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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Is this fabric offensive?

207 replies

TempName01 · 03/09/2020 11:49

I really like this fabric but I’m unsure whether it could be seen as offensive or at the least raise an eyebrow if you saw it in someone’s house? It’s got a stereotypical Native American character in it.

OP posts:

DrDetriment · 03/09/2020 18:31

How is this fabric different from Japanese ones I've seen with stylised women in kimonos?

MrsTerryPratchett · 03/09/2020 18:35

If you like it use it, if you don't then don't. It is not culturally inappropriate.

Are you a First Nations person, Indigenous person or someone who this fabric 'represents'? No, then you don't get to decide.

Also, crack a book. These kind of caricatures can't be looked at in isolation. They exist WHILE cultural (and actual) genocide occurs. Feathers in the hair of the cute picture while actual First Nations people weren't allowed to wear headdresses and perform traditional dances. And their hair was cut off (deeply culturally significant) while pictures were of cute 'squaws' with pigtails were in circulation.

I get that OP didn't know. But once someone has heard there's an issue, don't be that arsehole.

IamTomHanks · 03/09/2020 18:35

@LadyLairdArgyll

Some people spend their entire lives looking for reasons to be offended...

the Fabric design was drawn... it was commissioned to Fabric .. it reached mass production all the while nobody was offended ... then it appears on Mumsnet.. and boom.. everyone is offended 🙄

Yeah. You're right. I look for reasons to be offended. The fact that my people were genocided by the British, and that my culture has been turned into a cartoon is of no importance to you people.

I applaud your ignorance.

MrsTerryPratchett · 03/09/2020 18:36

@DrDetriment

How is this fabric different from Japanese ones I've seen with stylised women in kimonos?

If it's Japanese fabric, created by Japanese people, depicting actual people, do you see the difference between that and cartoon savages? Or do you actually not?

IamTomHanks · 03/09/2020 18:39

@DrDetriment

How is this fabric different from Japanese ones I've seen with stylised women in kimonos?

Never seen Japanese fabric with caricatures on it. And the Japanese are horribly racist, so not sure I would hold them as an example.

Nyclair · 03/09/2020 18:41

Yes, it's offensive and inappropriate.

Stompythedinosaur · 03/09/2020 18:43

How is this fabric different from Japanese ones I've seen with stylised women in kimonos?

Because a picture of a Japanese woman in a kimono doesn't buy into the racist trope that people of colour are "savages", less intelligent or less civilised.

imissthesouth · 03/09/2020 18:47

that's incredibly awful. It's cute but looks really unsightly i'm afraid

Ablackrussian · 03/09/2020 18:48

I love all of those colours; it's so bright and happy, in complete contrast to the character, though!

Are they meant to be Amazonian?

Most people on here won't find it offensive, as there's no reason why it would offend them. After all, they are not from that ethnic group(s). You'll be accused of being 'woke' (yawn) if you decide not to get it and 'racist' if you decide to keep it.

Again, the colours are amazing!

Ablackrussian · 03/09/2020 18:50

MrsTerryPratchett

Spot on!

hoodathunkit · 03/09/2020 18:51

It's an infantalised, racist, stereotype, a cheesy amalgamation of various oppressed indigenous people, but that's not the worst thing.

The really, really bad thing is when people helpfully point this out, some people just don't care. They care more about their right to use a nasty piece of fabric more than they do about the feelings of others who are hurt by it.

Yeah. You're right. I look for reasons to be offended. The fact that my people were genocided by the British, and that my culture has been turned into a cartoon is of no importance to you people.

I applaud your ignorance.

It probably won't be long before someone posts "Well I'm realy very sorry if you feel like that but it's honouring your people people not disrespecting them"

It's easy for people to dismiss the feelings of people hurt by genocide when it is something that they and their families have never experienced.

iklboo · 03/09/2020 18:59

the Fabric design was drawn... it was commissioned to Fabric .. it reached mass production all the while nobody was offended ..

Probably nobody who could have been offended was asked (or even thought about).

Coulddowithanap · 03/09/2020 19:34

Its not something I would own as its not my style but I would find it hard to be offended by a fabric.

Mummadeeze · 03/09/2020 19:42

Visually I really like it and it makes me think of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. I wouldn’t have thought about people being offended by it. I like old style cartoons.

DidoAtTheLido · 03/09/2020 19:48

So many people saying they find it offensive?! Really? Think they need to get over themselves - people find offence in bloody everything these days

No, they just point out when things are crass and disrespectful.

It is also possible to discuss and point out derogatory stereotypes, and debate the point, without being offended.

Telling people to ‘get over themselves’? Well that’s pretty rude and no form of credible discussion.

category12 · 03/09/2020 19:52

Visually I really like it and it makes me think of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys.

But the depictions of native Americans in Peter Pan are not unproblematic.

Byrtie · 03/09/2020 20:06

Yup, its racist.

Although oddly I otherwise like the fabric.

ImaSababa · 03/09/2020 20:13

That is possibly the ugliest pattern I've ever seen.

LadyLairdArgyll · 03/09/2020 20:32

Yeah. You're right. I look for reasons to be offended. The fact that my people were genocided by the British, and that my culture has been turned into a cartoon is of no importance to you people.

I applaud your ignorance

Britain is a mutli-cultural society .. so Im genuinely curious, when you say..

you people

who are 'you people' exactly ? who are you referring too ? 🤔

LadyLairdArgyll · 03/09/2020 20:33

Probably nobody who could have been offended was asked (or even thought about).

like who though ? 🌺

MrsTerryPratchett · 03/09/2020 20:33

@LadyLairdArgyll

Yeah. You're right. I look for reasons to be offended. The fact that my people were genocided by the British, and that my culture has been turned into a cartoon is of no importance to you people.

I applaud your ignorance

Britain is a mutli-cultural society .. so Im genuinely curious, when you say..

you people

who are 'you people' exactly ? who are you referring too ? 🤔

I wouldn't presume to speak for the PP, but I assume you people is racists.

MrsTerryPratchett · 03/09/2020 20:38

Can I just clear something up @LadyLairdArgyll ?

Do you:

Know it's offensive to some people and not care?
Not know it's offensive to some people?
Think that because something isn't offensive to you/everyone it's not offensive to anyone?
Think we should all just be offensive if we want?
Not care because it's offensive to people mostly far away?

All, none or some of the above? Because I'd love to understand. To me it's a stereotype of several minorities who are largely deliberately wiped out by colonists. So best not use it. Because there are a billion fabrics without racist caricatures on them.

Thedogscollar · 03/09/2020 20:44

Quite frankly yes it is.

LadyLairdArgyll · 03/09/2020 20:48

I wouldn't presume to speak for the PP, but I assume you people is racists.

oh dear.. dear oh dear oh dear

MrsTerryPratchett · 03/09/2020 20:53

So which is it @LadyLairdArgyll of the above options. Genuinely interested.

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