Orientalism and Appropriation

Orientalism and appropriation is something that I hate. With Selena Gomez wearing a bindi during her performances to Lady Gaga sexualising the burqa and having an orientalist attitude. 

What is orientalism? Orientalism is the representation of the East in Western art or writing, esp. when perceived as stereotyped and therefore embodying a colonialistic attitude.

Appropriation is wrong on so many levels because it is not your culture, you have no right to claim it whatsoever. Orientalism is also wrong because it portrays 'Orientalist peoples' and their culture as something to be fetishised, meanwhile in real life, they get mocked for practising their culture, or are portrayed in the media as something else. A well known example of a film portraying Arabs in an orientalist fashion is Aladdin.

Let's talk about the two examples I mentioned. Selena Gomez and Lady Gaga. Firstly, Selena is Latina, not south East Asian or Hindu, she has NO right to wear the bindi. It is a sacred cultural thing, not fashion. These days, you also have white girls wearing the Native American headdress as fashion. It's ironic because their ancestors did a lot of whitewashing and tried to strip native Americans of their culture by making them more European. They have no right to reclaim the headdress as their fashion icon. What about non-native American / Non-pacific islander people who get Tribal tattoos?

Lady gaga also wore the Burqa a while before to try 'sympathise' with Muslim women. Hey Gaga, listen up! Muslim women do not need your sympathy or white American colonialistic attitude. Furthermore, she just released a song called 'Burqa' and if you look at the lyrics, it is gross and it sexualises women. Secondly, she is catholic, not Muslim. She has no right to do this. It's also ironic that she uses the Burqa for shock value and as a fashion icon, meanwhile Muslim women who actually wear it, or even the hijab, get mocked for it. Even in certain places which claim to be democratic and have freedom, they have banned the burqa.

To conclude, appropriation and orientalism are wrong on so many levels because you have people who are not of that culture reclaiming someone else's culture as their own, or grossly sexualising it and fetishising it.