Can you share an incident where you were hurt and offended by your culture being trivialized, demeaned, satires or mocked? It would go a long way towards helping me understand your position.
I certainly can’t think of anything equivalent in my experience, but maybe it’s because I’m just a generally irreverent person.
What make believe role, in the case of a suit? Do you mean “male”? Because gender-bending in a highly gendered situation like a sorority is really it’s own thing, and also has all sorts of nuances. I wouldn’t feel like a sorority dressing up in suits were mocking the idea of maleness, without a lot of context to suggest they were. If they were, it might well be in poor taste.
Context matters. If a sorority included a Japanese girl and they were all wearing kimonos to her wedding or something, that might be intended to be respectful (though I don’t think a kimono is what you wear to a wedding in Japan, either, so it might make them look clueless). But if they are having an Japanese-themed kegger, and they all get kimonos specifically because it seems exotic and “cute” to imitate what they think Asian life is like–if the kimono is a symbol to them–then it seems in poor taste to me.
So Japanese girls dressing up like UK or American private school students with articles of clothing that would not pass any private school dress code… merely poor taste or cultural appropriation?
I think a lot of cultural appropriation IS just poor taste. Calling it cultural appropriation is a description of why it’s in poor taste.
Sexualizing school girl outfits are in poor taste/creepy for all sorts of reasons. I don’t know that I think they are in extra poor taste when worn by an Asian girl or woman; it’s a style based on Western-style schools in Asia, not elsewhere. And Asian schools adopted Western-style uniforms not to mock or trivialize another culture, but to imitate something they saw as valuable. It wasn’t a lark.
A suit is the costume of a businessperson. A police uniform is the costume of a police officer. Etc.
I don’t think that I would agree that simply wearing a costume is mocking anything or anyone.
But “A Japanese Lady” is not the same sort of thing as “a businessperson”.
And yes, context matters. If it WAS a “Asian Themed Kegger” and they posted lots of pictures of themselves acting very inappropriately in those Kimonos–which makes in funnier, right?–would that bother you?
Both are “roles” that people play and the costume signifies the role; that’s what a costume is for, after all.
There’s a lot of confrontation in that question; it’s unnecessary.
Acting inappropriately how? Grabbing their crotches while wearing kimonos? Fine. Drawing dicks on people who are passed out while wearing kimonos? Fine. Twerking in a kimono? That’s fine too. None of those things disparages the kimono or the culture it came from any more than it would if they were wearing a pair of jeans or a wedding dress.
Simply wearing something is not inherently mocking, IMO.
Not any more or less if they were dressed up as nuns, school teachers, American flags, pilgrims, RBG, or the Statue of Liberty. I’d probably have an issue if they were dressed up to intentionally demean a sensitive issue, like Nazi uniforms, concentration camp victims, or serial killers.
A gray area for me would be if they dressed in burkas. Part of me argues that it’s little different from nun habits but our society does have a problem with the way we treat Muslims.
Without going all dictionary.com on it, I disagree - to me, a costume is something you wear when you dress as something you are not. An actor wears a costume, a cop wears a uniform - even if we’re referring to the exact same article of clothing.
But…but…but that means Ronald Reagan didn’t serve his country in uniform during WWII when he was making movies!! Next thing you’ll tell me ketchup isn’t a vegetable.
I think Miller’s definition is the most useful for the discussion. But whether we call something a costume, dressing up, or something else it really doesn’t change the discussion much does it? The little girl in an earlier post with the kimono and white makeup is clearly wearing a costume. The Japanese men dressed as cowboys while watching episodes of Rawhide with their pals are also wearing costumes. Are either one of these disrespectful? Are either one of these wrong in some way?
How about if someone dresses like a geisha? That seems the same sort of thing as a businessperson.
Oh no! I’ve been culturally appropriating business people at every wedding or job interview I’ve ever attended. “Business” suit is a really flawed example of a specific kind of occupational or cultural attire.
I’m sure I’ve had my culture demeaned, satirized or mocked many times. Hell, I’m a Texan. Folks on this board act like they can ship us off to Timbuktu* or something.
I can’t really bring up an example, because I generally don’t care and move on with life. It’s my problem that the only hat I feel comfortable in is a cowboy hat, and if my culture’s worth a shit, it can withstand their (sometimes well deserved) mockery.
I’m a subscriber of the RuPaul school of “We’re born naked and everything else is drag.” Those Japanese guys dressing up as cowboys aren’t being disrespectful at all (and even if they were, ehh, that’s really their problem). If you dress like that every day, even in Texas, you’re going to get some sort of grief for it. I get about 50/50 “love your hat” or “wow, you look like a nitwit” comments about how I dress. In the modern era, when I wear bib overalls** and a cowboy hat to a tech job, even in Texas how am I not wearing a costume? I mean, I’m wearing it because that’s what works for me. It’s kind of an accident that it worked for my grandpa…maybe?
And to be honest, I don’t even know why I picked this particular costume other than the geography I grew up in. But that doesn’t explain why I don’t like how I look in any gimme/baseball/trucker snap back hat, which my grandfathers also wore. I probably saw more of those than any other hat when I was growing up. When I went bald and hat wearing kind of became a necessity I tried several styles of hat, and the only thing I didn’t think I looked like an asshole in was a cowboy hat.
*Not that I think Timbuktu deserves a bunch of people who won’t shut up about Texas.
**It’s a practical garment, and the only person who’s opinion I actually care about won’t let me wear jumpsuits. She thinks those would make me look too much like an old man. She somehow doesn’t have the same opinion of bib overalls. So, overalls it is.
You wore a business suit to a wedding? Don’t the fashion police mandate a black tuxedo? 
Well, my kimono was at the cleaners.
You’re describing a lot of actual Japanese school uniforms…they don’t all wear the sailor suit style, but also the exact same preppy dress as UK/USA uniforms. And have for years.
So how is that cultural appropriation, when it’s their own uniforms they’re sexing up?
The trouble with doing so is that it immediately becomes a game of “well your cultural area of importance is not the same as culture “x” area of importance” and the focus is an argument on the specific item rather than the overall concept.
An example that is not mine but is of obvious relevance would be that were I a CofE member I could be deeply hurt or offended about trivialisation of the role/portrayal of clergyman and the use of it as a costume.
Or perhaps I’m a member of a fashion or musical subculture that sees aspects of that culture being adopted by the mainstream in ways that are annoying, hurtful or offensive. I think it is trivial to think of ways in which this can happen to anyone, anywhere and it is human nature to be protective of those things we see as sacred or in some other way “ours”.
I just think that there is a bigger societal benefit in allowing full freedom to dress, cook, paint, sculpt, create music and art etc. using whatever influences the cultures of the world can provide and that offence, no matter how keenly felt, is not a sufficient reason to avoid such experimentation or adoption.
Which is just an argument from personal incredulity.
Even if you can’t think on anything relevant to you I hope you accept that, no matter what culture people come from, there are beliefs, activities, artefacts and items that hold significance to those groups and who will be hurt and offended by what they perceive as misuse.
I believe that to be true and I also believe that the same expectation of protection from offence should be afforded in all circumstance… it just happens that I think the amount of protection expected should be “none”.
You can’t think of any costuming you think of as being in rather poor taste?
There was the 80s.