the bindi project

I need to discuss something serious with you all. It's music festival season and I'm excited (Governor's Ball, here I come) but also quite irked by some of the garb that people have been sporting. I'm talking about appropriation in the name of fashion. 

So, I'm Indian. I wear a bindi every day by habit, and because it's an important part of my culture. 

When I was younger, the dot on my forehead caused a lot of confusion among those around me. 

"What is that?" they'd ask, furrowing their eyebrows.

"Is that a pimple between your eyebrows?" they'd ask, crinkling their nose. 

"Your head is bleeding!" they'd exclaim, pointing at me in horror. 

And I'd have to explain that it was a bottu (that's what we call it in Telugu, the language I speak), and that it was just something I was used to wearing. I never got into the technicalities of it because a) I didn't know back then and b) When I did learn of it, I didn't want to confuse them with the details. I couldn't take offense though, it felt wrong for me to. They were just curious, after all. Rudely so, but still...curious.

Growing up, I learned of the plight that Indians in the States faced when the racist and bigoted Dot Busters would make their rounds. I learned of this horrendous "joke": 

What time is it? 7-Eleven on the dot. 

Ha. 

Therefore, when I see girls and guys (usually White) wearing crystals on their foreheads at Coachella, I can't help but feel deeply insulted. These people are taking a part of my culture, something that my fellow Indians got harassed about in the Western world, and commodifying it. 

Before someone argues that they're celebrating and appreciating the culture, let me just explain how they are most definitely NOT. By sporting a bindi as a fashion accessory to add bling to an outfit, they are washing away the bloody history behind it. They are choosing to forget the hatred and racism that Indians had to face (and still face) because of their cultural practices. Why was it not okay for people of the Indian heritage to wear a bindi? But why is it okay for people outside the culture to treat it with fascination, or throw one on for pizzazz? 

I just wanted to bring this issue to light because a couple of my favorite fashion bloggers (not dropping any names) have recently worn bindis for style's sake. Obviously it is not entirely their fault; perhaps they just did not know of the offensive nature. On that note, however, it is important to become aware of how what you do or say might hurt another. 

Ah, well, here's a couple happy photos to show that I still love people -- I just wish more of them would start realizing the consequences of their actions.

-Sampada

P.S. Other examples of cultural appropriation: wearing Native American tribal headgear, getting "tribal" tattoos, Katy Perry, Devendra Banhart...I could list so many more celebrities (ahem Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, everyone else really....). Just remember that people's heritages and cultures are not things to be modified for our aesthetic pleasures.