing bindi on their foreheads, because I can’t wear one without people calling me “Paki” or telling me to “go back to your country” even though I was born here.  I can’t stand when white people get tattoos in Devnagari script, because my parents weren’t allowed to speak Hindi and so I never learned it and don’t understand it.  I can’t stand when white people wear jewelry or clothes with Hindu deities on them, because they use my goddesses and gods as kitch or punchlines.  

So I’m not crying any tears over when white people perform racist cultural appropriation and then get called on it, or as you persist in characterizing it, getting “yelled at”.  Being “yelled at” is hardly the worst thing that could happen.  The worst thing is having your culture continually, blithely stolen and warped and undermined and commodified, and then having to deal with white people who have the enormous fucking temerity and entitlement to be hurt when they’re actually told that these things are NOT FOR THEM.

PS: You have clearly never tried to tell somebody that they’re engaging in cultural appropriation.  I have.  Many times, and many times with utmost politeness and in the most non-confrontational way possible.  The amount of times that the person in question has gone, “oops!  I didn’t realize!  I’m sorry!” and fixed the issue is ZERO.  This is the experience of almost everybody who’s done it, I’m confident in saying.

Your insistence on trying to make the racist appropriators seem like the *true* victims here is really, really problematic.

ipskaya:

uminotenshi:

mynameisjuthika:

obentomusubi:

thatsocialjusticebitch:

kaminapan:

hinduthug:

anedumacation:

karnythia:

bossymarmalade:

pantsreminder:

bossymarmalade:

pantsreminder:

Hemashri

So I’m making up Hindu myths or something. She charms men, has sex with them, then eats their souls. fun stuff.

(Hemashri means one with a golden body apparently)

Are you Hindu?

If you’re not (and judging from this bizarre Jasmine flower-of-the-desert outfit and lack of knowledge of EXISTING Hindu myth figures, I’m guessing you’re not even Indian), why do you think it’s your right to “make up Hindu myths”?

I don’t know, creative freedom maybe? 

Just because I don’t know much about Hinduism and clearly didn’t do any research doing a stupid doodle doesn’t mean I can’t give it a half assed story related to what I happened to be inspired by. 

Maybe if I had seemed a little more serious about this I’d understand why you felt the need to ask this, but in all honesty, do I have to explain creative impulses to you? I’d do research if I was more serious about it because there’s nothing worse than being the artist that doesn’t know about what they’re drawing, but I’m not really even planning on doing anything with this character.

I don’t know if you’re an artist but if you are you know how you can just see an image in your head, and you have to draw it. Usually while I’m drawing I make up stories, and that’s not exactly a time when I want to be doing research. I just create, regardless of inaccuracies.

Maybe instead of getting angry you could try and educate me as to why you think I shouldn’t do this or what I did wrong or something. I always accept critiques on my art, which includes problems with accuracy, or if it offends you I can draw something more accurate. I’m not here to make enemies, I don’t want you to feel like you can’t tell me that I’m wrong. (for the record though, I’d definitely prefer you take it to my ask box)

Maybe if you didn’t want actual Hindus to be grossed out by your half-assed assumptions and perpetrating of stereotypes, you should keep this kind of shit in your digital sketchbook and not post it with a laconic comment about how you invented a Hindu creature who sexes up men and eats their souls.

“Artistic license” and “creative freedom” are valid concepts.  They mean that as an artist you can use images in whatever way you choose to communicate a message.  What they DON’T mean is that nobody should criticize you if blithely use the iconography of a group you don’t belong to, because we should all understand your artistic methods and that your creative impulses are more important than the way this representation of Hinduism hurts actual Hindus.

“Maybe instead of getting angry you could try and educate me”

AHAHAHAHAHHA 

I don’t do Racism 101, sorry.  Maybe instead of being defensive and demanding an education, you could DO SOME DAMN RESEARCH.

Bolded the important bit. This, friends & neighbors is what we call an excellent response to ignorant bullshit. The state owes you a free(ish) education. No one else does.

Dear artist:

You don’t get to have creative impulses about some things, especially since you’re not willing to do the research it takes to respectfully deal with a culture that is not your own.

“So I’m making up Hindu myths or something. She charms men, has sex with them, then eats their souls. fun stuff.”

….

I’m restraining the urge to cuss you out, but only because I don’t really feel like wasting the energy on someone as utterly worthless as you. 

no love ever,

hi-c.

^^^

Evelyn

So, I’m making Christian myths or something. She charms men, gives them apples, and then poops on their heads. fun stuff.

(this is how silly you sound)

oh my god, OP, leave.

awesome commentary.

Yes, OP. You need to explain your “creative impulses” when you attempt to exotify an entire religion. gr0ss

LOL I love how the op is bawwing about how we all ruined her week even though this shit hurts me like every fucking day of my life. here’s a hint: how about you look up your goddam shit before you talk about ‘making hindu myths’. a week’s worth of pain is not even comparable to the countless amounts of racism south asians get every day. also your drawing is horrible.

Oh. My. Goodness.

This. And all of these wonderful comments.

And I just have to say right now.

I used to fucking do this.

Granted I was a 10-15 year old who had no idea of what cultural appropriation is. Still, as a white kid who grew up in a primarily white Christian well-to-do community, I used to think that this kind of stuff was okay. I thought I was being ‘creative’ by taking things from so called ‘exotic’ places, to make a part of my art or writings. And I actually thought that I was being  ’respectful’ to a certain culture simply because I was ‘interested’ in it and got to ‘glorify’ it by making it a part of whatever I wanted. I even thought I was doing ‘research’ simply by looking up ‘Baby Names in X language’.

You know what?

I was one fucking ignorant kid.

I’ve grown up. I’ve learned and changed. I’m still changing and still learning.

I hope that you learn, and change, and grow too, OP. I really hope you do.

Y’all have too much free time. (Heck, I have too much free time for even bothering to read that thread.)

I have three points.

1. I hate it when people tell others to “do their own research” or “I’m not required to educate you.” If you’re going to get into a debate with someone or criticize them, you are obliged to explain why. This is all a part of the intellectual idea of backing up your claims.

2. Making up drawings and weird stories about other cultures while disregarding what that culture is actually like is just stupid, and in some cases, harmful. But actually doing research on another culture and taking elements of that culture into your work? Back in my day, we didn’t call that cultural appropriation; we called it cultural exchange, and it was considered a good thing.

3. You get more flies with honey than with vinegar. Publicly flaming this person might make you feel self-righteous, but it sure as hell won’t change their mind.

You’re making assumptions that a) I NEED to “back up my claims” when I’m talking about my own fucking culture and lived experiences; b) *you* get to decide what constitutes a harmful action against my culture, and claim that appropriation along unequal power structures is innocuous “cultural exchange”; c) changing this person’s mind was even my fucking goal to begin with.

Your use of the flies-honey colloquialism is actually fitting here, because all those years I wasted my honey on motherfuckers with their insistent racist ideas and got nothing but covered in fucking filthy, biting, pestilent flies for my effort.  This lady ain’t going back to being a nice little model minority; I’ll stick with vinegar, thanks.

pantsreminder:

bossymarmalade:

pantsreminder:

bossymarmalade:

pantsreminder:

Hemashri

So I’m making up Hindu myths or something. She charms men, has sex with them, then eats their souls. fun stuff.

(Hemashri means one with a golden body apparently)

Are you Hindu?

If you’re not (and judging from this bizarre Jasmine flower-of-the-desert outfit and lack of knowledge of EXISTING Hindu myth figures, I’m guessing you’re not even Indian), why do you think it’s your right to “make up Hindu myths”?

I don’t know, creative freedom maybe? 

Just because I don’t know much about Hinduism and clearly didn’t do any research doing a stupid doodle doesn’t mean I can’t give it a half assed story related to what I happened to be inspired by. 

Maybe if I had seemed a little more serious about this I’d understand why you felt the need to ask this, but in all honesty, do I have to explain creative impulses to you? I’d do research if I was more serious about it because there’s nothing worse than being the artist that doesn’t know about what they’re drawing, but I’m not really even planning on doing anything with this character.

I don’t know if you’re an artist but if you are you know how you can just see an image in your head, and you have to draw it. Usually while I’m drawing I make up stories, and that’s not exactly a time when I want to be doing research. I just create, regardless of inaccuracies.

Maybe instead of getting angry you could try and educate me as to why you think I shouldn’t do this or what I did wrong or something. I always accept critiques on my art, which includes problems with accuracy, or if it offends you I can draw something more accurate. I’m not here to make enemies, I don’t want you to feel like you can’t tell me that I’m wrong. (for the record though, I’d definitely prefer you take it to my ask box)

Maybe if you didn’t want actual Hindus to be grossed out by your half-assed assumptions and perpetrating of stereotypes, you should keep this kind of shit in your digital sketchbook and not post it with a laconic comment about how you invented a Hindu creature who sexes up men and eats their souls.

“Artistic license” and “creative freedom” are valid concepts.  They mean that as an artist you can use images in whatever way you choose to communicate a message.  What they DON’T mean is that nobody should criticize you if blithely use the iconography of a group you don’t belong to, because we should all understand your artistic methods and that your creative impulses are more important than the way this representation of Hinduism hurts actual Hindus.

“Maybe instead of getting angry you could try and educate me”

AHAHAHAHAHHA 

I don’t do Racism 101, sorry.  Maybe instead of being defensive and demanding an education, you could DO SOME DAMN RESEARCH.

Well, I guess this’ll be the last time I post any of my doodles anywhere on the internet because they’ll offend someone

I bet you didn’t think twice about offending me, but that’s okay because I’m a white majority and I don’t get any kind of racism. I hope you read what your followers are adding, it makes me feel so important, especially all of the insulting shit about me being an ignorant ”whitey”

And since you’re so unwilling to teach me, I don’t even fucking want to learn. Why would I do research on people who are now rudely putting me down? You tell me to not be so ignorant, then you don’t even tell me what I should do to fix it? Honestly, just because you’re a minority means you can walk all over people, even when they offered to compromise? It’s not like I was planning on offending people, I realize that’s how you deal with some people but why are you taking out your anger on me? You don’t know me at all as a person, and if you couldn’t tell from my last response I just want to understand.

I know you won’t believe me but I’m literally crying right now because you did this in probably the rudest way possible. Thanks for ruining my week.

If you want me to take it down I fucking will, but it looks like now that you’ve drawn everyone’s attention on the “ignorant whitey” everyone has seen it anyway.

Hey, you know what ruins my week, every week?  RACISM. 

Let’s break down this bingo card:

“I bet you didn’t think twice about offending me”

Did you think twice about offending Hindu people?

“I hope you read what your followers are adding, it makes me feel so important”

Am I here to make you feel important?  Are any of the people who reblogged me?  Why should *you* be made to feel important when you make me and Hindu culture unimportant?

“And since you’re so unwilling to teach me, I don’t even fucking want to learn”

That’s a great attitude.  Please consult: tone argument.

“Why would I do research on people who are now rudely putting me down?”

BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT A RESPONSIBLE PERSON WOULD DO FOR FUCKSAKE

“Honestly, just because you’re a minority means you can walk all over people, even when they offered to compromise?”

What the fuck compromise do you think is possible when you and white people like you have had the monopoly on how my culture is portrayed in the West?  Why do you think I have to *bargain* with you over my own fucking culture?

“I know you won’t believe me but I’m literally crying right now”

Oh, I believe you.  Please consult: White Women’s Tears.

“everyone has seen it anyway”

I don’t understand.  You were cool with people seeing it all this time, offering you kudos.  Now that you’re getting flak for your condescending, defensive response — and make no mistake, it was your *response* that got people commenting, not the original art itself or my original reblog — you want to flounce and act as though you’re being persecuted?  Go ahead.

Look, maybe this is the first time anybody’s called you on doing racist shit in your art.  I get it, everybody freaks out when they get called on shit the first time.  But instead of whining and carrying on and declaring that your hurt feelings are more important than the racism you perpetrated, you could choose to use this as a learning experience.  Y’know, instead of declaring that now you’re going to completely refuse to treat non-white people as people because somebody was Mean To You on the Internet.

(via pantsreminder-deactivated201201)

pantsreminder:

bossymarmalade:

pantsreminder:

Hemashri

So I’m making up Hindu myths or something. She charms men, has sex with them, then eats their souls. fun stuff.

(Hemashri means one with a golden body apparently)

Are you Hindu?

If you’re not (and judging from this bizarre Jasmine flower-of-the-desert outfit and lack of knowledge of EXISTING Hindu myth figures, I’m guessing you’re not even Indian), why do you think it’s your right to “make up Hindu myths”?

I don’t know, creative freedom maybe? 

Just because I don’t know much about Hinduism and clearly didn’t do any research doing a stupid doodle doesn’t mean I can’t give it a half assed story related to what I happened to be inspired by. 

Maybe if I had seemed a little more serious about this I’d understand why you felt the need to ask this, but in all honesty, do I have to explain creative impulses to you? I’d do research if I was more serious about it because there’s nothing worse than being the artist that doesn’t know about what they’re drawing, but I’m not really even planning on doing anything with this character.

I don’t know if you’re an artist but if you are you know how you can just see an image in your head, and you have to draw it. Usually while I’m drawing I make up stories, and that’s not exactly a time when I want to be doing research. I just create, regardless of inaccuracies.

Maybe instead of getting angry you could try and educate me as to why you think I shouldn’t do this or what I did wrong or something. I always accept critiques on my art, which includes problems with accuracy, or if it offends you I can draw something more accurate. I’m not here to make enemies, I don’t want you to feel like you can’t tell me that I’m wrong. (for the record though, I’d definitely prefer you take it to my ask box)

Maybe if you didn’t want actual Hindus to be grossed out by your half-assed assumptions and perpetrating of stereotypes, you should keep this kind of shit in your digital sketchbook and not post it with a laconic comment about how you invented a Hindu creature who sexes up men and eats their souls.

“Artistic license” and “creative freedom” are valid concepts.  They mean that as an artist you can use images in whatever way you choose to communicate a message.  What they DON’T mean is that nobody should criticize you if blithely use the iconography of a group you don’t belong to, because we should all understand your artistic methods and that your creative impulses are more important than the way this representation of Hinduism hurts actual Hindus.

“Maybe instead of getting angry you could try and educate me”

AHAHAHAHAHHA 

I don’t do Racism 101, sorry.  Maybe instead of being defensive and demanding an education, you could DO SOME DAMN RESEARCH.

(via pantsreminder-deactivated201201)

thesavagesalad:

thatsocialjusticebitch:

[Image description: Photo of someone wearing facepaint resembling a Dia de los Muertos skull. There are two roses in their long dark brown hair.]

aprilseye:

For all people who are considering painting their face as Dia de los Muertos skulls on HALLOWEEN, pleaseeeee reconsider!

Dia de los Muertos is a sacred tradition and holiday that traces back to our indigenous roots. 

Halloween on the other hand is different and is celebrated in different ways here in the U.S. that is no where near in relation to Dia de los Muertos. Painting your face then can be cultural appropriation for several reasons:

1. It is offensive to the people who actually celebrate it. By showing up with a “cool” and “unique” costume while completely ignoring the meaning of Dia de los Muertos (to pay respect to ancestors) you are practicing a form of power and oppression.

2. “But I’m Mexican..” “But I’m Latina..” Remember that racism is not only practiced in the U.S., but also in Mexico. Just because you are bicultural, it does not always mean that you are accepting of your indigenous roots. In my family, my grandma used to call my mom, “pinche India,”  when they got in an argument, even though they are both Mexican. My mom however got called out because she has darker skin.

3. Cultural appropriation has been used enough in U.S. Halloween celebrations. Look at all the “Native American,” “Indian,” “Geisha,” “Mexican,” costumes. Just because your skull make up is new and is “prettier,” it doesn’t mean its any less racist or ignorant.

4. By wearing this face paint on a day where everyone is going to be wearing costumes, you prolly wont have the time to educate people on what Dia de los Muertos means. As a result, people who have no prior knowledge about Day of the Dead may think, “oh that’s a neat costume for next year,” and will continue this cycle and appropriate it themselves.

It’s not my place to tell you what Dia de los Muertos means. It’s also not my responsibility to teach you about cultural appropriation. Just look it up. Think about your intentions. Of course most people who are thinking of doing this do not mean to offend, but in the end it does.

I feel like giving halloween suggestions. Here we go folks! If you like the pretty black and white patterns on your face and the sticking flowers in your hair thing-

Dress up as a fashion conscious zebra! Not an appropriation of a culture! Yay!

[Image: Photoset of an elderly Huaorani shaman relating his history to an unseen interviewer.

INTERVIEWER: I ask him about his first encounter with white men.

SHAMAN: One day we heard the sound of a helicopter.  They came to settle in our territory without asking.  We saw the whites set up their tents.  We killed them.  We killed them all.

~The SHAMAN laughs~]

unaguerrasinfondo:

Huaorani shaman.

Ecuador. 

fight back.

(Source: biencafre)

Now it’s rebloggable!

karnythia:

So…I have to ask you about the term ”white-identifying”. As a white person I can of course not tell you what words you should and shouldn’t use, but everytime I see this word I get annoyed because it seems like such a bitch move to label other POC as ”white-identifying”. I don’t know how they feel about it, but to me it seems almost like you see them as traitors. Why do you need to use that word? Can’t you just call them people of color? katelenna

I almost didn’t answer this because I’m cranky & frankly it’s an internal community thing that is none of your fucking business. But, since you want to talk bitch moves let me show you how it looks when I’m actually being a bitch. White identified = identifying with the rhetoric of white supremacy and/or white privilege. Internalized racism hurts us all including the POC who buy into the idea that white feelings & issues trump all else. If I wanted to call someone a traitor I would, but that’s not the point of the term. The point of the term is to respond to those harmful ideas they’ve internalized as well as to the “Well my black/Latin@/Asian/Native/Indian etc. friend said it was okay, so you can’t be offended. Frankly I don’t give a hot fuck if how we speak to & about each other annoys you. It’s none of your goddamned business, it’s not a bitch move, & you can fuck off if you don’t like what you see in our conversations. They’re not about you, they’re not for you, & you don’t get to police what we do or how we do it.

karnythia:

soydulcedeleche:

mujerinterrumpida:

latinosexuality:

THIS this right here is so freaking problematic! i know i’m not the only one that sees it!

“I will remain untangled and unproblematic.”

Oh geezus. I can’t.

its always so subtle but the point is whatever isnt us, is inferior and problematic, k?

…you know what? I’m going to be researching & writing today. The internet is clearly set to “piss me the fuck off” this week.

I can’t hear anything over the SURGING RAGE that overcomes me whenever I see white people tricked out in Hindu iconography.  Yeah, those six-armed goddesses are weird and creepy and hilarious and heathen when I worship them or they’re blue to show their dark skin; when frail pearly white women do it in the name of consumerism, though, that’s striking and beautiful.

thetart:

So let me get this straight: the Slutwalk sign is the fault of Yoko Ono and various black people who allegedly approved of a song in its full context. The white girl who hand made and is holding the sign is only mildly complicit. She stole the words so she shares that blame, and she can’t be racist, hateful, ignorant, or callous because she’s doing so in the name of feminism. Is that about the size of it, tumblr? Because that is a bunch of bullshit. If I take off my shirt and strut through a crowd with a big yellow poster board with words on it, those words are motherfucking mine. I don’t care if it starts “when in the course of human events” or looks exactly like the lyrics to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, I’ve decided to own those words. Flimsy attempts to pin them on someone who arranged letters in a similar manner in the past do not change that fact in the slightest, and pointing at the nearest person of color and trying to smear a little blame on them won’t work either. And for the record? There is no such thing as defending the use of a word and then claiming you are not “an advocator” of the same fucking word. YOU. JUST. GOD. DAMN. ADVOCATED. IT. DIP. SHIT.

Amazing how the white people got centred in this conversation.  This fool white woman makes herself a sign referencing “Woman is the Ni**er of the World”, and then the people rushing to her defence say it’s cool because apparently Lennon got the go-ahead to use that word from a couple of black guys back in the day.  Because it’s not like black people are the real targets of that word; it’s not like Yoko Ono coined the phrase and wrote the song.

Speaking of which, I would rather have a discussion of the way that anti-oppression work sometimes divides chromatic people; how Yoko used a word she had no claim to in the mistaken assumption that the n-word could be disassociated from violence enacted on black people; how her class privilege and “model minority” status allowed her to intellectualize the impact of that slur; how she could co-opt black suffering even though she was also suffering racism herself, “John Rennon’s Excrusive Gloupie” and all that.  I have much respect for Yoko, but like Gandhi, she did good while also having a lot of real dodgy internalized racism issues.  That’s the society we are all raised in and it takes constant work to deprogram.  We need to be cognizant of where we can be strong vocal allies, and where we should stop talking over each other.

(Also I love John Lennon, but he had NO FUCKING BUSINESS recording that song, NONE.)

(via karnythia)

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gingerberrycat:

pinkie-pi:

dramedy:

uhouse:

fyeahlilbitoeverything:

okayla:

This is the moment in Gingerbread Girl when I realized Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover probably don’t know any black women in real life.

 No words….

Comments, tho!

(via karnythia)

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[Image: A photo of a white woman wearing cheongsam, a headwrap with deer antlers, a bindi in the middle of her forehead with blonde hair in a braid with feathers staring wide-eyed at the camera.]

moniquill:

kozamilion:

highwaysunset:

cosmicforestpeople:

i am a sleepy deer

If this isn’t a clear example of an appropriative mess, I don’t know what is.

Was this a contest to see how many races you could offend in one picture?

If so, it’s about the only thing you’re winning at.

I heard your response about your ‘eclectic’ spirituality and lifestyle and I am not as nice as highwaysunset. It’s bullshit. Nobody fucking cares about how much of a mixture you are that causes you not to have a cultural identity. Taking from other races in the manner in which you did is STILL FUCKING WRONG. If you are all about love, you will read what cultural appropriation is and fucking fix yourself.

We are not responsible for educating you on this matter, just compelled to call you out for bullshit.

Please let this be a brilliant satire. Please don’t let anyone be wearing that outfit as anything other than over-the-top display of ‘This is what appropriation looks like’.

Well, the section “Headdress and Bindi” on her tumblr DOES lead to a page called “MY TAKE ON CULTURAL APPROPRIATION”, so she’s at least partly aware of what she’s doing.  She don’t feel bad about it, but I guess that’s your prerogative when you’re a carefree white pixie dreamer shaman glitter spirit pisces geisha tea-pissing girl.

(Source: glittertomb)

[Image: Young white actress Mary-Kate Olsen poses in mid-dance move, wearing a black Van Halen “1984” t-shirt and a cheap “Red Indian” headdress.]

queennubian:

svnoyi:

theglobalfashionista:

This indian headdress is so hot on Mary Kate Olson.  She makes Sittingbull look so frumpy by comparison

Yeah, have her people go through genocide and see how fucking hot she looks.

Also, any REAL warbonnet looks a HELL of a lot better than a  fake, dollar store chicken feather racist piece of shit.

Fuck you, all that you do, and fuck any ~fashionista~ that’s more concerned with clinging to a terrible oppressive trend than they are with trying to stop fucking over the victims of fucking genocide.

AND FUCK COLONIZATION ~COUTURE.

 And that’s real

Adding to the fuckuppedness of this is that when I was trick-or-treating in Downer’s Grove, Illinois at five years old, my mom dressed me up as “the other kind of Indian” complete with that exact same cheap ass stupid headdress.  And this was thirty years ago.  All hail today’s post-racial society!!

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- The Brave & The Bold v22, #130

[Image: Four horizontal panels of Green Arrow drawing the bow of Alexander the Great, as the narration becomes increasingly testerical over this feat.

NARRATION: Impossible!  Alexander was a GOD!  What?  It bends?… HE HAS DONE IT!!]

Hey, I loved this legend when it was Rama stringing the Bow of Shiva, an ACTUAL god!  Because when she was a wee princess Sita managed to move the table that the bow was on, which no man could do, so whoever could string the bow would marry her when she grew up.  And then years later Rama comes to try and snaps it in half by accident and Sita’s all WHOO-EE! That’s my man! and Lakshman says the same thing b/c he loves his brother SO MUCH.  And then later some dude challenges Rama with the Bow of Vishnu, and Rama shoots an arrow so high into the universe that it’s still travelling across time and space and will bring about the destruction of the world when it lands.  And it was all (literally) EPIC. 

Nice effort, though, Ollie, good on ya.

[A thin white girl with long blonde-and-pink hair poses in her bathroom, smiling.  She is wearing a tank top with what could be construed as an “aboriginal” motif.  She wears a twisted black-and-white striped headband.  Across her eyes is a streak of red with a black stripe underneath, a poor approximation of war paint.]

queennubian:

that-cherokee-bitch:

hes-a-buster-anyway:

stephanieorgan:

These things just happen to me. I can’t explain.

“red indian”

really

That awkward moment when you realize “these things” happen to you because you dress yourself up in a racist interpretation of another race while using a racial slur…

THAT’S WHY.

 O.o I can’t even….

The other day I realized that if you search “indian girl” on tumblr, you get pages and pages of carefree manic white pixie dreamer girls in “warpaint” and “war bonnets” and the like.  Which is neither of the types of Indian girl I was looking for.