You probably remember the furor a while back about the girl who wore a 'Chinese dress' as her prom dress. It became a huge story and got everyone in a tizzy about cultural appropriation, what it means, when it becomes problematic and if, just maybe, we are all becoming just a little too damn sensitive with all the social issues?
The debate is still ongoing, with polls from China indicating that the Chinese themselves are baffled by the controversy, and actually take great pride when foreigners appreciate the beauty of their culture. However many Chinese-Americans point out that the experience of growing up as part of a minority and profoundly different culture was different for them. If a Chinese-American turned up to prom in traditional clothing, they might experience the mocking and bullying that many grew up with, but when a white girl does it, she's lauded for being 'unique' and 'exotic.'
And now we have reached the inevitable 'backlash against the backlash,' and it is thankfully a little more lighthearted this time! People have taken to mocking the tweet that started the whole thing: “My culture is not your prom dress.” In a series of hilarious viral memes, the phrase is hilariously lampooned in ever more absurd fashion, providing some much needed comic relief to the culture shock saga which shows no signs of going away just yet.
Scroll down to check out the cultural appreciation and appropriation parodies for yourself, and let us know what you think in the comments!
Keziah Daum is an 18-year-old girl who recently had her senior prom
On April 22nd she posted pictures from the big event which she attended wearing a stunning Chinese qipao
This kicked off a heated debate about cultural appropriation that has been raging ever since
And it all started with one Twitter user tweeting the now iconic phrase
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In my opinion the people who bullied this girl for wearing a dress are evil. (don't hate it a reference)
It is appreciation, not appropriation for the loe of god. The Chinese, in China love this dress nd love that their culture is being promoted. Literally a brief look on Baidu shows this. I mean, if you want to do this cutural appropriation bollox, I could point out that the Qipao comes from Manchu dress, which was popular because high class women wore it in the Qing Dynasty. So the design is "approriated" already. The ao dai of Vietnam also comes from Manchu dress, the kimono of Japan and hanbok of Korea were inspired by the hanfu of China. All apppropriation right? This is stupid.
I agree with you. And to whomever downvoted this comment, please, explain why. Give your facts. Learning about various world cultures and histories is always interesting.
Agreed. She was clearly wearing that dress because she thought it was beautiful. People recognize the Asian roots of the style and think, "That's beautiful." It's only the PC trolls who are complaining, and they're not really offended except that's their baseline state. They were just upset because they hadn't found a *proper* place to play their daily race card. Ironically though, it's their own racism on display: this notion that only a given race gets to wear certain clothes. How much nicer it would be if we'd stop looking at EVERY DAMNED THING through the lens of race. And trying to say "culture" instead doesn't fool anybody.
To set the record straight, that guy who bullied the girl for wearing the dress, Jeremy Lam, is not Chinese but a Hong Kong-ese. "Lam" is a Hong Kong family name for 林. Real Chinese people think the girl rocks that dress. Ignore those internet troll.
well said
Also, someone posted a pic of the guy wearing a wife-beater T-shirt (oh, DEAR I've triggered some snowflake now LOL) and a baseball cap - uh, hypocrite much? Cheongsam dresses were designed in the 1920s for Chinese women wanting to look more Western LOL - Love how so many people (original poster INCLUDED) who haven't a CLUE.
the only time I see cultural appropriation as offensive or wrong is during Halloween. examples include someone dressing up as a nun/priest or a white person wearing black face. To me that's about it. People dressing up as Indians, wearing geisha costumes, or hijabs/head scarfs is mostly due to the person wearing it thinks it's cute. I wear Asian fashion all the time because I love the fashion and appreciate it. People need to stop getting offended over nonsense.
Ugh, I wait for the day when "sexy nun/priest" costumes for halloween are gone. It's so terrible.
Dressing up as an indian is cultural appropriation
One of my white friends is in Japan right now, and she's loving the food. She's even tried on a kimono (kudos to her, those are so difficult to put on). And as a half-Japanese guy, I say good for her. It's lovely to see people from different cultures mingling. 'Cultural appropriation' is a term that has more or less lost all meaning by this point because of people using it for stupid things.
Not to mention the guy who began this debate about the girl, has a slew of hateful racial slurs throughout his twitter.
He really seems to hate white folk.
Yeah what a treat he is lol
It’s a beautiful girl wearing a beautiful dress. What is the big deal?
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So if she was ugly that would make it wrong, right? As long as she's good looking its ok
It is appreciation, not appropriation for the loe of god. The Chinese, in China love this dress nd love that their culture is being promoted. Literally a brief look on Baidu shows this. I mean, if you want to do this cutural appropriation bollox, I could point out that the Qipao comes from Manchu dress, which was popular because high class women wore it in the Qing Dynasty. So the design is "approriated" already. The ao dai of Vietnam also comes from Manchu dress, the kimono of Japan and hanbok of Korea were inspired by the hanfu of China. All apppropriation right? This is stupid.
I agree with you. And to whomever downvoted this comment, please, explain why. Give your facts. Learning about various world cultures and histories is always interesting.
Agreed. She was clearly wearing that dress because she thought it was beautiful. People recognize the Asian roots of the style and think, "That's beautiful." It's only the PC trolls who are complaining, and they're not really offended except that's their baseline state. They were just upset because they hadn't found a *proper* place to play their daily race card. Ironically though, it's their own racism on display: this notion that only a given race gets to wear certain clothes. How much nicer it would be if we'd stop looking at EVERY DAMNED THING through the lens of race. And trying to say "culture" instead doesn't fool anybody.
To set the record straight, that guy who bullied the girl for wearing the dress, Jeremy Lam, is not Chinese but a Hong Kong-ese. "Lam" is a Hong Kong family name for 林. Real Chinese people think the girl rocks that dress. Ignore those internet troll.
well said
Also, someone posted a pic of the guy wearing a wife-beater T-shirt (oh, DEAR I've triggered some snowflake now LOL) and a baseball cap - uh, hypocrite much? Cheongsam dresses were designed in the 1920s for Chinese women wanting to look more Western LOL - Love how so many people (original poster INCLUDED) who haven't a CLUE.
the only time I see cultural appropriation as offensive or wrong is during Halloween. examples include someone dressing up as a nun/priest or a white person wearing black face. To me that's about it. People dressing up as Indians, wearing geisha costumes, or hijabs/head scarfs is mostly due to the person wearing it thinks it's cute. I wear Asian fashion all the time because I love the fashion and appreciate it. People need to stop getting offended over nonsense.
Ugh, I wait for the day when "sexy nun/priest" costumes for halloween are gone. It's so terrible.
Dressing up as an indian is cultural appropriation
One of my white friends is in Japan right now, and she's loving the food. She's even tried on a kimono (kudos to her, those are so difficult to put on). And as a half-Japanese guy, I say good for her. It's lovely to see people from different cultures mingling. 'Cultural appropriation' is a term that has more or less lost all meaning by this point because of people using it for stupid things.
Not to mention the guy who began this debate about the girl, has a slew of hateful racial slurs throughout his twitter.
He really seems to hate white folk.
Yeah what a treat he is lol
It’s a beautiful girl wearing a beautiful dress. What is the big deal?
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
So if she was ugly that would make it wrong, right? As long as she's good looking its ok