#dapperdandy

The issue is that Beau’s argument relies on historically inaccurate framing and a rigid “this is acceptable, that is not” approach, without any real engagement with cultural overlap, historical exchange, or how the meaning and use of clothing changes over thousands of years. China has an extremely long and well documented fashion history, so this is not intended to be a comprehensive breakdown, just necessary context.

The most well known historical Chinese veil is the Mili, a full-body veil used to preserve a woman’s modesty. Its origins are tied to Rong and Yi cultures, and historical records often describe it as originating from “barbarian” or non-Han influences rather than being indigenous to Han Chinese culture.

During the Sui dynasty, societal expectations shifted, and women were no longer required to fully veil their bodies. As a result, the Mili evolved into the Weimao, a veiled hat designed to obscure the face. The Weimao itself has roots in Hufu, which was explicitly described as foreign or “barbarian” clothing. These garments were incorporated into Chinese fashion largely to enforce ideals of modesty, reflecting long standing patterns of misogyny and xenophobia that, like many cultures, exist within Chinese history.

What Beau’s characters are depicted wearing is closer to Hanfu, which is broadly considered traditional Chinese clothing. Hanfu has gone through many changes across centuries, but it’s important to focus on its modern usage. The sheer face veils Beau refers to are known as Miansha, lightweight veils sometimes adorned with beads. These are commonly seen in C-dramas, cosplay, photoshoots, and modern fashion contexts. C-drama costuming, in particular, tends to lean closer to stylized historical fantasy than strict historical accuracy.

When Beau says “this is from my culture,” that statement is not inherently incorrect. However, presenting face veils as anything more than a fashion choice in a modern context is misleading. While Beau is free to dress their characters in Chinese inspired clothing that suits their aesthetic, it is disingenuous to ignore the fact that much of what we see in C-dramas and fantasy Hanfu is designed for visual appeal and mass consumption, not historical realism.

Additionally, face veils have long been used in orientalist and odalisque imagery, and China is not immune from these portrayals. Historically, there is also a well documented pattern of exploitation and abuse of women and children, including concubinage. Something can still be fetishistic or harmful even if it originates within a culture. Many long-time members of the princessfur community will remember repeated stories romanticizing emperors and favored concubines, which echoes these dynamics.

All of the historical information referenced here comes from Wikipedia and its cited sources, which are publicly accessible and verifiable. Tumblr does have blogs discussing Hanfu and its history, but many fail to provide proper citations, which makes them unreliable as historical references.

Unwind & Rewind by Megan Monique

Tbh as a chinese diaspora that's also trying to reconnect with their roots through storytelling, it's pretty disgusting how they write off genuine critique as "antiblackness". We already face issues being seen as the "model minority" , it feels like they're saying we're not "poc enough" to point out cultural inaccuracy :/

It’s not about the tassels but he seems to think it is. Oh well, I tried.

This is beyond inappropriate, blood quantum has historically been used to police, erase, and delegitimize Indigenous identity, and watching it get weaponized in princessfur discourse like this is disgusting. I don’t know how we ended up here, but holy shit.

Again I don’t really care what’s being talked about on other blogs, I can’t see it anyways besides what screenshots anons have sent me, but this tracks.

Princessfurs have historically had an issue with understanding racial complexities. The argument they default to is “You aren’t ___ enough to do that.” Miorjah themselves have claimed to be “culturally indian” while attempting to erase Beau’s black heritage, because they, as a white person, didn’t find their circumstances to be “good enough reason” for Beau to claim they have black relatives, despite doing the same thing themselves to justify their “Indian heritage”. Kokokerome was also a victim of anti-poc rhetoric in the space, with his art being labeled as racist caricature for simply drawing full lips, and Titania, who was banned for discussing her own culture in a way that upset white people. While yes, all of these people have done many horrible things to multiple people in the community and should be held accountable for those misdeeds, that does not negate the fact that white princessfurs have a history of severely mistreating POC and being racist in general.

Racism, white supremacy, and misogyny are the foundation upon which the princessfur community is built upon. The community rewards whiteness, and is borderline obsessed with it. The same for slavery and race play kinks. “The white as snow, super special, very last of her race, utterly pathetic and weak princess, chained to an evil, savage, dark furred predator dominant who abuses her but it’s love” is a trope that has been run through the ground in this community. Pretending that your own ocs within the fandom don’t somehow fall within the meek and powerless whitey x big and evil POC dynamic doesn’t make them immune to the inevitable progression towards the trope. Up until recently, princessfurs like Dolly, Miorjah, Beau, Aurelia, Belle, Parf, and many others would deck out their characters in Arabian Nights fetish outfits and write their stories to have them be white slaves to distant desert countries, a direct reflection of racist white artwork that fetishized the white slave female and found pleasure in watching her be abused sexually by her dark-skinned captors. Even when several people came out to discuss their discomfort with the way their history was being portrayed and fetishized, they were quieted and told they “weren’t a monolith” and basically told to suck it up.  Princessfurs don’t respect POC. POC are a fetish source for them and nothing else. Even POC themselves engage in this type of self-demolition within these spaces, so long as it isn’t their own culture they’re ripping from to make porn of, like Beau. 

Making ocs different races and cultures than the owner themselves is actually a good thing, when done responsibly, but princessfurs don’t research anything or attempt to display the cultures they’re referencing with any sort of respect or reverence, because again, it’s only for porn. Having ocs that differ from yourself can encourage you to research those cultures and share them with others in a respectful way. To do that though, princessfurs would have to see people other than their own as human beings, but they don’t, it’s simply “inspiration” without any real meaning to it, making culture into a costume for their characters instead of integral to their oc’s identity. Back in my day (aging myself here,) you were considered problematic if you didn’t have ocs that were diverse and well-researched. 

Here’s a brain twister: why aren’t there any popular Japanese princess ocs? My belief is because the traditional Japanese Jūnihitoe isn’t sexy, so they don’t care for it! They won’t use it if they can’t make it horny!

artwork commissioners/outfit owners as follows (in order)

Dolly, dolly, dolly, beau, beau, beau, beau, miorjah, miorjah, aurelia, parf