Cultural appropriation, according to VeryWellMind, is the use of objects or elements of a culture in a way that does not respect their original meaning, does not give credit to their source, or reinforces stereotypes and contributes to oppression (VeryWellMind). Some examples include wearing qipaos – a traditional Chinese dress often worn by Chinese women on formal occasions – in sexual and immodest ways, wearing jewelry without knowing its cultural significance, or buying mass-produced cultural items such as dream-catchers and moccasins, which are a part of Native-American culture.
Cultural appropriation is not to be confused with cultural appreciation. Cultural appreciation includes seeking to explore a culture and respectfully using items how they are intended to be used. For example, using chopsticks to eat is perfectly acceptable, whereas using them as a hair accessory is not.
You may wonder, why is this important? Cultural appropriation continues the oppression of non-dominant cultures, enforces stereotypes, and it doesn’t give people credit for their own culture. Specifically, when dominant groups take aspects of a non-dominant culture and sell it, this hurts the non-dominant culture economically and does not benefit the original creators. For example, many souvenir shops or businesses mass-produce and sell cultural items such as aboriginal designs, without giving credit or money to the Aboriginal culture.
A big part of cultural appropriation comes from the fact that many people choose to adopt the so-called “good” parts of a culture and discriminate or ridicule other aspects of the culture. For instance, the same people who mock Asians for their eyes and mannerisms also eat Asian food and wear Asian jewelry. In addition to this, they ignore the cultural significance of the item.
Recently, traditional Chinese jade bracelets have risen to popularity. Without taking the time to learn its significance, many people buy them from retail stores or fast-fashion websites, neither giving credit nor respecting their meaning. Traditional jade bracelets are often gifted from mothers to daughters as a symbol of their love and protection. While online fast-fashion stores make money, the original designers are left with none.
One of the most atrocious forms of cultural appropriation is the sexualization of qipaos. While it is acceptable for people to wear traditional qipaos to learn about the culture, recently, many fast-fashion stores have created qipao-style crop tops, and in immodest ways. Once a traditional, elegant dress, the Western world has turned qipaos into a sexualized outfit.
However, the sexualization of qipaos is not new. It first started in the movie industry when Asian actresses starred in movies for American audiences, wearing qipaos. For example, after Nancy Kwan starred in the 1960 film The World of Suzie Wong, she called the qipao “a national costume” that “had slits because Chinese girls have pretty legs.” Because she was one of the few popular Asian women in Hollywood, her words cemented the sexual identity of qipaos (The Fashion and Race Database). Since then, we have often seen fetishizing Asian women and using them as objects to their pleasure.
There are a myriad of things we see in our daily lives that can be considered cultural appropriation. So where do we draw the line? Many different people have different definitions that can often contradict each other. To some, a person wearing the clothes of another culture without knowing its meaning is wrong and disrespectful, but another may consider it acceptable as long as the person is wearing it correctly. The controversy of cultural appropriation vs. appreciation became clear in a 2018 prom incident, when a high-school student in Utah, with no Asian descent, wore a qipao to prom. 3 years ago, when Keziah Daum wore a traditional Chinese dress, it set off an uproar. On the one hand, many Asian Americans argued that it was disrespect and exploitation of their culture, saying that “My culture is NOT your prom dress.” On the other hand, other Asian Americans argued that the criticism was silly. This topic brought up a whole discussion of the origin of the Qipao, and where it originally came from.
To me, cultural appropriation is when people use objects of another culture without learning about them or recognizing them as a symbol of another culture. What is often most hurtful to me is when people seem to pick and choose aspects of a culture, as if stopping by a shop. My culture and community are often mocked by people for our eyes, our manners, and our skin, yet the very same people eat our food, wear our clothes, and buy our products. We are not a shop.