KendallJennerCN

“Ballet-inspired fashion is a staple trend, but for some reason ballerinas are suddently getting upset about models playing dress-ups with their outfits. Could this be because they’ve heard about marginalised artists and cultures demanding that their style and traditions not be co-opted by the white, western fashion world for profit and cultural supremacy? Maybe. The key difference being that the groups claiming ownership of their art and culture in accordance with identity politics are on the margins. The ballet world is not.

It seems the ballet world just heard the part that goes: “You can’t wear this because you don’t belong to the group that owns it.” And they missed out on, or conveniently forgot about, the “why”.

In fact, you could argue that in co-opting certain aspects of identity politics for elitist purposes (rather than for the purpose of raising marginalised voices and destroying western cultural imperialism), the ballet world is actually engaging in the kind of cultural appropriation identity politics seeks to overturn. M-e-t-a.

When marginalised groups say “my culture is not yours to perform, explain or exploit” they are pushing back against white, western imperialist forces that seek to maintain an iron grip on cultural and political dominance.

When elites appropriate the part of identity politics that says “my culture is not yours to perform” we’re entering dangerous territory. Critics of identity politics, like Lionel Shriver, have (wrongly) focussed on this aspect because there are obvious potential problems with declaring that a certain group “owns” an element of culture. When that group is the dominant group, yes: you’re approaching fascism.

But the tactic needs to be understood in context rather than viewed as absolute: when your culture is marginalised, trodden on, exploited for gain by the dominant group? It’s about self-defence, and bringing about positive change. Cultural elites need to heed the message, not twist it into something it’s not.

If you’re going to play identity politics, you need to understand why it exists. And it’s NOT to protect the privileged world of ballet.”