First, I want to say that I didn’t know that hoop earrings were specifically part of black culture (I’ll give it to latina culture, however), but they’ve always part of white culture…they’re earrings. I remember back in the ‘let’s tell offensive jokes’ days, one of them was ‘why do blondes were hoop earrings/so they have somewhere to rest their legs’. And I probably heard that 20 years ago.
But, really, now only blacks and latinas are allowed to wear hoop earrings?
Also, I not 100% on board with the [no] cultural appropriation thing, mostly because it doesn’t seem to work both ways. I wish I could find some article I read a few months ago that basically said white people can’t wear dreads for a whole host of black-centric reasons. Fine, makes sense, I can work with that. However, it then went on to say that Black people can wear white hairstyles (such as relaxing their hair) because they have to do it to fit in since they’re in the minority. That’s where I had the problem.
It basically came down to, you can’t copy us, but we get to copy you.
If hoop earrings really are a black and latina thing, and again I’ve never heard this, it’s the same idea.
Now, re-reading the article a bit better, it seems ‘hoops’ is more of a metaphor for culture in general, not hoop earnings specifically. Basically, if you haven’t struggled like I did and you didn’t come from where I did and you’re not my race, you’re not allowed to do the things my culture does. But again, and I fully admit this comes from a place of ‘privilege’, that ought to work both ways.
But I’m sure that everyone that cries cultural appropriation is probably stealing something from another culture. There’s so many ways to offend these days, I’d be willing to bet there’s something that graffiti artist does that everydayfeminism has a word for.
“Cultural appropriation” is a claim that frankly is something I have little time for. Human cultures are dynamic, not static, we learn, borrow, steal from each other. Pretty much everything that every culture thinks of as its own has been borrowed from or been influenced by, others.
On topic; I like hoops. My mother used to wear them when I was young. She is not white. Or black. Or latina. Why on Earth should that be a consideration.
As BigT, Max the Immortal and others said, someone somewhere you’ve never heard of saying something silly is not “PC gone too far ZOMG!”
Also, while I agree that the assertion that hoop earrings worn by white women is cultural appropriation is tenuous, I’d think half of you in this thread had never heard or read a single argument outlining what cultural appropriation actually means. “Well, why are black people allowed to use white-people styles!?” Really?
For those who have either honestly been living under a rock and don’t know what cultural appropriation is, as well as for those who are pretending not to know so they can put their white fragility on display, let me explain:
When dominant/powerful cultures absorb pieces of a minority culture and make it their own, the minority culture often looses that piece of its culture. Its usage and meaning in the world becomes defined by the dominant culture. In extreme, a minority culture can be erased by the constant adopting and changing of its signifiers by the majority. (There are, of course, many discussions to be had about ways in which this can be both positive and negative).
Dominant cultures are in no danger of ‘loosing’ cultural touchstones in this way, a minority culture by definition does not have control over the culture of the majority.
Again, there are real and complicated discussions to be had about how appropriation works and whether or not it is a net plus or minus in particular situations, and whether or not certain things are or are not cultural appropriation. But to insist that all cultural appropriation is is some tit for tat “stay on your side of the bed” game is disingenuous argument of the worst kind.
Pro tip. You might get more people to listen to you if you ditch terms like “White fragility”. Especially since many people here may not be White, like yours truly.
Why? Why would white girls wearing hoop earrings force Latina girls to stop wearing hoop earrings? They’re hardly a limited resource, so it’s not like they’d corner the market.
i) Hummus is Arab (:D)
ii) I have tried those things you Israelis have been trying to pass off as “mangos”. As a proud South Asian, calling those monstrosities “mangos” is an act of war.
I’ve heard it explained and it didn’t make sense the first time and suspect it won’t make sense this time but…feel free.
I think most people know what is meant, lots of us just think it is a nonsense term.
And…“white fragility”?..really?
No they don’t, unless it involves the physical theft of objects. in which case that isn’t “cultural appropriation” it is theft.
and? the originating culture are free to continue using it in their own way. Nothing has been taken or damaged in any way.
how? when? examples?
You have yet to show how anyone “loses” anything at all. And why does “control” come into this? The dominant culture isn’t seeking to force the minority to change are they? If so then we do indeed have a common enemy but I don’t think that is what you are talking about here.
I don’t accept that anyone has a right to ring fence any cultural artifact. Everyone is, and should be, free to get artistic, aesthetic, behavioural and philosophical influence from anyone and everywhere. I am distinctly uncomfortable with any culture saying “only we can do this” or “I get to tell you how you can use this”
The argument is childish and seeks to weaponise a practice and drive that is innate in humans. To copy, to incorporate, to appropriate, to adapt and invent.
And, a key question here, what would be your resolution to this? How would you police a world in which “cultural appropriation” is taken seriously as a thing. Who decides? What happens to perpetrators? How is harm quantified?
Just the other night I was strumming “redemption song” and singing badly to my kids in a vague Bob Marley accent. In my defense I was educating them at the same time about the slave trade plus the voice I was doing was only referencing the white half of his bloodline but all the same…I must be in serious trouble with someone, somewhere.
College student idiocy is learned behavior and who are they learning it from? Cultural appropriation doesn’t form as a concept out of thin air into an idiotic college student’s head.
It is not just dumb college girls. My favorite Sci-Fi author has a blog on the subject of “women of color” complaining that white mails should “Stay in their lane”: It isn’t a highway and it doesn’t have lanes – The Dream Café. Here is an excerpt:
White fragility refers to the way white Americans respond when their privilege is challenged. But the idea could equally apply to you. If you’re a member of the dominant ethnic culture where you live, it’s not surprising that you’d respond to critiques of cultural appropriation with defensiveness. After all, you’re a lot more likely to the appropriator than the appropriated.
A lot of the comments in this thread do come across as angry and defensive in a way that is hardly explained by the reality of the situation, and seem very much like the kind of defensiveness you often see when privilege is questioned.
(And, having said that, I think cultural appropriation is almost always a GOOD thing, and this example of purported cultural appropriation is wrong. But that doesn’t mean that the sensible response is to, say, point to all the stuff invented by white people.)
