Some Complaints: Women calling Women Names and the Appropriation of Cultures for "Fashion"

My brain is exhausted due to my classes becoming increasingly demanding and so this will not be a coherent or long-winded post. I plan to simply complain about a few things...so, feel free to click away or stay a while.

First order of business, what is up with women calling other women "bitches" ironically? Or posting online with titles like, "Bitch, please!" 

Did it become cool for women to act like misogynistic men and call their female friends and well, their enemies, bitches? Or is it to simply score brownie points with the dood-bros?  I'm so sick of this "let's reclaim words that degrade women" nonsense as something that is liberating, funny or carries a substantial level of hipster irony. This brings me to my next complaint - hipster irony!!!

As of late, the fashion industry (especially the one targeting hip suburbanites who strive to adorn themselves according to their subcultural rules) has established new and problematic trends. Many of these trends are appropriated patterns and styles of various First Nations groups (the Navajo, primarily) and various objects associated with First Nations people such as headdresses, feather jewelery and mass-produced moccasins. Just recently, however, Urban Outfitters (the largest supplier of mass-produced culturally appropriated stuff) is being sued by the Navajo Nation for their "Navajo Hipster Panties"

from here

Of course, in this advertisement, we have a thin and hairless white woman (or a part of a woman, I should say) wearing a pattern/style that belongs to the culture of the Navajo people.  Urban Outfitters even went so far to use the name of the culture to promote their product - but there's more!

As an amateur photographer, I view vast numbers of photographs and have continuously come across photos of so-called "hipsters" who pose with headdress. Unfortunately, not one of these photos features a First Nations women and almost 99.9% of them include a female model who is thin, white and attractive based on patriarchal standards of beauty. The photos can be even more offensive, however, such as pairing white women in headdress alongside gore and violence. However, these photographers, as I have learned when confronting their "art," do not see the problem with what they are doing. They do not see this growing trend of making other, non-white cultures "fashionably ironic" and simply "fashionable" as being problematic on any level. But it is! And it is a further reminder of the limitlessness of capitalism, patriarchy, globalization and a deeply embedded colonial mindset. So, the next time you hear your ironic female friend call women "bitches" because they want to be viewed as "quirky" and "edgy" or see some white kid posing in skinny jeans, headdress, and war-paint - give them a glare, or if you feel safe, call them out on their bullshit. 

 And now, here is a series of visual examples found at the Native Appropriations blog!

Edmonton Salon Wants you to "Look Good In All you Do" with Ad of Battered Woman

Just in case you have not heard about the recent controversial ad filling the headlines - here it is. 

An Edmonton hair salon has recently released an ad that glamorizes, sexualizes and normalizes violence against women. The ad depicts a battered women sitting on a couch while a psychotic looking dude plays with a necklace. The necklace further perpetuates the ads attempts at creating class and status amidst the violence. The clothing, for instance, suggests that the couple in the photo has a lot of money and they "care" about how they look by wearing expensive garb. The text within the ad reads, "Look good in all you do" suggesting that, even if your male-partner has beaten you recently, you can still get an expensive haircut from this salon. 

To add fuel to the fierce rage that is already being experienced by many who have viewed this advertisement, the salon stands by their marketing stating, "Is it cutting edge advertising? Yes. Is it intended to be a satirical look at real-life situations that ignites conversation and debate? Of course. Is it to everyone’s taste? Probably not," says Sarah Cameron, owner of the salon. Can someone explain to me how it is "cutting edge" to depict battered women? Where is the artistic value within this advertisement? 

Janine Fraser, director of the Edmonton Women's Shelter expressed concern over the advertisement,  "This advertisement is at risk of glamorizing an issue that is of serious and life-threatening, ongoing concern to all the women and children who use our shelters." 

In response, the salon owner has taken it upon herself to "explain" the advertisement to the Edmonton Women's Shelter, "If survivors of abuse interpret this ad to make light of any abusive situation, we sincerely apologize, that was never our intent as there are people that worked on this campaign who are survivors of abuse."

Here are my questions for Sarah Cameron. I am sure these questions, or similar ones are being echoed by Canadians and by those reading Canadian news:

1) How could survivors of abuse not interpret this photograph as offensive? 

2) How does this photo not make light of violence against women? That is all it depicts. 

3) If you are so sincerely apologetic, why not take the advertisement down? The Edmonton Women's Shelter has made clear the risk being posed, so why continue to show this ad?

4) How can you be so sorry if you are still desiring to make money from this disgusting advertisement? 

4) What was your intent with this advertisement? How did you decide that violence against women was even relevant to salon services? 

5) Considering most salons are targeting a female audience, why would you use a battered woman to promote your business? How do you believe women will feel about such violent representations? Do you believe this ad will benefit your salon and its image in the long-run?

***

Feel free to leave your feelings regarding this ad and what you think should be the next action taken by the salon and by the Edmonton Women's Shelter. 

This entire ad is centered around violence against women, that is all this photograph represents; there is no notion of hair-styling or hair-cutting from this advertisement. The ad is blatantly misogynistic, violence-promoting and sexualized hatred of women. This is all done in the name of marketing and in the name of making money.

 If we continue to use the idea - the concept of maimed and battered women for profit and for fashion, we will continue to perpetuate the dangerous and unpredictable environment in which survivors of domestic violence live. As women, we must be willing to call other women out on their blatant exploitative marketing maneuvers and their attempts to make violence against women sexy.

Notes:

Quotes and photograph from CBC news

MAC Makeup Romanticizing Mexican Women's Oppression Ends New Line

MAC's new makeup line found here

TRIGGER WARNING for violence against women

Recently, my friend brought an article to class about MAC makeup's recent new line of cosmetics. MAC makeup has pissed off a lot of people for further sexualizing and glamorizing women's oppression and violence against women. MAC took it really far this time, they actually said they were "inspired" by the violence against women and the dead/sick women in Juarez.

Alison Fairbrother from Politics Daily here said, "Fashion and beauty bloggers around the world responded with revulsion to "Factory" nail polish and "Sleepwalker" eyeshadow, accusing the cosmetic makers of romanticizing and exploiting the difficult lives of the Mexican women."

Not only was this exploitation and romanticization but it's bordering on racism. When these wealthy upper middle class women working for MAC enter countries to "observe" conditions with hopes to be "inspired" by the women working there, they come off as blatantly ignorant, culturally insensitive racists. There is an obvious power struggle; an obvious and dangerous privilege that these women have. They want to be "inspired" by someones pain and anguish? Then they can return to their giant company buildings with a cup of coffee and discuss how to make money off these women? I don't think so.

Fairbrother continued to say that the bloggers and other activists pushed MAC so far that they pulled the line completely "out of respect for women and girls of Juarez and their families." The company did not follow up on where the money that was made would actually go, and if it would really go to help women and girls in Juarez.

MAC's Facebook page states that the company is "currently conducting due diligence to ensure we donate to organizations with a proven record of directly supporting the women and girls of Juarez."

According to Fairbrother in another blog post "A blogger at Vex in the City wrote, "I cannot help . . . feeling disappointed still. MAC has pledged to make a donation of $100,000, but this is totally disproportionate to the amount of money they could give."


For those of you who are unaware, like I was until my friend did a research project on it, here's the down low on Juarez's history of femicide from what I learned recently. Juarez is home to a lot of drug cartels and poor factory conditions. Women in Juarez are being found mutilated, maimed and killed non-stop and no one does anything about it. No one knows who is doing this either. These women are working in factories with horrible conditions, they are being found with their breasts chopped off and shoved in their mouths. These women have been ending up dead all over Juarez and no one is doing a damn thing about it, at least not the law enforcement.

The fashion industry constantly seems to fall in love with violence against women. They see something sexually redeeming about the quality of a woman who is unable to consent. Fashion is based around sadomasochistic principles - the bodies of women are harmed in order to be "fashionable", made to walk in heels and starve themselves to fit the violent criteria.

Also, this idea of violence as sexy in the fashion industry is not old. Magazines constantly run huge fashion label advertisements that show men pinning women down, women laying unconscious or even covered in blood. Fashion magazines, makeup lines and photo shoots are bombarding the world with images that illustrate the sexiness, the seduction of violence against women. This is a symptom, if not a large cause of rape culture in the world. This needs to stop.