Cultural misappropriation and hair

[meandthem]

Am I being unreasonable to object to ethnicity being a factor in respect of what hairstyle choices women are "allowed"? I am pissed of that it now seems acceptable for some styles to be considered cultural misappropriation. What happened to the sisterhood and feminism and women's right to do what the hell we want with our hair!

Whites and blacks are not homogeneous groups and have suffered horrendously at the hands of one and other. Most neighbouring countries hate eachother!
Humans are one race and lots of ancestral families or tribes.
Tribes mark themselves out and then fight.over resources, land money. They dream up reasons to be better and right and deserving.
Breaking down those differences and calling them out for what they are ie skin deep is the best way to remember WE ARE ALL HUMANS.

Who slagged off the black model for wearing her hair in locs?
Was it white people/white media?

I genuinely want to know. The only people to have made negative comments about my DC's natural and locs hair were black.
Women and men.

Its an arse pain tbh. It goes over my head these days. I have had nearly 3 decades of it. It wasn't that easy when I was younger.

It's amazing that we live in a culturally diverse society yet we are not allowed to copy elements of these cultures that had enriched us as it is offensive. The whole thing is ridiculous.

@Enuffsenuffsenuff. Rules based on race, religion, sexuality, etc are wrong and obviously very different from the swimming for the over 50s type rules I am talking about...

@NotDavidTennant your employment example was irrelevant because you indicated it had nothing to do with cultural appropriation - the black woman wasn't hired because she was black. In that example it is indeed irrelevant to her specific situation that the white person has dreadlocks, because she wasn't being hired anyway. That doesn't mean the person with white dreadlocks isn't harming people of colour in other ways, however.

I see you still can't respond to my analogy. I understand that that's because you have no way of addressing it without having to admit that cultural appropriation is harmful.

@Elizzaa you seem to be suggesting that the rules are only wrong when they prevent white people from exploiting other cultures!

How about rules saying that domestic violence shelters are for women only? Are they also wrong?

Does Mick Hucknalls dreadlocked hair offend anybody?

(Not that anyone will care, but I am now leaving this thread because I'm going out - hopefully it's been educational for some!)

The bit I really do not get is that no one has ever bat an eyelid at me wearing western clothes, westernising my name, celebrating western cultural traditions etc.

But people feel they can comment on my child having an Asian name.

Do black men use wigs, straighteners extensions etc? Or is it just women that feel compelled to wear their hair in this kind of way?

I think this is an anti woman thing dressed up as cultural.

Divide and conquer.

They mostly have short hair like other non-black men.

Wear your hair how you like, dress how you like, Some people like to divide people through colour I think its really sad.

@Enuffsenuffsenuff. How did you get this... "you seem to be suggesting that the rules are only wrong when they prevent white people from exploiting other cultures!"
from this..."Rules based on race, religion, sexuality, etc are wrong and obviously very different from the swimming for the over 50s type rules I am talking about..."

Like most non-black men, I meant to say.

Yanbu. Women should be allowed to wear their hair whichever way they like. I though some of the comments directed at Jesy from Little Mix were outrageous.
Hairstyles like that don't belong to a particular group of people. Northern European tribes wore their hair like that centuries earlier. It's just ignorance.

Some people are just determined not to get it.

Racial inequality is real. Cultural appropriation is real.

I agree that Jesy from Little Mix should not have received those comments. But, just because the comments were not right, doesn't mean that cultural appropriation doesn't exist.

I think we should be putting our efforts elsewhere. Not into complaining about white women having hairstyles from different cultures, but the general politics surrounding hair.

I mean we need to tackle:

• when black women feel they need to conform to "white" hairstyles in order to get a job or succeed in a career.
• when all women are told that their curly hair is not professional enough etc.

It would be good to also find a nice way to shine a light on the origins of certain hairstyles so that they are seen as "cool" on the originators and not just when someone white adopts these hairstyles/clothing etc.

Enuffs what you have described in your analogy is plagiarism. This is wrong however you are wearing your hair or what colour the participants are.
Hairstyles are not like original ideas, unless you work as a stylist.

Cultural appropriation is real but it is not straightforward to apply it to things such as hair styles and food. Or appropriate to jump on people of mixed race/cultures and tell them that they are doing it wrong and need to pick sides (or that their skin has picked for them). Or to assume that women in the west speak for women from other cultures even if they share a skin colour.

What I also cant understand is all the while people tell other people they cant have a hairstyle how they want or dress how they want because they are the wrong colour can they not see they are causing division, Its like some people want to keep a firm divide there.
Most people have the intelligence to realise that existing together in harmony is better than dividing through skin colour.

BarbarianMum I think the main problems with these discussions surrounding cultural appropriation is that it's so complicated.

I get a sense that some people want to say that cultural appropriation doesn't exist because they can't be bothered with it.

Or to assume that cultural appropriation doesn't occur in the west, West on West.
Think how the Irish have been treated, their language almost destroyed and their culture reduced to Guiness and leprechauns.

What I’ve always noticed is that black men in business or professional roles seem to have little choice but to shave their heads.

I don’t think that white people having black hair styles is because the white people don’t care but because they simply don’t understand.

As for Imagine you were in a meeting and made a suggestion that was ignored. Five minutes later a colleague makes the same suggestion and everyone loves it. I see your point but that has happened to damn near every woman, regardless of race.

Also, is it culturally appropriation for a white person to have a black hair style then why is it that a man can put on a dress and heels and we all have to pretend the world spins the other way and he really is a woman?