So this 18 year old white girl, Keziah, decided to wear a qipao (cheongsam) dress to her prom. The qipao is a traditional dress in Chinese culture, some say it actually evolved into what it is today through influence from western culture during the Republic of China era. Now normally I couldn't care less about some girl's dress choice, but it seems quite a few people do. Twitter user Jeremy Lam lead the charge against the 18 year old,
As a result, thousands of people have attacked Keziah for her 'cultural appropriation' and labeled her a racist. But hang on a second. If Keziah had happened to look Asian, no one would have cared... But because she happens to be white, suddenly she's being attacked on mass. That sounds a little racist to me.
Here we see Asian people dressed up in St Patrick's day attire and celebrating Irish culture. No problem there whatsoever, but when a young white girl respectfully opts for traditional Chinese attire, it's an outrage.
Now as someone who's half Chinese myself, I've attended multiple wedding's wear women have worn the qipao. It's not a sacred or religious dress, however it is a formal dress. Weddings are a formal occasion, so is this girl's prom. It's not like she was wearing it whilst getting drunk at a club.
Music producer and DJ, Deadmau5, has shown strong opposition to the hate directed towards the girl by tweeting.. And I have to say, I'm on his side. Especially considering our man, Jeremy Lam - who seems to be so outraged about this appropriation against 'his culture'... Isn't so nice when it come to other cultures...
Anyways, feel free to share your thoughts on this topic if you have any. Debates welcomed, but let's all try to be respectful too!
White girl wears traditional Chinese dress to prom and gets blasted. Thoughts?
Pretty standard response to white people doing anything or wearing anything that is of another culture. I mean if I were to come out and say something about MLK day I would probably get blown up with people peeved because I am white talking about something that has no effect on me. People seem to love to force everyone to stay divided and fighting with each other makes it so we don't take a step back and realize that whether we are black, white, Asian, Arab, Mexican, Peruvian (was that right word my bad if wrong) Indian, etc... we are all equal to 1 and all of these various cultures and ethnic groups have inspired some of the greatest things in one another. Only in today's society do we try and force an issue that was quashed decades ago and force conflict where non is needed so we can feel that we are important in the grand scheme of things. One of the best things I have heard is. True equality comes in the form of death because death cares not what your status in life was nor what your job was nor your financial situation. In the eyes of death everyone is equal to a count of 1. 1 person, 1 identity, 1 being, 1 soul. nothing more nothing less.
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Very profound and well written. Thanks for that, appreciate it.
You are most welcome I see these issues a lot around the net and it is saddening to see how little people need as a reason to start lashing out and dividing people farther and farther apart. If the Human race stopped this constant squabbling over childish things and started working together we could accomplish amazing things. Space travel/colonization, advanced science research, ways to increase human life or make it ever sustaining, ways to cure "incurable" diseases, Ways to speed up the growth of food using nano technology, Altering the genetic structure of ourselves, finding a way to transfer the conscious of a person to a new body as they age, Figuring out cryogenics so we can do long space travels without the body actually aging or dying, robotics, self healing injuries, etc.. the list is probably endless but those are a few of the things that come to mind when I think about the collective mind power of the worlds smartest people pooling knowledge and ideas to better ourselves
I was going to start off with saying that it’s just a formal dress worn in China. So it’s not like she’s disrespecting anyone’s religion nor traditions. I’ve seen American women who live in Japan (for example) wearing kimonos to festivals & such. Many YouTubers have pointed out how many Asian cultures are happy to share some of their traditions with foreigners. As long as there is mutual respect, I don’t understand why people are accusing us of appropriation.
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It’s ridiculous, she wasn’t offending anyone or insulting their culture! If I’m ever lucky enough to get married to my guy, I may have to wear one and I’m not Chinese!
Many people celebrate St. Paddy’s day and most aren’t Irish! You don’t see the Irish complaining; if anything they’d have a pint of Guinness with you!! They’d take is as a compliment!
You’re always going to find someone with extreme views and interpretations of their beliefs. It’s just the way the world is tbh.
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Definitely agree. My uncle is Chinese and my Aunt is white, she wore one at her wedding and I'm very thankful that she didn't receive this type of prejudice treatment simply because she wasn't Asian. Thanks for your input!
No problem, topics like this are guaranteed to get me responding.
I know what you mean though, my grandad (dad’s Dad) was Chinese and my grandma (dad’s Mum) was mixed race. I’d have been mortified if they’d have received that awful treatment!!
I just hope people realise that one guy’s problem isn’t that of the masses.
How can he kick off about a dress and then use the N word? Needs to get his priorities sorted. It’s a fuckin dress yo. She’s not wearing it mocking or in any way offensively. She’s enjoying the beauty of it. Cultural appropriation is nonsense. If we made such a big deal out of it then why do non Irish enjoy St Patrick’s day? Why do non Italians eat pizza? People need to grow up. There’s way worse shit going on it the world.
How is it his culture to begin with? Did he create it himself? Did he choose to be Chinese so that he'll claim this culture as his? No, no and no. That's like saying y'all can't wear Grecian inspired dresses because you're not Greek. No one disrespected "his" culture just because they wore a fucking dress, this guy needs to calm his tits.
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I think you pretty much settled it! Well said, thanks.
Wow I apologize on behalf on our Chinese communities' small mindedness, they dumb af when it comes to culture and enjoy group riots. It's a little crazy how every Chinese stands up for each other for everything including small things. Uh crazy people in my opinion.
As a Chinese person, I think the main problem people actually had is that she was praised before Jeremy Lam commented on it, and that if a Chinese person showed up in a qipao, people would mock them (which is certainly true in some cases). I experience racism because of my ethnicity a lot, but I don't think she meant this in a hateful way. I believe she liked the dress and wore it.
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Anyone who mocks someone for wearing traditional dress is very immature and probably ignorant to other cultures.
I think people should be allowed to wear what they wants to and she didn't mock anyone. It's not like she did yellow face or a caricature. She was just herself with nice styled hair and makeup in addition to wearing a dress she found pretty. The cultural appropriation thing is just ridiculous. Just because a country started with a culture don't mean other people can't join.
I'm Norwegian and if I wore a shirt in the same pattern as her dress, nobody would care. That would be a contradictory SJW logic. I'm not Chinese either, yet people probably wouldn't care. It's all about how you looks and not which country you're really belonging to. A friend of me would be offended if someone dressed as a typically citizen from his city. I think it has gone too far.
White people don't give a fuck, that's the difference. I don't care if any colored person wants to dress like a Viking or an Irishman. It doesn't bother me. There are bigger fish to fry then worrying if someone of Asian or African descent wants to wear a kilt. Why would I care? It's their body, it's their choice. Wear what ever you want, who gives a fuck.
This is laughable, but we can unpack it. First, I can see the outrage.. a dress that is traditional, cultural clothing that symbolizes the Chinese culture... my question would be where did she get the dress and did she ask for permission to wear it. If she didn’t know, and now she does... she needs to apologize.. it’s not really a big deal to most Americans because most Americans don’t have much culture to begin with anyways so doing something from some other culture seems ok...
You stated that the Asian were wearing Irish attire for St. Patties day.. you do know St. Patties day is a national holiday? And so it’s expected that you associate and celebrate that culture.. so that argue is shit...
It’s a big deal if you don’t know what it represents to other people... whoever this Jeremy Lam guy is, he is an idiot.. but we have to stop digging up a he past too shut someone’s voice!!! No ONE has the moral high ground when you dig up shit on people...
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I believe she bought it from a vintage shop. You don't need permission to wear it. It's a dress, not a sacred religious item.
You're telling me that she needs to apologize for daring to wear something from another culture? When not once did she act in a disrespectful manner?
St Patrick's day may be a national holiday in certain western countries, however it's not expected that you associate it. I've lived a large portion of my life in Asia, do you think we expected whites to wear Chinese dress on Chinese new year?
What does it represent to other people? Casual racism?
It’s not a religious item. So why would she need permission? And who from? And no, someone who uses the N word and isn’t black does not have the moral high ground.
St Patrick’s day is a cultural and religious celebration. The same argument can be used against people joining in as it is also a religious celebration. That dress is not religious.
This whole situation is so frustrating to me. I'm not Asian, so who am I to say what is offensive to someone who is? But this girls dress is beautiful and even if she doesn't know the history behind the dress, she doesn't seem like she is trying to be disrespectful. Plus, I've read some of this guy's other tweets and he's a bit of a hypocrite. He's made fun of blacks, whites, and Asians and wants to act offended by a dress. I don't understand when it became a thing for people are so quick to claim cultural appropriation, basically bully the other person for it, and then the controversy dies out within a few days. It's toxic. I feel like this guy was looking for attention and he got it. And all the girl wanted to do was share some pictures from her prom.
I have zero respect or sympathy for anyone who freaks out about trivial stuff like that. It sucks that girl was thrown into the public eye and attacked by a bunch of obnoxious social justice warriors over a stupid dress. I just hope people retaliate and that Jeremy guy who started this whole thing gets 10x the online harrassment that Keziah gets.
Where's the damn the girl looks really pretty and I think China did a great job of Designing style in a traditional dress and I think it looks really good on her and on the dress itself I think the dress would look good on almost anyone so personally why does it matter why does it matter if you're black or where is it or white girl where is it where a Chinese lady where is it I mean what's the big difference it's a really pretty dress on a really pretty woman
She didn't make a mockery of it, it wasn't for a joke. She didn't have bad slanted eye make up, nor did the chopsticks in the hair thing.
She liked the dress so much she wanted to go to prom with it and have pictures that she will keep forever. I wish there was more people like Keziah and less people like Jeremy.
I think cultural appropriation has got to be one of the most ridiculous reasons for someone to get triggered. People, The world appropriates what it likes from the rest of the world, for better or worse, It’s part of globalism, get used to it. Next you’ll hear you can’t make pasta at home because that’s reserved for Italians only. Please!
It's racism. For one a lot of these people are anti white. Second of all peoe have shared cultures for ages and ages. I'm sure that pretty much every person alive has some aspect in their life that is dirived from another culture. For the food we eat to education to music.
These people are just very racist and close minded. They believe that only they have a right to enjoy their culture and outsiders are different so they can't.
I don't get what the big deal is. There was no disrespect. She thought the design was beautiful, worthy enough to wear to a very important event in her life.
I think she looks beautiful in it. She is wearing it in her most important time of her life.. she's beautiful and so is the dress. If she wore a dress from where im from... Id be honored
Just let her wear what she wants to wear. There's nothing racist about sharing other cultures it's been going on for thousands of years. People need to get over themselves and stop setting each other apart.
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