'It's just a dress': Teen's Chinese prom attire stirs cultural appropriation debate Samantha Schmidt, The Washington Post Published 5:36 am, Tuesday, May 1, 2018
It's that time of year in high school, the season of the highly anticipated, stress-inducing rite of passage called prom.
Like many other teenagers preparing for prom, Utah senior Keziah Daum wanted to find a dress that would stand out, "something that would be more unique and bold and had some sort of meaning to it," she said in an interview with The Washington Post.
Daum decided to browse a vintage store in downtown Salt Lake City, where she came across a red cheongsam, also known as a qipao - the high-collared, form-fitting traditional Chinese dress.
"I thought it was absolutely beautiful," said Daum, who is not Chinese. She appreciated its high neckline, a difficult trait to find in many prom dresses. The dress, she said, "really gave me a sense of appreciation and admiration for other cultures and their beauty."
On a Sunday after the dance, like many other social media-savvy high schoolers, she posted a photo in her dress alongside her friends. "PROM," she wrote.
She had no idea it would elicit such a response.
"My culture is NOT your . . .. prom dress," a man named Jeremy Lam tweeted days later, sharing the photos she posted.
"I'm proud of my culture, including the extreme barriers marginalized people within that culture have had to overcome those obstacles," Lam also wrote. "For it to simply be subject to American consumerism and cater to a white audience, is parallel to colonial ideology."
I will be starting a politically correct movement on behalf of the Chinese who have been exposed to this terrible insult to their culture. I'm going to call it Mee Tu. I've already ordered the T-Shirts.
Re: Teen Insults 1.379 Billion People
Posted: Wed May 02, 2018 1:53 am
by dales
Get your copy of Mao's Little Red Book, Joe.
Re: Teen Insults 1.379 Billion People
Posted: Wed May 02, 2018 2:35 am
by Joe Guy
But if I go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, I ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow.
Teen Insults 1.379 Billion People
Posted: Wed May 02, 2018 2:41 am
by RayThom
She appears to fill it out quite nicely, too... IMHO
Some people have such hollow lives they need to find thing to bitch and moan about.
Re: Teen Insults 1.379 Billion People
Posted: Wed May 02, 2018 7:51 am
by Econoline
It's a beautiful dress, and she wears it well.
And shouldn't the people who've criticized her for wearing it be going after the store that sold it to her?
Re: Teen Insults 1.379 Billion People
Posted: Wed May 02, 2018 10:20 am
by Gob
OFFS!! When did we become such a bunch of pathetic whining miserable bastards...
Re: Teen Insults 1.379 Billion People
Posted: Wed May 02, 2018 11:00 am
by Crackpot
We? Speak for yourself. For you however i’m Pretty sure it was around the time you thought a Bon Jovi pun was worthy of sharing.
Let me just say for the record that I fully support most forms of so-called cultural appropriation. If it were not for cultural appropriation, human civilization could never advance; you need only look as far as our alphabet, appropriated from the Phoenecians by way of the Greeks. Art, music, crafts, cuisine, science, engineering, literature, government, religion -- virtually all of human culture -- is the story of adopting and adapting ideas among human populations. Brahms unabashedly "appropriated" for his Hungarian Dances as did Dvorak for his New World Symphony as did Copland for, like, almost everything he wrote. Most sushi places around here are run by Koreans, many pizzerias are run by Greeks (and, increasingly, Latin Americans). For an American, how is wearing Hong Kong couture any different from wearing Paris couture?
Re: Teen Insults 1.379 Billion People
Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 1:53 am
by rubato
Music, art, fashion, architecture, theatre, cuisine all become part of the global culture when they find it. "cultural appropriation" is a bullshit term referring to nothing.
Is Throne of Blood cultural appropriation? Is it cultural appropriation what we have three gamelan orchestras in Santa Cruz? Bah, stupidity.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Teen Insults 1.379 Billion People
Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 1:54 am
by rubato
datsunaholic wrote:Interestingly, the only people offended by her choice of prom dress are... Americans.
... " l
A tiny fraction of the stupid people in the US, you mean.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Teen Insults 1.379 Billion People
Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 2:21 am
by Joe Guy
The Beatles made millions by culturally appropriating American Rock & Roll and selling it back to us and the rest of the world. I've always been a fan of The Beatles but now I think I'm offended.
Re: Teen Insults 1.379 Billion People
Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 2:33 am
by dales
The white man stole rock and roll from the black man.
Re: Teen Insults 1.379 Billion People
Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 3:30 am
by Joe Guy
I've heard a lot of Chuck Berry's records and I'm pretty sure he was white....
Teen Insults 1.379 Billion People
Posted: Mon May 07, 2018 4:13 am
by RayThom
Cultural appropriation -- where exactly is the line?
The bag idea would offend Muslim women. It would probably be best to just ban proms. Proms are offensive to people who can't get a date and many of those people develop PTSD and become serial killers.
