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Boston kimono exhibit in race row aka wearing kimono makes you racist now.

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plasmawave

Banned
Following an uproar of criticism on social media, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) cancelled an event that protesters labelled racist and culturally insensitive.

Museum officials announced that they would cancel "Kimono Wednesdays," which was originally scheduled to run until 29 July.
Every week, visitors were encouraged to "channel your inner Camille Monet" by posing in front of Claude Monet's "La Japonaise" while trying on a replica of the kimono Monet's wife, Camille, wears in the painting.
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Protesters quickly labelled this event as racist, saying it propagated racial stereotypes and encouraged cultural appropriation.
Some stood with signs next to visitors who tried on the kimono.
"It's not racist if you looks cute & exotic in it besides the MFA supports this!" one sign read.
Amnes Siyuan, one of the protest's organisers, said: "A bunch of people tried to prove that they were not racist. That was not the point. We wanted to talk about why this event is cultural appropriation."
Christiana Wang, another protester, said Asian Americans tend to be underrepresented and are forced into certain categories, such as the geisha or the quiet student.

The museum initially continued the event, releasing an internal memo to their staff that defended the attraction.
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"We don't think this is racist," the memo states. But the event was eventually cancelled. On Tuesday the MFA released a statement on their website in which they "apologise for offending any visitors".

The kimono will still be on display in front of the painting until the end of the month for visitors "to touch and engage with," but they will not have the option to try it on.
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http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-33450391

CI3Qr4KWEAAnM8H.jpg


So what say you Gaf? Is wearing kimono cultural appropriation? Is it racist??
 
F

Fmal

Banned
On the face of it I don't think it's racist, but I'm also not Japanese so what I think doesn't really matter.
 
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PorygonVandal

Member
I wouldn't get mad if there was a "sombrero and poncho day" and everybody dressed up like this:

un-hombre-joven-en-poncho-colorido-y-un-sombrero-8366755.jpg


I mean, it's part of our culture.... I really don't see the problem.
 
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massoluk

Banned
Not gonna claim I speak for Japanese people, but I doubt they see this as racist

I have a flashback of a town asking an owner to change the restaurant name from Fat Buddha
 
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nynt9

Member
In my experience Japanese people are amused when westerners imitate their culture, but obviously I cannot speak for all of them.

I'm Turkish, and I'm also amused when people imitate Turkish culture. I actually like it, it gives me a little bit of pride.

Personally, I find white people who get offended on behalf of minorities to be very patronizing. If anyone from the culture speaks up, sure. But going "what if those poor minorities get offended!" Speaks to some sort of disrespect they have towards those minorities and fear of being labeled racist and pride in having defended those poor minorities (TM) from those evil racists (TM) to me.
 
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SlickShoesRUCrazy

Member
Fucking stupid.

It's just clothing. We are suppose to be a melting pot. Why are people getting mad about people learning and understanding other cultures? It's stupid.
 
K

kirblar

Member
Not racist at all - it's a fun gimmick to try and drive museum traffic- the people are imitating the painting's clothes and pose, not trying to imitate the culture of another race.
Trojita said:
None of the protestors listed were Japanese lol.
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Least surprising thing about this ridiculousness.
 
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andymcc

Banned
It's very common for westerners in tea ceremonies and traditional stuff to wear kimonos in Japan and no one really bats an eyelash.
 
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many places

Member
"none of the protestors were japanese" oh god were there seriously weaboos butthurt about non-weaboos enjoying japanese dress? my god weebs chill.
 
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andymcc

Banned
many places said:
"none of the protestors were japanese" oh god were there seriously weaboos butthurt about non-weaboos enjoying japanese dress? my god weebs chill.
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to be fair, they were asian american. they're lumping it in with the "exotic" treatment asian cultures get i presume.
 
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Fury451

Banned
Trojita said:
None of the protestors listed were Japanese lol.
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That's often the case in the situations. Feeling the need to get offended for others is the connecting thread.

andymcc said:
It's very common for westerners in tea ceremonies and traditional stuff to wear kimonos in Japan and no one really bats an eyelash.
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This is what I thought as well, though I don't claim to be an expert on Japanese culture.

This event seem to be catered to helping people experience a new culture, unless that's racist now.
 
F

FStop7

Banned
andymcc said:
It's very common for westerners in tea ceremonies and traditional stuff to wear kimonos in Japan and no one really bats an eyelash.
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I immediately thought of the 8-4 Play podcast in which Sarah P talked wearing a kimono for her coming of age ceremony.

There is cultural appropriation and there is experiencing other cultures. People who can't divine the difference are morons.
 
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UnluckyKate

Member
What racism ? What cultural appropriation ? I don't understand how any of this is racist ?

You could try a replica of the kimono that Camille Monet is wearing on the painting and that's racist ?
 
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PSqueak

Banned
Why is it always the kimono?

I think anime fans that appropiate japanese terms they only know from anime are 100x more offensive than people wearing a kimono to re-enact a painting by a french artist.

PorygonVandal said:
I wouldn't get mad if there was a "sombrero and poncho day" and everybody dressed up like this:

un-hombre-joven-en-poncho-colorido-y-un-sombrero-8366755.jpg


I mean, it's part of our culture.... I really don't see the problem.
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This too, we (mexicans) don't mind about stuff like this, that is just dressing for novelty on an event, hell, we love speedy gonzales!

It's always [miniority]-Americans who have never set a foot outside the united states who get offended in the name of actual natives of the culture they're trying to "protect".

Geeez, it's like that girl who cancelled a charity taco party at a college because aparently calling it a "fiesta" was racist.

Fuck you people, im an actual mexican born in mexico, you can't tell me what offends me.
 
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mullet2000

Member
It's disappointing that the term "cultural appropriation" is quickly becoming a term that people are going to ignore and/or laugh off due to its overabundant misuse.
 
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Mesoian

Member
UnluckyKate said:
What racism ? What cultural appropriation ? I don't understand how any of this is racist ?

You could try a replica of the kimono that Camille Monet is wearing on the painting and that's racist ?
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If it's not a white person in the kimono, is it still racist?

Is the asian exhibit around the corner that displays all sorts of japanese armor and weaponry cultural appropriation?

sixteen-bit said:
What about hakamas tho
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No lie, I want hakamas to come back into style, those things are sick.
 
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Jonnax

Member
one of the protesters at the museum, said the exhibit "goes back to the world exhibition in Europe where visitors would come see people in cages brought from Africa".
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This is weird. I don't get it at all. Is this something exclusive to America? Like how you sometimes see online people saying that Hip Hop should be exclusive to black Americans.
 
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Lights and Waves

Member
I think dressing up as a geisha with a bath robe and some shitty make up you have lying around could be offensive.

I think wearing an actual kimono, properly, and doing things that aren't purposefully harmful (i.e., walking around squinting your eyes or mocking Japanese language with "ching chong") isn't racist IF it's in the appropriate setting.

I think wearing a kimono out of nowhere as a non-Japanese person just makes you a weeaboo.
 
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juicyfruitas

Member
Interesting a bunch of ethnically Chinese (I'm assuming here based on the quoted surnames of the Protestors - Siyuan, Yang, Ying) crying foul over non-Asians wearing Japanese garb?

Really, dawg? Rly?
 
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Osorio

Member
I don't understand how wearing a kimono makes you think lesser of the Japanese.

If they put it on in yellowface and started mimicking the Japanese language or Japanese gestures that'd be one thing.
 
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Slayven

Member
at least it ain't a purple drank party. or would the museum equivalent be "Harlem Renascence and Watermelon brunch".
 
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Mik2121

Member
Two Asian people raging about this with names pretty obviously not Japanese and talking about this shit when it shouldn't even involve anything related to them... unless they are throwing Kimonos and other Japanese culture elements into a big Asian bag, to which some other group of people might react and call it racism or something. Jesus this is such a mess, hahaha...

Anyway, no, wearing a kimono to experience another culture or even for fashion reasons isn't racism or whatever shit some people come up with these days. Wearing it to make fun of Japanese people is a different story, and even then the act of wearing the kimono shouldn't really be that important to begin with.
 
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vityaz

Member
God, this is so silly. So is there truth to the claim that people are "too sensitive" today (mainly in the US)? And will it get worse?
 
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neogaffer1

Banned
I'm trying to think of a parallel in Western culture that we might get upset over but I'm drawing a blank for anything that isn't connected to Christianity in general, and I'd hope we wouldn't be as a culture defined by the opinions of the followers of one religion.
 
Z

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
mullet2000 said:
It's disappointing that the term "cultural appropriation" is quickly becoming a term that people are going to ignore and/or laugh off due to its overabundant misuse.
Click to expand...

It has definitely become one of the most overused terms in racial outrage these days. Sews division more often than not.
 
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