Okay so after the last few Coachella's and the events of celebrities being slammed for the inappropriate use of sacred cultural symbols, we are aware of what is known as 'cultural appropriation'.
Of course we know that we shouldn't prance around in Native American headdresses, or sexualise the sacred clothing of a religion and so on, but is this going a little too far?
With that, I am not saying people shouldn't protect their cultures and I'm also not saying that calling someone out for cultural appropriation is wrong. What I am saying is that you can't go crazy at someone for sporting a certain item that related to a really specific group of people that they may never have heard of, not due to ignorance, but due to the fact they've just never heard of this small group of people that were around thousands of years ago? It can happen.
You can't expect that everyone knows the ins and outs of the history of every society, culture or religion. Someone could paint their nails in a pattern they've just come up with, out of the blue. But coincidentally, it could be the same or similar to a pattern used by a small religion or culture that was around once. Don't freak out at them.
Yes, we need to be aware of these issues, we need to be sensitive towards other cultures and we need to protect and honour sacred elements of cultures, but we can't be over the top about it.
Additional thought: if I wear a kimono at the beach to go over my bikini because it is useful and ideal for that kind of situation is that cultural appropriation? I'm not saying anything to change the origins, I'm not talking rubbish that I don't actually know about the culture. I mean it's not like living in England, a cold, rainy country, we would have any traditional garments for a beach, so to what extent can I use a kimono without it being cultural appropriation?
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