I normally dont blog, but this is too bad for me to NOT say something. Earlier today, as I was riding the digital waves of the internet, I came across an article titled, essentially, Why I hate White Women who Belly dance. I thought, OK, Ill give it a shot. And, if its any good, I can forward it to my friend Melody. After reading it, Im not even going to name the author. She started out decently enough. She made the statement that white women who belly dance are appropriating the culture. She then went on to say that it was a form of expression, that they dance differently for women than they do for men. Which is interesting in its own right. A bit dated, in this current culture of non-gender based bias, but an interesting history to the art to know. Then she accused those white women of being racists. WHOA! Where did that come from? She pointed to those who overdo the image, but still, she lumped everyone under the racist label. She even said, Well, Ive been dancing for over 15 years! Well, its never to late to change. I realize that this is her opinion, but shes basically saying, This is my ball. Only I can play with it! It brought to mind the controversy over a particular word several years back. (You know the one. Begins with N, derives from the word Niger, was used extensively before it gained a hateful connotation...) She reminds me of those black people who said, Its our word! We can use it to describe each other, because its our word. You White Folk cant use it, because its hateful for you to say it. But its OK for us to say it, because its our word. Just as silly now, when shes using the argument, as it was back then. From what Ive seen, the people who belly dance, white or otherwise, do it because they love the art. They love the culture. And they want to honor it, even tho they arent of that ethnic origin. And that is not a bad thing. However, if the author still feels that white people arent worthy of honoring and enjoying another culture, then I hope she isnt wearing blue jeans and comfortable sneakers, because thats a white persons culture, and shes not worthy of honoring and enjoying it either. If shes taking her ball and going home, then she has to return our ball back to us.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 21:58:19 +0000
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