Who is to say what is offensive?

I have a question. In the past month, I have twice shown avatar's of black women in slave garb. I have expressed my feelings about certain words related to my own ethnicity. I have never in my life received more comments from people outside my own ethnicity about it than here. Explain to me what it is about seeing me in slave garb or showing a picture of a black woman in slave garb that so upsets the nerves here? If I as a black woman chose to put this up as my avatar , who is to tell me how I interpret my ethnicity? I am not in any way making fun of servitude or being black. What is the issue here? Are you reading things into my avatars that are not there? Who is to tell me what is offensive about interpreting my own culture? There is no self hate here. I celebrate the men and women who lived this life and died in silence. If this offends you what does it say about you and how you see the world? Please comment....

I find it hard to find anything offensive anymore. But then again I am a white male aged 18-45 so it's very hard to find anything wrong with us and offend us.

Naughty, I could probably write a dissertation on why some people some people feel a desperate need to be offended at just about anything. Sometimes, it's nothing more than that's what they have been told to be offended at. Sometimes, it's guilt-transferrence - they feel guilty about something that someone else did, and have to overcompensate for it.

Funny thing is, it's usually someone outside any given group that starts the PC-police action. Or at least it seems that way.

In my short lifetime, the PC continuum has gone from colored to Negro to Afro to black to Afro-American to persons-of-color to African-American. I may not have those in exact order, and may have left out a couple. I don't know how many of those changes were influence by the NAACP and how many were white folks trying to be as inoffensive as possible, but there you have it. I've always been referred to as "white." I would most likely have found it amusing and annoying if it had gone from colorless to Caucasian to Euro to white to Euro-American to person-without-color to European-American.

You have always come across to me as proud of your heritage, without a chip on your shoulder. I can't think of a higher compliment to pay to you in that regard.

If anyone has a problem with your avatars, it's their problem. Don't let it bother you!

Um... I dunno?

Naughty, I think that too many times in society we see various representations of what might also hint slave garb or demeanor but always fail to act upon being over critical. Example? Two general household products, both of them representing black depictions, yet no one finds them offensive. Aunt Jemima pancake & syrup, and Uncle Ben's rice.


Don't ever feel like you have to be concerned about what anybody else thinks of your depictions- last I checked, the constitution still allows for freedom of expression.
For my feelings, you have more than your rights to celebrate & take pride in your heritage, & honor those who have given alot to justify that pride.

Thank you guys, Im sorry I was having a moment. It has been a tense month around here and I am once again blowing off some steam. It is a tough call sometimes how one should deal with issues. What doesnt offend personally may offend someone else because of their own personal experiences. I dont by any means want to create a situation by my stance which makes others comfortable in making racial slurs. I think we need to talk about these kinds of things and hopefully diffuse some of the negative power that they have come to represent. I know that depictions of servitude have been used in the past to make others feel shame for their ancestry, but how sick is that? I have had ignorant comments made to me while wearing the costume of a black woman in servitude. When I was younger and thinner I did not get references to Aunt Jemima or Mammy, but as these changes took place I used it as a teaching opportunity. Uncle Ben and Aunt jemima' smiling faces are symbols of a time when being black was put up for ridicule. However, when I see them and I don my costume, I think of them and all of those who they represented who lived their lives in quiet dignity and hope to be a woman that they would be proud of and to tell their story right and do them proud.

My friend in Seattle who happens to be a black woman collects this kind of paraphernalia. Black Sambo, "pickaninny" artwork, et al. When we lived in Chicago and would go flea marketing, I was taken aback at first by this discovery and wondered why she would want to collect such things. After spending more time with her, I realised I was the only one who was slightly uncomfortable with the idea of her collection. Why was I uncomfortable? My naivete led me to believe that owning those items was a blind acceptance of what those represented in years past. That wasn't the case of course. I thought they should have bothered her too, given their origins for existing. Embracing your culture and acknowledging the past is not the same as believing and living antiquated notions. When she explained that to me, I realised I was the one with the problem so I got over myself and saw the art and figurines for what they were. She's an amazing woman.

That's my 2 cents. I don't know this is an answer to your question, Naughty. I hope it helps.

At least you get to celebrate your heritage.

Sometimes it feels like no matter what, ethnic minorities still do and always will see me as this.

Well said.

Offensive is in the eye of the beholder.

Certain things offend me, and I might even say why they offend me, but it would be presumptuous of me to expect others to conform to my notions of morality.

S'ok, Shel. Some men I work with still see me as nothing more than a walking pussy waiting to do their bidding, despite my talents and abilities. At least you don't have a glass ceiling to contend with.

Then keep your sheets on your bed. Your avatar is vile, reprehensible and offensive. Collecting black memorabilia is not 'celebrating.' But i suspect you know that and that you want to hurt and offend others.

Uh oh, here I go...

Pocahontas is one of the most well know figures in American folklore, and is mostly heralded as the Native American who saved the white man... at the expense of her own people. Nonetheless she had a strong diplomatic skill set even when she was considered "savage" and dressed in native clothing, long before she was civilized and became a Christian wearing European clothing.

Now follow me... "Mammy" & "Prissy" from GWTW, Aunt Jemimah, you know the stereotypical slave woman as prtrayed in Naughty's avatar - though they were technically wearing European clothing, they managed to arrange it in distictively African style - headwraps and all. Though their own culture had been denied them, they managed to subtly maintain their identity and THAT is a beautiful thing. Though facing brutal oppression, they survived and so did remnants of their culture. In the scraps they were given as clothing, they distinguished themselves as individuals. Likewise in the food, the LANGUAGE, the church service ritual... they rejected the white classification of them as non-persons, embraced their humanity, and celebrated their culture.

I've posted before about my experiences growing up in the Black Church, and to this very day on any given Sunday you may not see slave-era clothes, but you'll still see remnants - bright clothes, rhyme-stones (sorry Naughty; couldn't resist) and big flying saucer hats, tipped over to the side taking the place of the traditional head wrap...

True.

On top of that your hotness probably intimidates the hell out of a lot of them.

You spell pretty good for a dumbass.