#appropriation?

[ometochtli2rabbit]

Mexico Unexplained (facebook)

With all this attention on the Olmec lately, let's not forget when an Olmec head made it into the American mainstream culture with a 1991 episode of "The Simpsons." Bart donated blood to save Mr. Burns' life and in return Mr. Burns went to a mall (it was 1991 after all) and for $32,000 he bought a genuine Olmec head said to represent the ancient Mesoamerican god Xtapolapacetl (which was made up for the show). In future episodes the head can be seen in the Simpsons' basement, at one of their garage sales, and various other places, with no indication on how it was ever moved. Is this all in good fun, or an example of cultural appropriation?

[notablemojis]

tasting good, mediocre or bad

[fauxprofonde]

for a jew i love catholic imagery

[paulpingminho]

[wikiweb-blog]

Is Emmett Till painting cultural appropriation?...

“The View” co-hosts discuss an artist under fire for the stirring painting.… More

[fuckyeahyonicsymbols]

Isn't "yonic" kind of culturally appropritive because it's doesn't just mean "vulva" it's also an important concept and symbol of the Hindu Godess Shakti?

Good question.  I am not one hundred percent sure on this.  “Yonic” seems to be the most commonly-used term to describe something which represents the vulva and/or womb. The problem is that English doesn’t have a term for the female counterpart to “phallic,” and has therefore adopted a term from Sanskrit to describe the idea.  Loanwords like this happen all the time, such as “déjà vu.”  There have been a couple of attempts to create a term based in Latin or Germanic roots, such as “vulvic” or “cunnic”, but neither of these terms encompasses the whole idea of the vulva and the womb together the way “yonic” does. I have rarely heard either of these used, especially “cunnic” … which is probably not surprising, given the cultural significance of the word “cunt,” especially in North America.  

None of this means that it is not appropriative, though.  English is notorious for rummaging through the pockets of other languages for spare vocabulary, and then not always treating that vocabulary or the culture it came from respectfully.  So why do I use it?  Basically, it most clearly conveys what I am trying to represent here (symbols of female reproduction and sexuality), and I think it’s a pretty word that I try to use respectfully, without claiming ownership or creation of it.  So I hope that it is not appropriative, but have no clear answer.

I would be willing to hear some other input on this, as I am not a linguist or a speaker of Sanskrit.  

[la-belle-laide]

Tumblr, give a gal a hand. Last year, by way of DNA testing (via my son, actually,) I found out that I was a decent portion South Asian or Middle Eastern. (The DNA tests are not specific.) This was news to me (and to a lot of my ignorant family, who didn’t want to hear anything about it.)

So like, now I’m really curious about the various cultures, clothing, practices and such. I’d love to honor that - but I don’t want to overstep, since I was raised as a white person. Well, I’m white-passing (barely. I did get called lots of racist names in school because I do rather have features typical of that part of the world. We just never knew where they came from.) And like, in May, I wanted to take part in the Asian Invasion, but it didn’t feel right. (Though my son is 1/4 Asian, so he could have. :) )

What do? I don’t want to be rude or be a dick about this. I don’t even know which country this great-grandparent came from, and I know they are all vastly different. None of the cousins I met on the DNA site were very forthcoming, not to mention it’s a few hundred dollars a year to keep investigating.  :/