This is going to be long, but I have a really important thing to say lol.
I am a black woman, and Here’s my opinion on cultural appropriation, white people wearing cornrows, box braids, dreadlocks, and stuff like that. Also, A LOT of people on this unpopular opinions website think there is no such thing as cultural appropriation, but that’s not true, there is. It’s just that ALOT of people on tumblr overall take every little thing and claim its “cultural appropriation” which blows things out of proportion. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t know what does and doesn’t count as cultural appropriation and I have actually studied this, so I’ll point it out for you. I think this post is important to clear some things up.
For example, if you’re wearing something that has a true cultural or religious significant meaning behind it and you are just using it as a fashion accessory, then that’s wrong because someone’s culture isn’t a fashion statement. Also, it is truly wrong to wear something that is a part of someone’s culture in a way that MOCKS that person and their culture. It’s a serious part of their culture and it should be taken seriously. This shouldn’t be mocked or made fun of simply for the sake of fashion, or being funny. Like seriously, making fun of an entire culture of people or an aspect of a culture isn’t cool.
Also, even though some sjw’s on tumblr can be a little too radical at times, something that sjw’s on tumblr really are correct about, is the fact that when white people participate in a particular activity, or wear a certain hairstyle, they are praised for it. But when black people, do it, they are slandered for it. For example, when it comes to hairstyles, society usually tells black people that they look ghetto and unprofessional for wearing dreadlocks. But when white people do it, fashion blogs and the media say that it’s “trendy and cool”. Also, i have seen lots of women, of different races, dye their hair different colors of the rainbow, such as blue, purple, pink, orange, green, red, etc. When black women do it, people say they look ghetto and ratchet. But when white women do it, people say they look trendy and alternative. And even though there are women from all different races and ethnicities that get hair extensions, weave, and wear wigs, black women are the ONLY race of women that are constantly shamed, slandered, and belittled to a tremendous extent because we wear weave, or other types of fake hair like wigs. I have never seen an entire race of women that have been constantly slandered for wearing fake hair collectively as a whole race, the same way black women have been slandered for wearing fake hair collectively as a whole race.
Even black women’s natural, unprocessed hair is constantly slandered, and society considers it to be “nappy”. But everyone loves white woman’s natural hair. To be honest, society never slanders white women’s hair or what white women choose to do with their hairstyles collectively as a whole in the same way that society slanders black women and black women’s hairstyles.
So long story short, tumblr is pretty much pissed off about how society is basically creating this ideology that no matter what white women choose to do with their hair, it’s considered a good hairstyle, but no matter what black women choose to do with their hair (even if they wanna leave their natural hair out) it’s considered ugly and bad. THAT is what sjw’s are pissed off about, and that is a reasonable thing to be pissed off about. The entire race of Black women do not deserve to be slandered for their hairstyles. Seriously. That’s so fucked up.
And, sjw’s are also correct about the fact that there are certain things that black people did actually originate, and they aren’t given credit for it, in the fashion industry. And that’s really not fair. for example, deadlocks, Bantu knots and cornrows were created by African black people YEARSSS AGO. It originated from Africans. But when the fashion blogs and magazines, and fashion shows/celebrity news shows, started putting box braids, cornrows, Bantu knots, dreadlocks, and other black hairstyles that originated from black women, in their media outlets, they constantly gave all the credit for the origin of this hairstyle to white women. That isn’t fair bc the real people who deserve credit for those hairstyles’ origins are black people bc they created it.
However, as a black woman myself, when it comes to white people themselves wearing dreads, I generally do not care. It’s just a hairstyle and it’s not that serious to me. It would be cultural appropriation if a white person used a hairstyle to MOCK/make fun of black people, and degrade and slander blacks. But if a white woman is simply just wearing something like box braids, cornrows, dreadlocks, or Bantu knots, then that’s not cultural appropriation to me because it’s just a hairstyle. I will definitely admit that these hairstyles originated form African culture, because these hairstyles really did originate in Africa, and were used (and still are used today) to style hair, and/or to put African American textured hair in a protective hairstyle. However, there is no actual cultural significance to these hairstyles other than just that: styling hair and/or being used as a protective hairstyle for Afro-Centric hair. There’s no other cultural significance or deep rooted meaning behind these hairstyles, so therefor, white people who are simply just wearing one of those hairstyles, does not count as cultural appropriation to me.
The number one thing that I, as a black woman am pissed off about, is the fact that society slanders just about anything we as black women choose to do with our hair. When we wear weaves/or wigs, society says we as black woman are “fake” and make fun of us for not wearing our natural hair out. But when we do leave our natural hair out, society considers it to be “nappy”. If we perm out hair, society says we’re “trying to straighten our hair to be white”, when we put it in box braids, cornrows, or dreads, society says our hair is “unprofessional”. That’s so fucked up. If you don’t necessarily like a certain hairstyle on a particular woman who just so happens to be black, that’s fine, you’re entitled to your opinion. But to just slander the majority of black women’s hairstyles collectively as a whole is just racist as hell, and just so fucked up.
And having said that, I am NOT actually mad at the white women themselves who choose to wear hairstyles like that. I’m mad at the racist people (and the fashion media sometimes) who believe white women are the only race of women who can look good with those hairstyles. I’m mad at the racist people who refuse to believe that black women can do whatever they want with their and don’t deserve to be slandered for it. I’m mad at the racist people who slander black women for choosing to do what they want with their hairstyles.
I don’t understand why other black women are actually mad at white women themselves for trying these hairstyles. Shouldn’t your anger be targeted towards the racist people who believe only those white women are beautiful with that hairstyle and you are not? Because that’s who I’m mad at. I’m not mad at white women. They didn’t do anything except for try a hairstyle, so what’s wrong with that? I wouldn’t tell a white person to not do a certain hairstyle, because that would be just as prejudiced as someone telling me that I shouldn’t do a certain hairstyle. I know how much it hurts when someone slanders my hair & my hairstyles, so I’m not going to do that to another person and their hairstyle, white or black.
I see a lot of black women on tumblr getting pissed off about the fact that media outlets and the fashion media praises white women for certain hairstyles and slanders the exact same hairstyles on black women. And it is completely understandable that black women are mad about this: it’s clearly racism and racism is wack. However, I often see how many other black women believe the solution to this racism affecting black women’s hairstyles is that white women simply shouldn’t wear dreadlocks, cornrows, weave, or box braids at all. And in my opinion, that’s not the problem. The REAL problem is the media outlets and the fashion media. This is because the media outlets and the fashion media refuse to believe black women are beautiful with certain hairstyles, they refuse to give the REAL credit to the origin of a hairstyle, and they refuse to praise black women for the same hairstyles.
So what are yall’s thoughts on my post? You can leave some feedback and let me know what you think! :-)
