Hey:) Yesterday, I was talking about culture appopriation with my little sister and she asked me if black women who straighten hair can be considered as 'white culture appropriation' bc appropriation goes both way. I simply told her no but I didn't know how to explain it. Any idea?
hi, anon! i hope youâre well and sorry for the late-isa reply. as someone whoâs never really had their culture appropriated, iâll do my best to explain it based on what iâve witnessed in the past and from recent events.
if iâm wrong, point it out to me!
i had a read of this article (http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/06/cultural-appropriation-wrong/) before answering, so if you wanna have a look at that, go for it!
cultural appropriation is essentially the borrowing of anotherâs culture that isnât their own, but to explain why it doesnât apply to white people is because cultural appropriation applies to the stealing of elements from a culture that was systematically oppressed to fit their own standards of beauty. i donât really know if iâm making sense here, but here are a couple of examples.
black people, for many years and even in this present time, have been shamed for having âmessyâ and âsloppyâ hair despite being in its natural state, hence why they use cornrows in an attempt to tame their hair and keep it in place for their convenience. but when they do, cornrows are considered ghetto when black people do it. but when a white person uses cornrows, they do it and they get the praise for it because itâs a fashion statement and because itâs trendy. because itâs on a white person, itâs depicted as âbetterâ and strips away the meaning cultureâs origins.
(this also applies to various other cultures obviously, and just because youâre a poc, it doesnât give you a âpass-and-goâ card at cultural appropriation!)
i think the best way to explain it to your sister is that whatever is the white standard of beauty is deemed âokayâ, but when its on a  person from the cultureâs origin, itâs either shamed, mocked, or any other negative aspect that could be linked with cultural appropriation. to summarize: poc - punk/ghetto. white people - trendy/fashionable.
society, more often than not, succumbs to the white standard of beauty and weâre somehow expected to look like them to fit in, etc.
in conclusion, using someone elseâs culture to suit your fashion interests while mocking theirs is not okay, so thatâs the tea, kids!
iâm sorry if i offended anyone in the process of this explanation, but i did my best to explain and clarify. even asked one of my friends to help me out briefly, but yeah! hope this helps, anon :)
