It's time for America to address cultural appropriation. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, cultural appropriation is "the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture."
A Utah teen has sparked a nationwide debate on cultural appropriation due to her choice of a Chinese cultural dress to wear to prom because she thought it was "pretty." She chose to wear the traditional Chinese wear called a cheongsam or qipao.
She has no Chinese ancestry and decided to wear this dress because it had a "modest" neckline. She said she was "appreciating" the culture.
However, that is debatable, seeing that the pose used in the group photo where she appears to be mocking Chinese culture with her group of friends. Her mom claims that the pose was made because of a vaping meme made famous by a YouTuber.
She refuses to take down the photos from Twitter or apologize for her choice of dress.
To me, this seems like a publicity stunt from her attention drawn throughout social media as well as her various interviews from cosmopolitan to going on various television interviews. I think it's important to address that this is not an issue just because she is white.
She has no privilege wearing another culture's attire as her own fashion statement no matter what her race is.
The point is that she is NOT a part of the culture that she is trying to "honor" by wearing it. Most people that are actually a part of that culture get made fun of for wearing traditional cultural attire and just because she is a cute white girl wearing it, it's suddenly "beautiful." My little sister has been constantly made fun of for looking of Asian descent. My mom has also been told to go back to her country when she was born in the United States to immigrant parents. This is why cultural appropriation is not OK. You are not "honoring" a culture by wearing a culture's traditional attire to your prom.
Get a dress from your own culture with its own modest neckline because my culture is not your fashion statement.
