Why I can't stand white belly dancers (re cultural appropriation)

[gollygee]

Two points of interest for me. 1) cultural appropriation, and 2) white feminism and racism (which is something I think white feminists have as of late been working on, but we have a lot of work yet to do.)

I have several friends who belly dance. One of them posted this on Facebook and said she was upset that anyone would see it as racist or cultural appropriation. (background on cultural appropriation here: http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/09/cultural-exchange-and-cultural-appropriation/ )

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/04/why_i_cant_stand_white_belly_dancers/

Women I have confronted about this have said, “But I have been dancing for 15 years! This is something I have built a huge community on.” These women are more interested in their investment in belly dancing than in questioning and examining how their appropriation of the art causes others harm. To them, I can only say, I’m sure there are people who have been unwittingly racist for 15 years. It’s not too late. Find another form of self-expression. Make sure you’re not appropriating someone else’s.

When I have argued, online and in person, with white women belly dancers, they have assured me that they learned to dance from Arab women and brown women. This is supposed to make the transaction OK. Instead, I point out that all this means is that it is perfectly all right with these teachers that their financial well-being is based on self-exploitation. As a follow-up, white belly dancers then focus on the sisterly and community aspect of belly dance. They claim that the true exploiter of belly dancing is Hollywood, and the Egyptian film industry, which helped take belly dancing out of women’s homes and placed it directly under the male gaze. Here, the argument white belly dancers try to make ignores the long history of white women’s appropriation of Eastern dancing and becomes that this, the learning and performance of belly dance, is not about race and appropriation, but about gender and resisting the patriarchy and how all of us belly dancing together is a giant middle finger to men and their male gaze-y ways.

But, here’s the thing. Arab women are not vessels for white women to pour themselves and lose themselves in; we are not bangles or eyeliner or tiny bells on hips. We are human beings. This dance form is originally ours, and does not exist so that white women can have a better sense of community; can gain a deeper sense of sisterhood with each other; can reclaim their bodies; can celebrate their sexualities; can perform for the female gaze. Just because a white woman doesn’t profit from her performance doesn’t mean she’s not appropriating a culture. And, ultimately, the question is this: Why does a white woman’s sisterhood, her self-reclamation, her celebration, have to happen on Arab women’s backs?

[cali]

1. what a waste of time and energy.

white people should never sing soul. black people should never play roles written for white people on the stage or in movies.

I love seeing culture mixed up and "appropriated" and shaken up and given this twist and that.

frankly, I think your thoughts on this are poison. really.

Your op makes me long for the bygone days of the unrec button.

[chrisa]

11. The ultimate irony is how racist this piece is.

"You're all racist, but let me argue against doing anything outside your culture."

I'm suspecting this might be a Poe, but that could be wishful thinking.

[brooklynite]

63. Sadly, not

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/04/why_i_cant_stand_white_belly_dancers/

[Jackpine Radical]

39. Thanks for saving me the bother of writing all that.

You pretty much expressed my exact thoughts.

[PasadenaTrudy]

41. +1 n/t

[MADem]

82. I have to laugh at any idiot that doesn't understand that "Arab" is a culture, and sometimes, a

nationality. It's not a frigging RACE.

Arabs are white, Arabs are brown, Arabs are black, Arabs are Asian.

Just like Brazilians, or "South Americans."

I'd say this piece wins the "I'm an idiot" prize for lousy premise and worse construct.

[Number23]

150. But MADem you absolutely have to see this video linked from the article in the OP

As someone whose spent quite a bit of time in the Middle East, I'm sitting here lost in memories. It's wonderful.

[MADem]

177. The video is brilliant--what a cultural marriage between music and dance! nt

[Revanchist]

196. That's hilarious

The author, a Chicago born native of the U.S. who has a complexion that can be mistaken for any place in the Mediterranean (I would of pegged her as Greek if I didn't know who she was) so could be mistaken as one of those evil white belly dancers, writes an article lamenting people of other cultures appropriating the dancing of her people and the video she posts to demonstrating "real Middle Easterners" belly dancing is set to the music of a Jamaican born Reggae artist.

[Number23]

205. Who's the artist? I love that video

[Revanchist]

208. Cutty Ranks there's a link to his YouTube page if you watch the video here on YouTube EOM

[cemaphonic]

156. On top of that, belly dancing isn't purely Arabian either

It spread through the Middle East/North Africa, acquiring Turkish, Romani, Persian and Berber/Maghreb flavors along the way. Most of the ads I see around here for belly dance instructors teach the Moroccan and Turkish styles.

[MADem]

175. +1,000 !!!!

It's rather noxious, that article...I hope the author is getting an earful from around the world!

[magical thyme]

113. seriously.

When "people of color" play western classical music and dance classical ballet, is that "cultural appropriation?"


Oh, the horror!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=2MuCCbg0k_0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=RM9DPfp7-Ck

How about showing respect and appreciation for all art forms as they have evolved in cultures around the world? By learning them, performing them, loving them?

[Revanchist]

200. How about a Japanese man who plays country and western on a fiddle?

[sibelian]

118. Hey! Gollygee is QUOTING someone for the sake of discussion.

Play fair, cali.

[Dorian Gray]

174. Pretty much

this...

[Trajan]

2. sheesh ...

What ridiculous nonsense this ...

Extend the notion to other art forms, and it's easy to see that such a worldview is crippling and narrow minded ...

Hock-tooey ...

[joeglow3]

3. The article is shit

The author contradicts themself in the final paragraph when they say "we are all humans." EXACTLY!!!! We are all humans. If someone enoys a certain style of dance, they can only do it if they have the right DNA in them? Fuck that. These morons are just as bad as the people in Footloose.

[1awake]

4. At a glance (and I mean really rough glance), it sounds like BS. I'll have to remember

next time someone who's not Italian makes Italian food.

[Crunchy Frog]

120. Italian food

is just about all appropriated. At least any of it that contains either pasta, stolen from China, or tomatoes, stolen from the Americas.

Italian people need to end their imperialism and stop eating.

[1awake]

138. Haha! Not sure I can comply with that! nt

[Jackpine Radical]

124. What right did Mozart, a German, have to write an opera

entitled "Cosi Fan Tutti?" Did nobody tell him that Germans are only supposed to write music about the Teutonic gods and heroes?

[1awake]

137. lol, exactly my point. nt

[snooper2]

5. I was listening to this on the way into work, rapping along as well

I guess I should just smash that CD when I go to lunch right?




(Bizzy kicks asss)

[Hassin Bin Sober]

38. Hey, I think I saw you on my drive in.

[snooper2]

46. I'm smart enough to have my windows blacked out

[msanthrope]

185. This is exactly what my white bourgeois self was gonna post...nt

[chrisa]

6. Wut?

[cali]

19. lol. perfect. love your response.

[LittleBlue]

7. No wonder Salon loses money

Who would pay to read this drivel?

There isn't anything wrong with people dancing. No group culturally owns music, dance or any other type of performing art.

[rrneck]

8. Cultures mix.

How do you think we learn about others? We do it by walking in their shoes, by doing things the way they do them.

A more insidious implication of "claiming" cultural practices is the implication that they can be patented. If they can be owned, they can be sold.

[FSogol]

9. I demand that you stop writing. Who gave you permission to appropriate

Mesoamerican and Egyptian cultures! Why does a woman’s communication skills, her self-reclamation, her celebration, have to happen on Mesoamerican and Egyptian women’s backs?



PS: Skinner can we have the unrec back yet?

[snooper2]

14. ROFLMAO

nice

[HappyMe]

10. What a load of crap.

[sufrommich]

12. All types of people enjoy hula and flamenco dancing.

When I was a kid we lived in Hawaii for a couple of years,we learned hula in school,it was required for girls and boys. Native Hawaiians were a minority in my school as were haoles,the majority of kids were asian or portuguese.

[Fawke Em]

13. Um... Arab women are white women.

They're Caucasian.

Maybe if the writer had said European women, perhaps?

[CBGLuthier]

15. How dare she appropriate the language of another culture.

By her logic she should have written this in Arabic.

[Eleanors38]

16. This sounds so-o-o-o Seventies. nt

[penultimate]

17. I was expecting to read a Trollolololololololol somewhere in that article.

Seems like something someone would have wrote with the purpose of inciting. Mostly because it's easy to pick apart and see the logical inconsistencies (great way to get many 'angry' responses, because everyone feels like they can jump into the fray with little effort)


I'm just going to assume that's a well done 'troll' and give the person a pat on the back.

[Bluenorthwest]

18. Racist bullshit of the same sort that was used to discriminate against black and brown

dancers in the world of ballet, 'it belongs to Europeans'. I reject this bigoted crap.

[JustAnotherGen]

69. Agreed

That was my gut reaction (having pursued ballet as a career) and my second reaction was -

Having pursued ballet as a career - dance is dance. It's a joy!

And I took belly dancing for a few years just for the excercise and because it is excellent for the core. There are women like me that would rather die than run a boring assed marathon or lift weights at the gym - belly dancing is a kick ass work out.

[Cleita]

20. Some do it for a work out. Others do ballet, origins in France,

or step dancing/tap dancing origins in Ireland. How about flamenco? Strip club pole dancing originated in the USA and it's done as a work out by many women, but there are objections to this too.

Not only that, black women also have taken up belly dancing, not just white women.

[bravenak]

145. I've done belly dancing too.

And a white girl taught me pole dancing. We got in great shape and had fun, all different colors of women dancing around together. It's better that we share with each other than to group up in color coded dancing teams.

[Cleita]

148. No doubt. Look at all the the people around the world who do Latin dancing.

The tango is the most popular dance in Finland, and is the Harlem ballet theater still around? They did the best version of The Firebird Suite of all ballet companies back in the nineties including the Russians. Dance is universal.

[bravenak]

154. It's like music.

Blues to, rock and roll, and r and b, and rap, and American folk are all related. We share with each other and it brings us together.

I think it's the Dance Theater of Harlem now. Me and my sister and my cousin went to Debbie Allen Dance Studio in LA for a while. We did modern dance and our cousin ( she's white) did hip hop dance. An Asian girl tried to teach us breakdancing but I don't have enough rhythm.
But I'm a Liza Minnelli at Jazz dancing.

It would be so boring if I could only participate in dance with certain people and only do certain dances that were culturally approved for me.

[Cleita]

157. You studied with Debbie Allen? Lucky you. She is the best. n/t

[bravenak]

158. She never taught my class. :(

It would have been a dream come true.

[hobbit709]

21. This should make the top 5 stupid posts of the day.

[Iggo]

35. Easily.

[cherokeeprogressive]

48. For me the best answer is to rec posts like this to The Greatest Page...

So everyone can share in the bwahahaha.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

95. Maybe the year

[Le Taz Hot]

22. So, Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle shoulda just stuck with

singing "Negro Spirituals." Got it.

[MerryBlooms]

23. Complete nonsense.

[OregonBlue]

24. If there was more mixing of cultures, there might be less racism, few wars, etc.

I too find the article insulting.

[TreasonousBastard]

25. I'm thinking this one has searched for years...

for something that would make her feel oppressed and finally hit on belly dancing. Mixes it in with "the patriarchy" and horny men, too, for extra feminist points.

[Cleita]

29. Especially the horny men. They are all rapists you know if you don't cover up, hunch

your shoulders, or sway your hips.

[lumberjack_jeff]

58. +1 n/t

[randome]

26. This thread deserves the obligatory...

...This thread is useless without pictures.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Aspire to inspire.[/center][/font][hr]

[kentauros]

193. How about a video instead?

Of belly dexterity:

[polly7]

27. Well that's a bummer:(

Sometimes we get up and chicken-dance, belly-dance, whatever ... just before closing time when our belly-dancing and chicken-dancing skills are beyond amazing - both women and men. Who knew we were disrespecting Arab and chicken culture? I guess we're just going to have to learn the polka.

[kentauros]

194. Try this polka:

You might like it

[KittyWampus]

28. An Issue Of Authenticity >>> Using American Indian Art For Example

If you've ever been to a Pow Wow, you've seen the stalls selling vast quantities of arts, crafts and trinkets and they all are done in various styles associated with American Indian cultures.

To have one of those stalls, you have have some degree of relation to an American Indian Tribe. But that doesn't mean that what your selling has to be the product of an American Indian.

Several years ago, there was a family selling Zuni fetishes at the local Pow Wow. If you're interested in Zuni fetishes, it can be really exciting to go to a vendor and explore their wares.

These particular vendors were doing their best to educate the public about the difference between arts and crafts done by American Indians who are actually affiliated with a tribe and stuff produced by "outsiders" en masse.

IMO, as someone who loves art and anthropology, there is a definite case for wanting to assert the title "Authentic" when it comes to art and crafts, including theater and dance.

Non-American Indian individuals or a corporation can create in a style associated w/a tribe, but should be open and honest about their non-affiliation.

So while I am happy that women outside belly dancing's normal cultural range of practitioners are learning the art, one would hope they represent themselves to others honestly.

In my life I've known some women who do belly dance and also hula. They have movements which have been passed down through generations and which have cultural meaning. So I do think there is a case to be made for asserting the authenticity of a dance style and the authority of those who traditionally do it.

But I also celebrate the ability of people to explore and share and evolve.

[Bok_Tukalo]

30. This is like people getting upset with Molly Cypress for twerking

The world is just too damn weird sometimes.

[kwassa]

168. MOLLY CYPRESS????!c!!!!????

[bravenak]

178. Good catch.

I was told not to make fun of Miley Cyrus twerking. I could not stop.

[kwassa]

181. well, you know.

white peoples.

[bravenak]

182. They told me!

I tried to explain why it was so funny, but... I can't win for losing.
She can bounce around making fun of us but I'm not allowed to laugh too. It was funny.

[kwassa]

184. Molly Cypress has a lot to answer for. Whoever she is.

all those misappropriated cultural things.

[bravenak]

186. Yes. Molly Cypress bad.

Shes a thief.

[3catwoman3]

31. Wow - that is quite...

...a reach.

[bunnies]

32. ridiculous, racist, garbage.

The author really needs to get a hold of herself.

[Iggo]

33. Fuck racial purity.

Mix it up, folks!

[jollyreaper2112]

34. silly article

I can get the complaint when someone is just doing cultural drag, like Madonna adopting a look. That singer from No Doubt caused some heat when she adopted the Hindu dot since it's a sign of marriage and has great emotional significance. I can also see bitching about blacks not being able to perform their own rock music but white boys coming along, stealing the licks and the moves and the success, yeah, that would be a pisser. I can see complaints when eastern mysticism is repackaged as suburb-safe woo for the new age set. But if people are learning the art, promoting it, but being tasteful, what's the complaint?

I can see bitching about disrespectful white belly dancers. But I can also see bitching about disrespectful brown ones. "What, you think you're better at it just because you're Indian? I worked hard to do this."

[gollygee]

71. I like your response

I can see the potential for disrespect, but that doesn't mean it is disrespectful to simply perform belly dance as someone of European descent.

[DetlefK]

36. This exactly what german rappers were told in the 1980s and early 90s.

In the 1980s, rap was american, black and serious. It was about hardship and being forced to live on the edge of society.

The german group "Die Fantastischen Vier" (or abbreviated "Fanta Vier&quot were the first german musicians to break that pattern.
They rapped in german.
And they rapped funny texts.
It was outrageous and the rap-community in Germany hated them for discarding that cultural heritage. They took a lot of flak. (But they became extremely popular and practically became the founding-fathers of german rap.)

A few years ago, I saw an interview of the german rap-combo "Fettes Brot". One of them recounted a scene from their early career in the 1990s:
He had stayed over night at a student dormitory and his patron's room-mate berated him, that he was disrespectful to black culture and stealing it.

[treestar]

37. How about Asians playing violin

in an orchestra? Japanese baseball leagues?

Why not be happy other people are interested?

[Orrex]

55. Violins is never the answer.

[My Good Babushka]

72. You are just saying that

so I'll stop practicing in the house

[Orrex]

86. You weren't supposed to see that.

[treestar]

91. There should be no violins on TV!

What's all this I keep hearing about that?

[Demo_Chris]

40. Racist and hateful and ludicrous. nt

[TroglodyteScholar]

42. This is the kind of horseshit story...

... that makes liberals look just as crazy as tea partiers. Don't even grow a thick skin, just grow a skin.. Period.

[Orrex]

50. Your post is insensitive to people without skin.

Way to push the dermo-centric agenda, you skinnist.

[TroglodyteScholar]

52. You got me

Off to sensitivity training with me....

[appal_jack]

88. You've just been "ribbed for her pleasure!"

You've just been "ribbed for her pleasure!"



Seriously, schoolboy humor is the only reasonable, non-blood-pressure-raising response I can imagine to that ridiculous Salon article. Kudos to a broad swath of DU'ers seeing it for what it is.

As Pete Seeger once said on stage (maybe quoting Lee Hayes?) "plagarism is essential to all culture." He also liked to quote Woody Guthrie standing up for Bob Dylan by saying "he just stole from me, but I steal from everybody!"

-app

[PasadenaTrudy]

43. Rubbish n/t

[Orrex]

44. Let's call out this OP for what it's actually complaining about:

The casting of the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot movie.

[riderinthestorm]

45. Guess that means my daily yoga session is out... just racist cultural appropriation

Instead of healthy exercise. Guess I been told

[Autumn]

47. So white women can't dance?????

Wow.

[temporary311]

64. Well, maybe just some...

[img][/img]

[Autumn]

65. That dancing is a crime, no matter the color of your skin.

Welcome to DU.

[sufrommich]

49. Your first link is a very interesting read. nt

[TreasonousBastard]

80. It is. It opens a discussion on...

the "appropriation" issue.

The second is extreme, but if you read the whole article it makes a little more sense. Not that much more, though.

[sufrommich]

81. Yeah,I get the feeling a lot of posters didn't read

the first one. The second one seems to be an example of using the "cultural appropriation" term in the wrong way.

[gollygee]

83. It sounds to me

like she had experienced a case where someone who was white belly danced and was disrespectful about it, and she became sensitive to it as a result. I know people who belly dance who are kind and seem pretty careful about issues like cultural appropriation, but I can imagine someone doing it in a very stereotypical way (I'm thinking like along the lines of how a minstrel show is a stereotypical and horrible version of cultural appropriation) and her finding it so distasteful that she couldn't stomach seeing white women belly dance anymore.

[sufrommich]

90. I used to work with a white woman who was

a belly dancer,she learned from Arab teachers here in metro Detroit and she was very respectful of their cultural tradition . She didn't care for the western style of belly dancing ( which she called by it's Arabic name that I don't remember now) and said it is usually taught as a very cartoonist version of the real thing. It all comes down to respecting the culture you're borrowing from and borrowing from that culture in a respectful way.

[Arugula Latte]

104. I read the first one.

It's a preachy mishmash. Good luck trying to "draw the line" on what is "respectful" of another culture. Different groups of human beings have been borrowing and influencing each other for eons. Think about the ancient spice trade routes and how much mixing of foods and cultures took place, as just one example.

[sufrommich]

109. That's not what the article was about though. It was about

Western culture picking and choosing what it wants from other cultures without allowing those cultures to own their differences outside what western culture deems normal or worthy. From the article:

Ethnic” clothes and hairstyles are still stigmatized as unprofessional, “cultural” foods are treated as exotic past times, and the vernacular of people of color is ridiculed and demeaned.
So there is an unequal exchange between Western culture – an all-consuming mishmash of over-simplified and sellable foreign influences with a dash each of Coke and Pepsi – and marginalized cultures.
People of all cultures wear business suits and collared shirts to survive. But when one is of the dominant culture, adopting the clothing, food, or slang of other cultures has nothing to do with survival.
So as free as people should be to wear whatever hair and clothing they enjoy, using someone else’s cultural symbols to satisfy a personal need for self-expression is an exercise in privilege.
Because for those of us who have felt forced and pressured to change the way we look, behave, and speak just to earn enough respect to stay employed and safe, our modes of self-expression are still limited.

[cinnabonbon]

153. You said it better than I could. nt

[sibelian]

119. Yes, it's far more sensible.

I think a lot of folk just didn't bother to look.

[Bettie]

51. Some people just like to dance

And this is, ultimately, a dance form.

I've done various kind of ethnic dance forms from cultures I'm not 'from' and enjoyed them, not for 'reclaiming my womanhood' or anything but the joy of movement and learning something new.

Should we also not learn other languages to avoid offending native speakers of them? Should we avoid learning about any other cultures beyond our own?

[valerief]

53. Is this The Onion? nt

[bigwillq]

54. Poor white people.

The DU just doesn't like them anymore.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

192. What do you mean, "anymore"? N.T.

[lumberjack_jeff]

56. Do I have to toss my Bob Marley CD out the truck window?

"Cultural appropriation"? Bullshit, I say.

As a modern human being I'm not going to constrain my appreciation of the cultural and artistic to things made by people my approximate color.

[get the red out]

57. Glad I'm too much of a clutz to dance!

I do LOVE middle-eastern food though, I hope that's not offensive to anyone.

[AgingAmerican]

59. Judgements based on skin color

...are bigoted. This OP is racist, thought police, control freakism, and just plain weird.

[tkmorris]

60. Drive-by ill-conceived nonsense post

I'm sure the OP put this up for discussion, rather than to endorse the point of view within, but since there has been no feedback from him/her it is difficult to be sure.

[opiate69]

61. So I suppose my half-Mexican/half-German wife

Is only allowed to dance the beer barrel polka and Concheros? Wish we had known that before we spent all that time and money on belly dance and pole dancing classes for her.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

62. Yeah! And blacks should stop fucking with Shakespeare, already!

See? Sounds equally as idiotic...

[proudretiredvet]

66. I have no time for real racism.

This post proves without a doubt that someone can and will find racism or sexism in everything.

I have no tolerance for real racism. I have less than that for people who live to find it in everything. My family has been multi racial for several generations. There are important things to deal with and things to laugh at and step around. Yep, I'm laughing.

Have a good day.

[Bluenorthwest]

67. Then who owns Shakespeare? Here's a link which has video of a Palestinian production

of Richard the Second, in Arabic. This is from 2012. This would offend the world view of the OP, I have to assume, but I live for this sort of thing....

"Palestinian theatre group Ashtar, best known for the 2010 production of “The Gaza Monologues,” performed their version of Shakespeare’s “Richard II” in Arabic on May 4 at London’s Globe theatre as part of the Globe to Globe Festival.

Troupes and performers from all over the world will perform Shakespeare plays in 37 languages at this year’s festival.

Ashtar, a Ramallah based troupe from the Israeli-occupied West Bank is one of the 37 companies that will perform in London between April and June this year.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/05/11/213513.html

[3catwoman3]

68. I learned to clog..

...while in the Air Force and stationed in Japan. How's that for unlikely? One of our hospital med techs had been stationed in North Carolina, and learned to clog while there. He was dancing at a party one night, and by popular demand, taught several of us this delightful dance form. We met weekly for lessons. One evening, a bunch of us whooped it up at an outdoor on-base musical performance by a Japanese bluegrass band. The lead singer looked like a Japanese version of John Denver - haircut, glasses, the works.

One of the most entertaining evenings I have ever spent. Little did I know we were guilty of cultural appropriation/contamination.

What a load of crap.

[cthulu2016]

70. And don't get me started on Yo-Yo Ma

[Xithras]

73. My daughter believes this shit. One of her college prof's brainwashed her.

I just got into an argument with her a few weeks ago because she called the owner of a local taqueria "racist". Why? Because the owner is a white lady and my daughter "informed" me that the lady is appropriating aspects of a culture that she has "no right" to copy and is "exploiting it". The ensuing argument covered everything from yoga to cowboy hats, but basically boiled down to her saying that only members of a particular culture have any right to the artifacts of that culture, whether they be food, clothing, or anything else. I eventually shut the argument down because I was so pissed off, and told her that she was the biggest racist our family has had since my confederate loving great grandfather died over 20 years ago.

Since then, we've just avoided the topic.

The sad thing is, my daughter is one of the most liberal people you'll ever meet, but somebody really mindfucked her on this one. She really believes that her view is "liberal and anti-racist".

[JustAnotherGen]

93. Oh my . . .

You should play the song Cherokee Fiddle for her . . . Yeah I know - it's country. But the song is almost as old as I am.

Line from it -

"Well the Indians, are dressing up like Cowboys - and the Cowboys are putting leather and turquoise on, and the music, sold by lawyers . . . "

I wonder how she feels about Eminem? Ice-T when he started the thrash metal band Body County? Is Darius Rucker allowed to sing Country and Western? Should the song "I swear" never have been re-done by an R & B group? Are black Americans - descendents of American slaves not allowed to listen to Bob Marley?

[Xithras]

122. Yeah, I brought up white rappers.

"White appropriation of African American culture".

I even asked her about her opinion of lasagna, her favorite food and the product of Italian culture, since our family is Irish, German, and Prussian by ancestry. Her response is was that lasagna is the artifact of European culture, and as a person of European descent she has a right to it.

She wraps herself in ignorance and calls it enlightenment. It's the first time in my life that I've ever been seriously disappointed by my daughter.

[3catwoman3]

164. Can you get...

...a refund on whatever tuition you have paid? College is supposed to open your eyes, not squeeze them shut.

[Arugula Latte]

101. She must be really pissed off about Neanderthals mixing and mingling their

communities with Homo sapiens, because that's how far back cultural appropriation goes, if not farther.

[sibelian]

126. I think a lot of young lefties accrue beliefs like a stamp collection.

"THIS goes with THIS.... THIS looks kind of cool with THAT..."

I spent a long time arguing with my little sister when she decided that skyscrapers were subconsciously an inherently masculine penis substitute.

[penultimate]

163. She was onto something about skycrapers though...probably the same can be said about rockets :P

[sibelian]

166. ...

[gollygee]

74. Wow, unanimous!

I like one of the replies best - that there is potential for being disrespectful when taking on a dance or other art of a different cultural group, but that it is not inherently disrespectful.

[cali]

87. it's a ridiculous concern. to be consistent than you must also believe

that the potential to be disrespectful exists when Africans perform King Henry IV.

It's disrespectful when someone mocks any part of another culture, but that's not what the disrespectful, racist article you posted is about.

It's a real piece of shit, that piece.

[gollygee]

96. Well the concept of cultural appropriation

is more about a group with power appropriating culturally significant things from a group that is discriminated against. Western culture is kind of forced on people.

Here are a few quotes from the first link in the OP:

One of the reasons that cultural appropriation is a hard concept to grasp for so many is that Westerners are used to pressing their own culture onto others and taking what they want in return. We tend to think of this as cultural exchange when really, it’s no more an exchange than pressuring your neighbors to adopt your ideals while stealing their family heirlooms.

and

The fact is, Western culture invites and, at times, demands assimilation. Not every culture has chosen to open itself up to being adopted by outsiders in the same way.

and

So there is an unequal exchange between Western culture – an all-consuming mishmash of over-simplified and sellable foreign influences with a dash each of Coke and Pepsi – and marginalized cultures.

People of all cultures wear business suits and collared shirts to survive. But when one is of the dominant culture, adopting the clothing, food, or slang of other cultures has nothing to do with survival.

So I am up with the concept of cultural appropriation existing, but the article seems to indicate that no matter the context, it is cultural appropriation and racist in every case for someone who is white to belly dance. I guess that's not where I'm at. It feels to me like it can be disrespectful, or it can be respectful.

[Beringia]

75. and don't eat the apples

that fall from my tree into your yard, they are still technically mine.

[Zorra]

76. And that, beloved sisters and brothers, is why we can't have nice things.

"I've said that playing the blues is like having to be black twice. Stevie Ray Vaughan missed on both counts, but I never noticed."
B. B. King

Celebrate Diversity

“After all, Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels.”― Ann Richards

[JustAnotherGen]

77. gollygee - I've had a chance to take a deep dive on the article

You'll see another post from me within in this thread.

It was a 'big deal' when I made it into the Pittsburgh Ballet Corps. I truly believe dance is dance - and there was a time when a black ballerina was a novelty. Ditto a black Rockette. Now it's just to be expected.

Now having taken belly dancing for a few years (moved back to Barre classes and technique classes to shake things up two years ago) - I truly didn't feel as a black woman I was appropriating from the Arab community - anymore than I did the European community when I went on Pointe.

Dance is dance and a day without dancing to me? It's a day totally wasted!

[gollygee]

78. I had to go take my daughter to a doctor visit

and when I got back there were tons of replies!

I posted my thoughts above - that I think that taking on another culture's art (mainly the group in power taking on the art of a group that faces discrimination) can be done insensitively but that it isn't necessarily so.

The concept of cultural appropriation is interesting to me. I didn't know it would be so interesting here, and I didn't know it would be pretty unanimous.

[Zorra]

79. ...

[kentauros]

198. Nice!

How about this, too?

[Zorra]

206. Thanks.

Glad you liked it. Arabic and the "Spanish Gypsy' Phrygian scales and styles are fun.

Niyad ~ beautiful!!! Thanks.

[kentauros]

207. You're welcome! Niyaz is one of my favorite bands :)

I think they live in Montreal now, though they were in LA originally. I read that they moved out of the US because of the bigotry against people of the M.E. and similar places. That's too bad, because I'd love to see them perform in Houston. The M.E. population here is huge and we'd welcome them with loving arms!

"Arabic and the "Spanish Gypsy' Phrygian" is an interesting combination, but it fits together well.

Here's another modern artist I like of similar Arabic style:

(Natacha Atlas has a beautiful voice that leaves me in awe of her talent! )

[mathematic]

84. This is just payback for Christianity ripping off Plato.

By Zeus, I fully endorse white-people eating hummus and bellydancing until the following III demands are met by middle easterners:

I) Immediately stop using the lateen sail.
II)Turks return Thrace.
III) Stop using slate.

We'll call the centuries of conquest and occupation by both sides a wash, provided demand II) is met.

[gollygee]

85. Mmmm, hummus

Now I'm hungry.

[bettyellen]

89. my chiropractor reccomended belly dance for my spine. i stretched 1/2" taller after six months, and

still do some at home a few times a week. Gosh, the dance world I know is very multicultural, and I like that. Who knew?

[Adrahil]

92. As long as...

They don't brown themselves up and represent themselves as Arab women, I don't understand the problem.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

94. That is a fucking stupid thing to get upset about

Clearly this writer's life is going well if they've got time and energy to worry about shit like that.

[Arugula Latte]

97. Wow . . .

Here is a Japanese breakdancer. He is usurping an art form that originated in the US! I'm OUTRAGED!


Oh, and how about that Jamaican bobsled team?! Uh, how much ICE is there in the Caribbean? Diddly squat, that's how much! How DARE they try a Nordic sport!

[cemaphonic]

161. I was astonished at how popular breakdancing was among urban Turkish youth

Both in Berlin and Istanbul. This was late 90s, so I have no idea if it still is or not. In Seattle, the torch carriers for breakdancing seem to be largely Korean.

[Nye Bevan]

98. OK. Fair enough. I promise sincerely that I will never, ever, belly-dance (nt)

[gollygee]

99. ROFL

Best reply

[tammywammy]

100. So when I went to a Hindu wedding a couple years ago

I shouldn't have taken up the bride's offer to borrow some traditional Indian clothes because I'm white? Should I also give up yoga?



Rarely do you see DU so united in a thread lately.

[Blue Owl]

102. Golly Gee?

Who is this, Gomer Pyle?

[The Straight Story]

103. So now I can't belly dance, get a pitbull, open doors, smoke, read SI, eat olive garden

And so many other things without offending people.

Before I die I want to do all at once and go down in flames. The sheer look of horror on the faces of others and their screams will make it all worthwhile.

[BainsBane]

141. Oh, noes. Da doors!!!

Matriarchy once again conspiring to oppress the poor men of the planet, helpless in the face of doors upon doors.

[whathehell]

105. This is definitely one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read here...

and, FWIW, since when are only Europeans "white"?

Silly me, I didn't know that middle eastern was a "race'.

[Sweet Freedom]

106. I used to belly dance.

And, sorry to say, but this opinion is prevalent within the Arab community. They find non-Arabian belly dancers to be offensive. My teacher always told me that if I wanted to perform in public, my opportunities would be limited because I would not be welcomed in middle eastern restaurants, which is a popular venue for dancers in America. Middle eastern men will often take offense to and ignore an American belly dancer (which proprietors find bad for business.) I ended up just dancing for my own enjoyment and only performed once in a very American setting.

While we find it ridiculous, the attitude of this article is very commonplace within the Arab culture.

[Orrex]

116. "Dancing for my own enjoyment."

That ain't it, kid.
That ain't it, kid.

[KittyWampus]

121. If the issue of cultural approbation was mentioned in regards to other cultures/artforms

and worded a bit more carefully, I wonder if so very many/most DU'ers would still be as dismissive.

[riderinthestorm]

127. More than ridiculous, its racist. nt

[Xithras]

130. Which, of course, is a bit ironic in light of history.

Historically, the Arab slave trade is estimated to have placed roughly 15 million white Europeans into bondage up until the 19th century. In much of the middle east, it is considered "haram" for Muslim women to perform the belly dance for anyone other than her husband because it exposes so much skin, so most public belly dancing was done by harem slaves and slave prostitutes, a vast number of whom were white.

[uppityperson]

173. The Arab community I've been around find bad dancers to be offensive. Put on a costume, shake it up

a bit, even if you are young with lots of makeup = offensive. Using inappropriate music is also offensive. Claiming you are more than you are is offensive. But being simply of non-Arabic heritage? Naw. I am sure there will be some who find a lot offensive, but overall? Treating the dance respectfully and doing it well is the way to go. And not taking shit because you are "just" a dancer. At least in the USA.

Where were you? I am interested in seeing who all is on DU.

[Sweet Freedom]

188. Texas /nt

[uppityperson]

190. WA here

[ForgoTheConsequence]

107. I made pork carnitas for dinner last night.

And I'm not Mexican. Please arrest me now. = (

[arcane1]

108. I guess all of us of European descent have to go back to using Roman numerals?

Goodbye, Hindu-Arabic

[cthulu2016]

111. Hey, I'm not Italian. I have no right to Roman numerals.

My ancestors are probably Celts, so I have to use counting stones or knots in a piece of string.

[arcane1]

112. Me either, but I figure if my ancestors were conquered by Rome, then it's OK.

[sibelian]

123. Appropriate of ancient Italian culture, possibly...

I'm going to have to go back to runes....

[Vashta Nerada]

110. Racist drivel.

[sabrina 1]

114. I think Arab Women have more pressing issues to worry about.

I doubt they are out on the streets protesting what they probably view as a compliment to them. Imitation, the highest form of flattery.

I would love to see the female victims of our invasions, Muslim Women eg, get this much attention because when some of them were courageous enough to speak about their rapes and other abuses, and the destruction of their rights as women in general, caused by our invasions, they were denied justice, on the basis of 'national security'.

Belly dancing I'm sure is far, far from the top of their list, Saudi Arabian women eg, their oppressive rulers being among our closest allies, seem to be asking for a few basic things like the right to drive, or wear what they want. I have NOT seen any protests of belly dancing anywhere Muslim or Arab women have had the courage to protest.

I guess we should ask them, maybe? We have a tendency here in America to use our Privilege to determine what is important to people of other cultures. It's not one of our better national traits imo.

Maybe we should worry about their rights rather than what must seem trivial to Arab women, considering all the other issues they have to deal with is all I'm saying. But that's just me, when I think of Arab women, my first thought isn't about American women belly dancing.

[KittyWampus]

128. "I guess we should ask them"- the author of the article is ARABIC

and, if one actually read the article, she is also a 'belly dancer'.

So we can -ask- her but if she offers her opinion without our asking, we can attack and ridicule her.

It's too bad she used the term "white women", cause so many DU'ers immediately dismiss every other word she wrote.

It's screwed up this many DU'ers will jump on a woman explaining the stereotypes she sees regarding her culture's folk dancing.

And guaranteed, if this was a Native America or an African American talking about cultural stereotypes that come across as offensive and the cultural approbation they've had to endure, the tone of this thread would be much more… circumspect.

[Orrex]

134. Where is the line to be drawn, exactly?

You seem to feel quite strongly about the matter, so I suspect that you have a clear sense of the appropriate boundaries.

What, exactly, counts as cultural misappropriation? Folk dancing? Cultural foods? Fashion? Language? Technology?

Which sacred places of cultural identity must remain sacred? And does this ARABIC woman (your emphasis, not mine) get veto power over other Arabic women who might feel otherwise?

[KittyWampus]

140. The line can be drawn at Respect. An Arab woman voices her opinion regarding stereotypes

she's faced over the years and gets pilloried.

Did you read the whole article before commenting?

Because if you did you'd have read about her experiences of watching western culture thoughtlessly aping Arab women.

I will not defend the notion western women shouldn't learn to "belly dance" but I will point to the pain authentic Arab women may feel watching westerners ape their own indigenous culture.

There's a long history of western culture treating Arab women like exotic whores/devious spies or props.

There's also a long history of white women playing "belly dancer" dress up in outfits created by westerners.

[Orrex]

143. Respect is often in the eye of the beholder

No one here has questioned the disrespect implicit in media portrayals of middle eastern cultures, whether it's an actress in a silent film 90 years ago or the "funny" portrayal of an Arab caller on the local radio morning show. The same is famously true of Asians, Pacific Islanders, indigenous Caribbean people, Native Americans, and African Americans, and no one seriously denies the disrespect of those portrayals, either.

If the author's intent was to give voice to the discomfort caused by thoughtless caricatures of other cultures, then I'm all for that.

And yes, I read the article.
Intersting to see a complaint about white female privilege.

[sabrina 1]

139. She speaks for the entire Arab World, really? I notice you do not want to talk about the gross

injustices inflicted on the women of the ME but prefer to talk about trivia? You go right ahead and do that, I will never stop trying to get our Government to make amends for destroying the rights of women in Iraq, for enabling their abusers in Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, Bahrain, and for placing them in terrible danger, subjected to rape and murder, in Afghanistan.

I have friends, in Jordan, in the UAR and did have in Iraq, but lost contact with them several years ago sadly.

I can assure you they are not one bit concerned about belly dancing.

Hey, lucky for anyone whose only concern in life is something like this. I prefer to focus on those horrific abuses that our Privileged Nation has imposed on the women of the countries we are involved in, either as supporters of regimes that are abusing their rights, or actually attacking their countries where we then unleash all kinds of horrors on them, as we have seen over and over again.

[KittyWampus]

142. Have you ever posted in a thread expressing outrage over an American doing Black Face or Red Face?

Using a Native American icon as a sports mascot?

Would you be as dismissive if someone objected to fried chicken on the menu to celebrate AA History Month?

Those are some "trivial" topics that crop up on DU and they at least get discussed to some degree or other without the vitriol displayed in this thread.

I don't support someone saying western women shouldn't belly dance, but I do support a woman voicing her opinion on western culture aping Arab women.

It's a shame the author didn't temper her wording.

DU'ers might have considered the belly dancing/exotic object stereotypes Arab women have faced in western media. And the fact so many western women imitated them…. and so much of what we think when we hear in the word "belly dance" is fantasy.

[lunatica]

115. What a load of crap!

[Orrex]

117. Now I feel bad about eating tacos last week.

[Autumn]

125. Tacos, that's nothing. I had gefilte fish a few weeks back.

I am so full of remorse I don't even know the word for it.

[edbermac]

129. Play That Funky Music, White Boy!

[DonCoquixote]

131. cultures blend all the time

If the author of this op does not want "white" and Arab cultures to mix, why is she speaking English and getting a paycheck from a site that is not owned or run by Arabs? Is she not stealign a culture by doing so?

No culture is without mixing, even and especially the Arab culture, which got influences one would expect for being the center of trade between Europe, Africa and Asia. Before Muhammad took power, Mecca was known for being multicultural, for having Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish Temples.

[TeeYiYi]

132. Cultural appropriation...

...is a topic I've never given much thought to. Truthfully, I've never given it any thought whatsoever. The concept of borrowing from and misappropriating cultural identities is a topic that could, and likely should, be examined from multiple angles.

For now, I'll just say that the United States is a melting pot and as long as 'borrowing' from different cultures is done from a position of honor and respect, I'm not sure I see the problem.

TYY ...k+r

[Lizzie Poppet]

133. And darn those Asian classical musicians, too!

No more Sarah Chang or Yo Yo Ma concerts for me, I'll tell ya! That's Western music!

[joeybee12]

135. OMG! This is the funniest thing I've read in a long time!

Wait...you mean the writer is serious, it's not satire? Come on!

[Nika]

136. We have a huge association of belly dancers in Eugene, Oregon of both white and brown women.

They give a lot to the community and their events at places like the Cozmic Pizza building are fun evens with people of all ages enjoying them. This form pf dancing is appropriate for anyone who wants to do it. The idea that this fact offends the need for 'cultural purity' is a foolish one.

[Waiting For Everyman]

144. Racist, presumptuous as hell, and stupid.

A trifecta of crap.

Goes to show, not every idea is a worthwhile idea. Lately we're seeing a lot of tonnage from bs academics who probably never belonged in college in the first place, cooking up a lot of nonsense to make tenure, so they can be paid more than they were ever worth by confusing even more college kids who don't know any better... instead of doing what they're supposed to do... teaching people to think for themselves.

So that's what I think of that. And now, to take my mind off of the lameness of the pseudo-idea in that piece, I challenge its writer to sort out who should be outraged about this...

[LiberalEsto]

146. So white people shouldn't learn karate, play lacrosse, practice tai chi?

Sorry to disagree.
I'm white.
I took a belly dancing class in my 20s through a local recreation program.
It was an incredible exercise workout. I'd taken classes in ballet and folk dancing over the years and was interested in various forms of dance back then.
I would never have dreamed of performing in public, though.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

162. No. But golf is OK.

I was about to say we could take up sailing, but I think the Phoenecians invented that, or maybe the Polynesians or the Chinese.

[friendly_iconoclast]

191. Only if you're Scottish!

[Mugu]

147. Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool... n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

149. Well, it's nice that you have hobbies

I guess.

[Shandris]

151. Cultural appropriation is every bit as important and real as white privilege (and the two...

...are inextricably linked, given the number of white people who are refusing to shut up and be educated about the grave oppression done by eating tacos, gefilte fish, and/or learning to belly dance).

Haven't we all learned yet that our group identity is, bar none, THE most important thing we have and that it must be held completely separate and kept intact lest we erase our racial experiences? When you eat a taco, or belly dance, or draw a depiction of a wigwam you are erasing all knowledge and understanding of the oppression and bestowing your white normativity on the cultural icon. If you can't see how -damaging- that is, perhaps it is because you are blinded by your white privilege, unable to see your own culture appropriated by others. And no, others using white things isn't cultural appropriation any more than a black person hating all whites is racist because power.

So put the taco down, stop the belly dancing, quit dressing up as native americans, break your Elvis albums, and shut up. People of the culture you are destroying are talking and, just like when discussing racial matters, nothing you can say has any substantive value whatsoever.

...or perhaps we should reconsider whether basing everything around some kind of self-created group identity is such a bright idea after all.

[The Straight Story]

167. There is probably some core culture

That we can blame and whose identity in no way can be appropriated. We need to let people know they are part of that culture and should feel bad about it and that they are guilty of being born the way they were.

Which will also help the dialogue.

[Skittles]

152. this gals sounds racist

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

155. Because he's Chinese, Yo Yo Ma has to stop playing the cello, a European invention

that he usually uses to play music written by Europeans.
Because he's black, Wynton Marsalis has to stick to jazz; he can't do any more classical trumpet performances.
Conversely, white musicians have to stop playing jazz.

I must not take up belly dancing, but not because I am white; it's because I would look like a manatee having a seizure.

[Cleita]

159. Some of the best European classical music musicians are Asian. n/ t

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

160. My point exactly.

[Warren DeMontague]

165. I think no one should do anything, ever.

[sibelian]

195. Hey! I was about to say that!

Stop appropriating my THOUGHTS! You mind-exploiter, you!

[Warren DeMontague]

197. See, but I pre-empted you from doing it

thus allowing you to embody the pristine, clear void of nothingness, the wu wei of actionless action.


At least, you would have, if you hadn't posted. And now I didn't, either. DAMMIT!

[sibelian]

199. "the pristine, clear void of nothingness, the wu wei of actionless action"

Just like a certain political party that we won't mention.

I'll get me coat...

[Warren DeMontague]

202. Heyyyyy, man.

Not doing anything is harder than it looks!

[uppityperson]

169. Did you see Morocco's take on it?

https://www.facebook.com/aunt.rocky.1/posts/10152676111739278?stream_ref=10

OK. I read the opinion piece. It really doesn't deserve all this agita &, sorry, ladies (& gentlemen), but she *does* have a real point where the fantasist, orientalist (in the Edward Said sense of it) "version" of "belly-shmelly"/ "harem hottie" UNreal Raqs Sharqi is concerned. However, she is totally wrong (IMNSHO) in assuming (makes an ass of U & me!) that every non-Arab (what about the Turks, Iranis, etc.???) who gets into this dance form is racist & dismisses the multitudes of us who love & respect this folk/ social dance form. She also wrongly assumes that everyone she does not consider of her "ethnicity" is "white". I'm not, BUT that didn't mean diddly one way or another in re my love for/ obsession with these dances. She's had her 15 minutes of reactive outrage. NEXT!!!

Rocky is my "go to expert". My opinion is that you promote yourself as what you are. We were seriously introduced as being from some king's haram and had to correct them that no. We weren't. Be real, don't pretend raqs assaya came from being bored out of your skull while herding sheep and hopping over their sheep dropping. Learn as much as you can, be real, be as much as you can, have fun, be who you are and give yourself as you are, respectfully.

[NuttyFluffers]

170. if we did this a majority of the world will literally starve to death

no sharing cultural foods.
no potatoes, no corn, no avocado, no squash, no tomatoes, no chocolate, no vanilla, no peanuts, no chili peppers, no quinoa...

it's a special brand of insanity, and the fastest way to wake up is insist they only eat that way. starvation tends to sharpen the senses they say.

[Beacool]

171. So, no one can dance the samba outside of Brazil or the tango unless they are from Argentina?

That's nonsense. I used to know someone at one of my jobs who was a belly dancer in her spare time. She worked very hard at it and traveled to Egypt and other countries to perfect her technique. She was very good and would have done it as a full time job if she could have made enough money to support herself. I don't see how her love of this art form would be offensive to any Arab woman.

[AverageJoe90]

172. I'm sorry, but honestly, this whole kerfuffle is just.....well, kinda dumb, TBH.

TBH, I have no real investment in belly-dancing, but this whole argument. truthfully, rests on a rather.....silly complaint from this one individual.

Although I realize there may be a few people may strongly disagree, I will have to be truthful: Cultural "appropriation", in and of itself, is *not* and never has been, a bad thing. At all. Rather, it is how it is done that determines the morality(or immorality) of such.

Don't get me wrong here: there are are examples of bad appropriation; nobody can argue that blackface may count(depending on one's views, though some may see blackface as just plain mockery.)as one of the nastiest examples thereof. And even some non-malicious examples may still be genuinely and truly insensitive.

This, however, is definitely *not* fundamentally harmful(I might have argued otherwise some years ago, but I didn't really understand what I do now). In fact, this is hardly insensitive at all, even taking an Arabic stage name may indeed be silly. The one thing that kinda shoots the author in the foot, more than anything, is that she limits this "criticism" of hers to white women only.....even though some non-Arabic Women of Color do belly-dancing as well(just off the record, btw, I have no problem with that, either).

In fact, this whole "All 'Appropriation' = bad" argument falls flat on its face when you realize that cultural exchanges have been going on since the beginning of civilization. Take a look at Rock-and-Roll for example: African-American and "white" musicians often inspired, and borrowed from, each other to create one of the best-known music genres in the modern world. There's also examples in the culinary world, like Southern soul food(which amalgamated the cuisines of not just African-Americans and poor WASP/Scots-Irish whites, but Native Americans, etc.), or tempura(a Japanese creation partly inspired by Portuguese cooking techniques), or Currywurst(this was an West German creation inspired by British dishes), or even whole genres such as California fusion.
I hate to say this, but complaining about all 'appropriation' being automatically bad almost sounds like cultural reactionism, when one thinks about it.

All in all, I have no problem with criticizing actual examples of insensitive or even bigoted examples of appropriation; in fact, I've done just that myself. But this example isn't either. It doesn't even register.

We as feminists, as proponents of social justice, can do better than this, TBH. What we need to do is encourage respect and understanding between cultures; this kind of hyper-reactive thinking expressed in this article, unfortunately, accomplishes neither.

Take it as you will.

[Puzzledtraveller]

176. Disgusting

You almost have to completely go off one end and come back around again to get to a place like this.

[The Second Stone]

179. That was the worst article Salon ever published

including crap by David Horowitz or Camille Paglia.

[bravenak]

180. Imitation is a form of flattery.

We copy you cause we think you're awesome.

[Niceguy1]

183. what a total wasteland of electrons

Clearly the most ridiculous thing posted here is quite awhile.

[lonestarnot]

187. Personally,

I find sharing fun. I will belly dance, boot-scoot, tap, jazz, jete', waltz, two-step, jitterbug, slide, bump, moon-walk, jerk, shimmy, go-go, glide, mosh, bounce, wherever or whenever the mood strikes me.

[liberal_at_heart]

189. I took belly dance lessons about a decade ago, and I loved it.

The music and clothing are beautiful, and the dance is sexy and fun. I would definitely do it again.

[kentauros]

201. I'm just a fan for watching it,

but I do find it to be one of the most fascinating forms of dance ever!

I love what some of the dancers do with Tribal Fusion, too, such as this one:

[whistler162]

203. Maybe she try and explain that to Chick Corea

the shades of Stan Keaton and all the great white Jazz musicians!

[JoeyT]

204. Is this an Onion piece?

The only time cultural appropriation is really a bad thing is when it's done in jest or mockery. You know, when it's actually racist.

I don't get upset or grumpy at people of European ancestry that borrow from* Native American culture. They're not hurting me, and for everything we learn about other races and cultures, the room for racism, real actual hurtful racism, shrinks a little bit more.

*And by borrow from I don't mean the dipshits that dress up in racist caricatures for Halloween or the idiots that demand the right to use a racial slur for a football team. THAT would be the bad kind of cultural appropriation.