I’m horrified by hip white dudes who wear those gigantic, tribal-style earrings that stretch out your ear lobes. That fad seems to have petered out a little, but I still a few people here and there sporting those things and think: how will your ears after take them out? Do you realize you look like a douche?
Does anyone know the proper term for those? You know the ones I’m talking about: anywhere from dime sized to baseball sized, circular, stretches the ear lobe to risible proportions. And am I the only one who finds those—if not distasteful—just effing hideous?
(Disclaimer: I’m aware that it’s probably a pet peeve and that it might sound culturally insensitive, but I’m really talking about those earrings in relation to the OP, not to wherever it is they actually come from—which, again, I’m ignorant about.)
Who said headscarves can’t be “deocrative”? You ever noticed how many colours and styles they come in within a “secular” country? Also (some) Muslem women will wear or not wear based on circumstances and personal preferences. So I say go ahead on that score if you want to wear a shawl.
On crosses - I am not christian. I would ever personally choose a cross as personal jewellery. If somebody were to mistakenly give me out of good will I would probably keep somewhere safe. I would wear “patron saint” medals and symbols as I see them more a symbol of good will / protection than religion.
As to the keffiyeh, it seems that some (by no means all people, and not universally given its history) regard it as a symbol of Palestinian solidarity. But it can (and is) also a functional item. If you like the look I say wear it. But do be aware that it has political connotations and maybe moderate your usage accordingly. i.e - don’t wear one to the Youth Jewish League meeting unless you are willing to defend a political standpoint.
At the same time, a wish to show support towards Palestinians / Palestine as a state doesn’t neccessarily come at the expense of Israel. Much as I might wear clothing with a kiwi or silver fern stitched on it as a symbol of my national pride, I don’t think there is anything wrong as such with somebody using the keffiyeh to symbolise their identification with the proper establishment of Palestine - and if people don’t like it then they should just suck it up. (much the same way that a Buddhist should not have to “defend” the use of a swastica)
Since religion of any kind is a lie from start to finish, anything associated with a religion - beads, crosses, keffiyehs, whatever - are meaningless. If someone wants to wear a religious symbol as a piece of jewelry, that’s their problem. And that’s all it is - jewelry.
There are levels and there are levels. I wouldn’t wear a cross, an Om, or an “Ek Onkar” (the Sikh symbol).
As for people appropriating my culture, I’ve rather gotten used to that. There are chunnis and Indian-style clothing available everywhere now, and have been in vogue since I went to college at New Paltz.
As for a headscarf, well, be aware people will think you’re Muslim. I would. If that’s cool with you, then go right ahead - it’s not a bad thing, it just depends on what identity you want to project to the world. I admit I wouldn’t wear a headscarf but I have worn a veil over my head, Hindu-style, which is markedly different to Muslim & Hindu eyes.
I wear a headscarf almost every day to prevent earaches. My scarves are thick fleece, and don’t really resemble traditional Muslim scarves, but the way they are wrapped, and the fact that I often wear a black one, can sometimes make me look like a Muslim woman. I’ve thought about that, but mostly in the sense of, “I wonder if people are thinking I’m Muslim,” and not about whether anyone would be offended.
I do feel uncomfortable wearing a cross. There’s a completed charm bracelet (one with a specially designed set of charms) that I’ve been admiring and thinking about buying, but I’m hesitant because one of the charms is a cross. If I do decide to buy it, I will have a jeweler remove the cross charm and maybe give it to a Christian friend.
I think we’d be better off if everyone wore the symbols with which they were comfortable, and didn’t worry too much about whether other people were “misusing” them. I’m fine with whatever anyone else wants to wear, even if the symbol might have a different or special meaning for me.
For me, even though I’ve never been religious I’ve been wearing a kerchief whenever I leave the house ever since my father died last month. It just kinda seems right, as an in-mourning thing, even though the colors aren’t at all somber. Cite.
My home town is part of the Spanish network of Juderías (lit Jewish quarters); an ex-coworker of mine was significantly involved in its development, including providing the photography for a book on Sefarad (he’s a professional photographer). He’s also the current Town Councilor for Culture. He’s a descendant of converts and wears a Star of David as a sort of “heritage pride” symbol. Plus it makes for a good conversation starter: if anybody asks about it he gets to flatten their ear talking about Juderías and Sefarad and the contribution of Jews to Spanish cooking and artwork and…
I think it’s quite easy to determine who’s wearing a symbol of another religion or culture out of respect, who’s doing it as mockery and who does it out of ignorance. The first one I’m fine with (and those won’t use a rosary or other prayerbeads as a necklace); the second gets filed under M for Moron; the third may be subjected to an Ignorance Fight.
People who make fun or scorn other people’s use of these other people’s own religious symbols… those piss me off. I had a (not very smart, really) bf who once derided Catholics who have a St Christopher or a rosary in their car, in front of myself and three other practicing Catholics. We reminded him we were Catholic, he said he wasn’t talking about us but about “those morons.” Next time I picked him up in my car, my Missionary Rosary had been transferred from my bed’s headboard to my car’s rearview mirror. Guy could take a hint but it sometimes required a clue by four: he didn’t make fun of other people’s way to express their belief again.
When people talk about modesty in dress, or about headscarfs as a Muslim symbol, I like to point out that St Paul said women should cover their heads in Mass, so Spanish women came up with the mantilla; then Muslim leaders came up with the idea that women should be covered head-to-toe and Spanish women invented faralaes dress…
The whole notion that you’re modest or not based on counting the square centimeters of skin or headhairs actually seen is blasted to pieces by those.
There are a lot of ritual Buddhists objects which would make good jewelry. However, I would skip the swastikas and three lobe mandalas. The latter because I noticed it was used in the latest “Omen” movie as the sign of the Antichrist.
I’m Catholic and while I’m not offended by rosaries-as-jewelry I tend to think that those wearing them as such are idiots. It’s like wearing a flowerpot on your head and calling it fashion.
When you say three lobe mandala, do you mean a triquetra? I haven’t seen any of the “Omen” movies and mandala types are frustratingly tricky to Google, so I don’t know for sure, but that’s what I thought of, even though the triquetra isn’t Buddhist.
Eh, I wouldn’t sweat it. Indian-inspired shirts, etc, have been around the U.S. for a long time now. (Though I do admit that I have thought more than once about buying a salwar kameez or two, just because I like them and they look practical and comfortable, but refrained from doing so for much the same reasons you are talking about.) But what you’re talking about is essentially a shirt with a bit of embroidery, really not that far outside the U.S. mainstream.
I might have missed something, but I didn’t notice anybody mentioning that every Shriner’s fez is emblazoned with a star and crescent. This faux-Islamic symbolism isn’t seen as seriously religious by US Shriners, most of which are Christian.
I’m a former Shriner, myself, and I’m not playing to any foolish conspiracy theories. I’m merely saying that, with all the Arab-like imagery, I don’t think it occurred to any of us that our mock-Islamic headgear and phrases might be offensive to Muslims.
I wouldn’t be offended by people wearing crosses, because I assume that this means that they are Christian. Same thing with something like a headscarf - if you are wearing one in the summer, then you must be Muslim (or at least Somali - there are a lot of those where I live).
If you aren’t Christian and are wearing a cross, good thing - it shows that you might be open to a bit of witnessing.
On a trip in Israel I was thinking of buying a fez in the market. I ultimately decided not to, as 1. it seemed too ornamental and I like simple practical clothing and 2. there miiiiiiight have been some possibility of offense. One guy I was traveling with bought a kaffiyeh from the same place, immediately donned it, and was drawing criticism from another fellow traveler. So the potential for offense was fresh in my mind.
Doing the most cursory of research, it seems that Turkey is the only place where a fez is unpopular (banned as a feudalist-Eastern symbol in 1925).
When I was living in Japan, where maybe 1% of the population is Christian, I initially assumed that a disproportionately large percentage of my coworkers (all women) were Christians. About half of them at least occasionally wore necklaces with cross pendants, and one or two always wore a cross. I don’t mean big Goth looking things either (I did see these on Japanese Goths but recognized this as just being a fashion statement), but small, simple gold or silver crosses of the type commonly seen around the necks of devout American Christians.
I was a bit surprised to realize that in Japan a cross necklace meant absolutely nothing. One of my coworkers was rather amused that I’d thought otherwise, and told me “No, it just looks cool!” One of the women who always wore a cross told me it had been a gift from an old schoolteacher and that’s why she was so attached to it.