Is this dress offensive?

[freezingpompoms]

This dress was bought in America 20 years ago. It's a Disney Small World dress that depicts differing nationalities. It's age 2-3.

Someone said they didn't think it's very PC so I just want to check. I'm happy to be told either way.

an immutable characteristic.

Weird because my Japanese dh has round eyes, as do my kids, as do lots of Japanese people… not really “immutable” by any definition.

This thread is a good example of how ignorant and flawed we are as humans.

OP, the only people who should be answering your question are those depicted on the dress, and clearly Asians (at least some anyway) have a problem with it, so there is your answer.

On the subject of Disney, Walt Disney himself had an iffy history when it comes to race (not saying he was a racist monster like the pioneer of scientific racism thomas jefferson who wrote that Natives are “savages” and “Blacks are inferior to whites in the endowments of body and mind”), but he was definitely racially insensitive and many of his cartoons are banned.

@sidebirds you're so right, it's impossible to tell the countries represented in the updated image just posted because all the characters have the same stylised eyes

I was born in the early 70's , I'd like to go back please.

Me too.
I look like my cousins who actually are half Polynesian. But we have the same very narrow eyes. You can't see my eyes when I smile. I answered without reading whole thread.

so... is the idea that any depiction of people of non-white races is inherently racist? I can't keep up. How does that work with "inclusive" black Santa & brown Jesus emojis?

I can't keep up.

I disagree. The eyes are what stand out, the costumes are much of a muchness.

They were.
Wouldnt justify you being racist though

It was racist twenty years ago as well btw. Those saying it would have been acceptable then are just deluded. That wee girl doesn't even have eyes ffs

I was born in the 70’s
I still manage not to be racistv

I was born in the early 70's , I'd like to go back please

It was a great time to be a white man, or I suppose perhaps a white woman married to a decent man, I agree. Not so fun to be gay, non-white, a woman experience DV, etc etc.

But we have the same very narrow eyes. You can't see my eyes when I smile.

So we agree that “narrow eyes” aren’t a characteristic of any one race, in fact can be found in people of different races? <waits patiently>

I was born in the sixties and I can see this dress is inappropriate and well past it’s time. Not acceptable - please retire it!

Do I find it offensive? No.
Would l put my DD in it? No, because out there is a whole world of holier-than-thou-do-gooders who will find something wrong with it. Better to avoid any situation.

what about these eyes?

Those defending it and saying its just how their eyes look do understand all the negative connotations that go with slit eyes I take it, they just don't care. It's a negative portrayal to depict people as less than trustworthy. I'm disgusted so many people think its perfectly acceptable

It’s very of its time, and yes, inappropriate now.

Unfortunately, there is still a lot of images like this around, especially online, and resources attempting to show diversity.

The intention behind them was probably actually not ill, but the issue now is that they perpetuate a view of diversity which is built on absolute difference rather than variety, and on fixed, stereotypical imagery. When these images are used in teaching contexts, they contribute to an inappropriate exotifying of those deemed to be ‘others’, as well as giving a misleading representation of cultures in the countries they are meant to represent. When used uncritically then children are receiving the message that these stereotypes are unproblematically representative of anyone from those countries.

There are plenty of ways to teach children about and represent different countries that don’t rely on these kinds of images, and retailers and schools really by now have no excuse not to look into alternatives to these.

Again, I am sure the intentions were good, but as historically minoritised and silenced voices begin to be listened to (not before time!), it should be entirely in controversial to acknowledge that this kind of representation of diversity is outdated and inappropriate now.

And of course, the eyes are a huge problem, no question.

I would consign the skirt to the bin, in the knowledge that you’ve done the right thing.

Have you read the posts by some people who are actually of the races depicted and find the depiction offensive?

Do you really think they are just 'holier than thou do gooders'?

The images are different. They all have black round eyes now.

Do you think Jesus was likely to have been white?!

What race do you think Jesus would most likely have been?

The one in the Kimono ?

I'm not Eastern Asian and I know where a Kimono comes from !!

Holy fuck I missed the “brown Jesus” that’s hilarious

They are actual eyes. Not just lines. Can't you understand the difference???

Oh just seen the dress was bought in america.

You have to remember OP that america is the most racist nation in human history so they (which includes Disney) have no concept of what is racially acceptable. As Martín Luther King stated they make films about cowboys slaughtering Indians (“savages” as they were dehumanized by that tyrant thomas Jefferson in the ‘declaration’). They have no shame whatsoever.

I’d bin it. And furthermore avoid buying anything from there that involves depictions of humans.

Me too. Whatever next? Jewish Jesus?
(sarcasm, for those who miss it)

@StillWeRise are you arguing that because Japanese art from the 1800s depicted Japanese people with narrow eyes, that there hasn't been a history of racist negative depictions of East Asian people subsequently?