I’m an anthropology student and I’m giving a workshop on henna/mendhi at my school in a couple of weeks, and I bought a couple dozen cards of bindis to give out. (I know that henna has been used by many different cultures, for religious and secular traditions and for purely cosmetic reasons, so I’m not asking about that). Being a wannabe-anthropologist, I want to make sure I’m not going to do anything culturally insensitive. I know a bit about the history and traditional significance of them, and I’m under the impression that bindis were once more religiously charged than they are now, and that they have become an almost-secular form of adornment. Am I close? Do Hindu people take offense to non-Hindu ladies wearing them? If you saw a white gearing a bindi, would you think she was kind of culturally aware, or that she was pretty lame? I’m not going to give them out if it might offend any reasonable person.
Thank you for your input!
I’ll give it a shot. Please be aware I am just one Hindu, and an ex-Hindu at that (though I still identify with the culture pretty strongly).
I don’t see anything culturally insensitve about what you are doing, as long as you are not approaching it with the air of “look what the primitives do”, which I have heard many times from people who should know better.
Yes. All girls and women wear them now, pretty much.
I’ve never heard of anyone getting offended by someone wearing it because they thought they looked pretty, or liked the culture, or whatever. I do get a little :dubious: at teens wearing them as a fad, but generally I just shrug and move on.
I think white girls look marvelous in our bright colors and our decorations, so no, I don’t think she’s lame.
Is she culturally aware? I have no idea. Some white girls wear bindis because they are married to Indian men. Some because they like it. Some because it’s a pretty accoutrement.
Basically, have at it - just treat the issue respectfully.
No. But I think the cultural co-optation argument in general is pretty fucking dumb and offensive to me. My sister, mother and I dress in American clothes 99% of the time, speak excellent English and are otherwise the image of model assimilated immigrants and apparently that is something to be lauded-but someone non-Indian can’t enjoy elements of MY culture without being termed thief? I actually grew up in a time and place where I was one of very few ethnics for a several hundred mile radius and was dreadfully and painfully ashamed of my culture for the longest time. I refused to wear Indian clothes, even on holidays and it was a long-standing feud between me and my parents (that I was so embarrassed by things). I think if I’d grown up in the US the way it is now, I actually wouldn’t have been this way-since instead of being perpetually mocked and made to feel different and being completely visually different, I’d have had the opportunity to see elements of my culture being enjoyed by the majority and I think it would have normalised things for me a little.
Keep in mind that I’m older, that I was pretty much raised in N. America (we immigrated to N. Quebec in the early 80s) and that I actually REMEMBER a time when I would have just been grateful to see another kid like me. Maybe after immigrant communities get big enough and enough kids go into arts ph.ds they have time to debate shit like this in academia. I know my parents would have just killed to be able to point out that Kim-up-the-street wears a bindhi too so put it on and shut the hell up.
When I have my mehndi I fully intend to invite all my girlfriends to the party-they’re almost all non-Indian.
Hindu/Indian (born on the mothership but raised here and Canada since infancy pretty much), 29, f.
That is so interesting, because where I grew up - first in Michigan, and there we were heavily involved in the Muslim community, and then in upstate NY around the Pok region, where there were tons of North Indians and we were surrounded by them. I ran to get away from them, they were always so nosy and prying, but I had almost the opposite experience.
No point to my comment, just…weird. And kind of intriguing.
Bindis are fine to be worn by any females, in my opinion. They are now becoming more decorative and fancier for those reasons. There are many popular artists who wear them, and there are plenty of non-Indian people who wear them too.
The only concern I would have- if you’re passing out Bhindis that’s fine (The actual store/designer ones). If however, you’re applying them using the red paste that’s where you might want to watch out. The sticky ones (I like calling them stickers, but i’m a dude) that you find in stores are decorative and anyone can wear. They’re usually not religiously significant. However, you can also apply them creating a red paste (however, I wouldn’t recommend this, as easily searching on Wikipedia for “sindoor” powder will show that the FDA worries about the lead content in those things). The paste is the more “religious” one. Those are usually applied during religious rites, or if a woman is married, she will have one usually near the top of her head- right where the hair meets the forehead. That’s the one that signifies “married” status.
So if I saw a female (Indian or not) with the red paste mark, and it was near her forhead/top of the head area- i WOULD make the assumption that she was married (and perhaps if white, that she converted to Hinduism or at least was familiar with it). If i just saw the red paste mark on a female, I would assume she had just come from a religious ceremony from a nearby Temple, or had been to one at home (you can make the paste at home easily with the ingredients).
If i saw the red dot anywhere else, like the cheek or not centered on the forehead, or a young girl with the dot right at the hairline, I would be puzzled, as that doesn’t make sense. Either someone has tricked her, or she’s just being silly.
However, if they’re wearing the “sticker” form of a bhindi, I make no such assumptions, just that they’re wearing it for decorative purposes, as those are pretty much all but secular.
Wikipedia actually does a pretty decent job of trying to explain the secularization of the the Bhindi
There are two pictures in that article. The 2nd one, by the elder woman makes me think “religious/cultural” reasons for wearing (not the larger red dot, but the one in between her eyebrows). However, the 1st and 3rd images if I saw that, I would just go “ooh, pretty” (and it IS pretty sometimes. That first image, I like it 
).
Would I really be offended in either case if I saw someone wearing it inappropriately? Not really. If they’re wearing it to try out something new or learn about a culture that’s fine. If they’re doing it mockingly or wearing it as the above poster had said “ooh look at the primitives”, then I would be slightly put off by that gesture, but plenty of American Stars have worn a Bhindi as a fashion statement (the one I remember the most are Madonna and Gwen Stephani when she was a part of No Doubt).
:nod:
Good luck with your project.
~R
Generally speaking, there’s no reason why it should offend a Hindu.
On the other hand, we’re talking about children here. They tend to mock anything and everything.
I assumed it was a college workshop. If it’s children, then yeah. I wouldn’t pay it any attention if they were mocking. That’s par for the course.
It is a college workshop, and I’m absolutely not saying “look at the primitives”. It’s really just a “look at the cool jewelry that some other people wear” and I’ll be explaining the historical & traditional aspects. Thank you for your input, all of you!