justnotcricket said:
Oh dear. Well, I guess you didn't *have* to actually read my post before quoting me, but never mind, these things happen. If you have another try, you might see that that was the point I was trying to make; if you dress as a 'whore in a kimono' then, yes, you are in the wrong. If you wear a kimono in traditional and tasteful fashion, then I don't see that there should be a problem.
I did read your post, although I apologise if I took it out of context or didn't understand. I did leap to rage, so I may have made a mistake.
But my point was that you (and a lot of people on this thread) seem to be looking for quantifiable material justification for a very subtextual phenomenon. Cultural stereotyping doesn't work like that, it doesn't matter if you love Japan and find Geisha really awesome, to be honest it doesn't even really matter if you're familiar with the real historical and cultural role of Geisha in Japan and aren't just reading it as a sexualized 'submissive asian woman' trope, it matters that you're taking on an image which means something very specific in the cultural context you're using it and wearing it
on Halloween, a time when people wear costumes for fun, partying and sex appeal, not as a gesture of cultural respect.
Saying 'it can't be offensive if you do it tastefully' is besides the point. To a large extent I agree, but the point doesn't come from the clothes but from the context, and unfortunately, in the context we are given (said American authors etc.) dressing like a Geisha in a typical Western street, however tasteful and authentic you think your particular performance is, is playing on a stereotype. To the perception of those around you, you're referencing an artificial and belittling trope about certain kinds of people.
Trying to extrapolate this into a logical blanket statement is useless. Dressing like a goth on Halloween is not belittling to goths, because there are few to no behavioural or cultural expectations behind dressing like a Goth. Dressing in kimono is meaningless because there are no behavioural or cultural expectations to dressing in kimono in our culture. Dressing like a Geisha, however well you cover yourself or authentically you do so, comes with very specific cultural expectations.
It's not that Geisha don't exist, it's that they've come to represent a particular racial class of people to a disproportionate degree in the same way the stereotypical plains indian with a poncho and a headband with feathers in has come to represent a particular racial class of people to a disproportionate degree, or the stereotypical gangbanger has come to represent a particular racial class of people to a disproportionate degree. These things symbolize race, in the sense that racial assumptions are a part of how they work, and that's ugly.
When you repeat these things, you give them meaning, and it's not like the people you're belittling have any room to hit back at you because there is no white person who can really be considered disproportionately representative of white people. There is no stereotypical image of 'what a white person is like'. As a white person you can never be referenced in this way, you might be referenced as a redneck, or a catholic, or as gay, and I'll agree that's not necessarily any better, but these things aren't belittling your race, your race (and mine, to clarify) is untouchable because it has no substance and no assumed attributes which can be formed into a comedic stereotype.
That's the problem. That's why we can't just live in a world where we all take the piss out of each other for anything and it's all cool. It would be nice if it were possible, but trying to do it in the world we actually live in is just sanctioned abuse of minorities, whatever axis they happen to be 'minor' in.
