alucard420 replied to your post: alucard420 replied to your post: Whats your…
Thats it. lol I thought she said the N word or something. people over react to much.
malintatherian replied to your post: Whats your opinion on people referring to Dita Von Teese as racist because of her Opium Den show?
Isnt farce and parody part of the art style of Burlesque?
My honest, honest opinion is that it isn’t racist at all. No one is going to leave that performance with a twisted or negative view of the Asian culture. That’s how I was, I watched the show on her website for 10 minutes, and when it was over I continued on with my life without a second thought. When I saw that people were calling her racist I was like, “What did she say??? Did she say a racial slur? Did she hurt someone or something? What could Dita have possibly done?” And then I found out it was because of the Opium Den show and I just raised an eyebrow.
And yes, a stage where burlesque takes place is a place where many different people, styles, races, genders, and sexual orientations meet up to have fun and be sexy ;) It’s not a serious place.
Although I have no doubt that Dita does not intend to be racist, the Opium Den show is nonetheless culturally appropriative. I would not call it “yellow-face” as she does not mean to make fun of Chinese culture. However, I would say it is similar to white people wearing Native American headdesses. They may say they wish to do it as a mark of respect and appreciation for another culture, but in and of itself, to do so is in poor taste, especially in light (ba dum tish) of white imperialism in regards to just about every non-white culture. That is, historically, we white people have wanted other peoples to abandon their own cultures except where we could exoticize them for our own enjoyment. It is for the same reason that Jo Boobs recommends in The Burlesque Handbook that you shouldn’t have an ethnic name unless you actually are ethnic.
Basically, though one may not intend it to be so, dressing up as other races is typically read as racist and should be avoided. Burlesque is, of course, not always a serious art form, but that doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be any awareness or sensitivity observed in it.
“My beauty book is going to be totally different from what’s out there. I’m going to tell you that you have to pluck the nipple hairs off your nipples before a date-I’m here to tell you that.”— Dita Von Teese (via knifeinthewater)
Thank you, Dita. Doing a public service.
I also like the story she told about her mole.
“I pencil my mole in a little, but it’s tattooed now; I had it tattooed when I was 21. I went to a famous rockabilly tattoo parlor down in Orange County, and I actually wanted to have him do it in a heart or a star, and the guy was like, ‘There’s no way I’m putting a heart or a star on your face.’ Thank God he said that. [Laughs] He said he would only do a dot, thankfully.”
