Keziah Daum found out the hard way how easily offended some people are when she posted pictures of her prom dress. Found in a “vintage” shop in Salt Lake City, the high-collared, form-fitting red dress was a beautiful Chinese-style dress. A few days later, she was slammed on Twitter for “cultural appropriation.”
Keziah did not mock Chinese culture, nor did she derive any financial benefit, nor was she exploiting a power differential with the wearing of a qipao, as one might expect with true cultural appropriation.
Rather, I think she honored another culture. So, apparently, do people in China, who are bewildered by the (faux) outrage. The story/non-story about a prom dress has gone global and reached China, where people are scratching their heads.
“I am very proud to have our culture recognized by people in other countries,” said someone called Snail Trail, commenting on WeChat, the messaging and social media platform, that had been read more than 100,000 times.
“It’s ridiculous to criticize this as cultural appropriation,” Zhou Yijun, a Hong Kong-based cultural commentator, said in a telephone interview with the New York Times.
What’s really ironic is that the qipoa was introduced by an ethnic minority group from China’s northeast and then “appropriated” by the majority Han Chinese. Additionally, the qipao was revamped into the slim, body-hugging style we see today only after Western influence made its way into China in the 1920’s and 30’s, something users on WeChat were quick to point out.
We are not siloed anymore (if we ever were). We are one world, where virtually every culture is influenced by other cultures. The cross-pollination, cultural appreciation and blending crosses all borders and honestly, it’s been going on for centuries — millennia, even.
Go to any international airport or downtown in any major city and you’ll get a taste of global cross-pollination. You might see Buddhist monks in orange robes carrying iPhones and wearing Birkenstocks (a German company), women from many countries wearing “kurtis” or tunics (a fashion I love, by the way), and teens from Africa in Nikes and Adidas (or knock-off Nikes and Adidas). Heck, I bought my daughter a stuffed Peppa Pig (an English creation) in an airport in China.
One need look no further than our kitchens and restaurants to see cultural appreciation and cross-pollination. Asian fusion is a thing. So are sushi burritos, tex-mex, bagel sandwiches and don’t even get me started on the Americanization of Chinese food, Mexican food, Indian food, Thai food or gasp, pizza. (I promise. American pizza is nothing like what you get in Rome.)
If you really think about it, what can be more American that hot dogs, hamburgers and apple pie? Except hot dogs and hamburgers originated in Germany and apple pie goes back to the 1300s — in England. Last week, the official Swedish government Twitter account sent out the following shocking information:
Turkey, by the way, did not complain that their meatballs had been appropriated.
It’s borderline ridiculous that a burrito food truck in Portland, Ore., was put out of business for “appropriating” the art of tortilla making. Liz Connelly and Kali Wilgus went to Puerto Nuevo, Mexico, in December 2016 to learn how to make tortillas by watching and asking questions. They were accused of “cultural appropriation” because they are not of Mexican descent.
A quick Google search for “how to make tortillas” brings back 64 million results. Looking solely on YouTube, there are almost a half a million videos on how to make tortillas. I’m not convinced that it was the “stealing” Connelly and Wilgus were accused of.
When people are outraged and offended at everything, it dilutes the times when outrage truly is needed. Columnist George Will said “Taking offense has become a national pastime; being theatrically offended supposedly signifies the exquisitely refined moral delicacy of people who feel entitled to pass through life without encountering ideas or practices that annoy them”
It’s a beautiful dress, but, like Keziah said, “It’s just a dress.” Save your outrage for something that really matters.
Holly Richardson | The Salt Lake Tribune
Holly Richardson, a Salt Lake Tribune columnist, cooks and serves food from all over the world, says Namaste and means it when she’s in Nepal or doing yoga, proudly wears her sari and the bindi that were given to her, loves henna tattoos and really loves her flip flops, which originated as footwear with the Egyptians 3,500 years ago.
