If you haven’t done it yourself, then you know someone who has. Bindis have become increasingly popular in the bohemian trends of the day. You’ll catch celebrities accented with jewels stuck to their foreheads or music videos where the theme seems to be Bollywood, despite their very pale skin tone. The same can be said of American Indian headdresses or the recent emergence of dreadlocks on blondes and brunettes running rampant about Coachella.
So what is cultural appropriation? What does and does not offend? When does defense of a culture switch to flat out racism?
According to Merriam-Webster, “appropriate” means “to take or use (something) especially in a way that is illegal, unfair, etc.” Added near the middle of the page is “to take or make use of without authority or right”.
So what makes a bindi so worthy of protection when it’s literally a dot on the center of a forehead? Why can’t a white guy high out of his mind at Burning Man adorn a Native headdress the same way he’d pull on any other hat?
There have been countless articles written concerning appropriation, most of them dealing with the bindi specifically. Some Indian women seem unbothered by the bindi fad while others are vehemently against it. The largest argument in support of spreading bindi culture in America is that most South Asian women themselves can’t properly answer what the significance of a bindi is. According to my own research, a bindi has been used in multiple ways including signifying marriage, being a way to mark attendance at religious ceremonies or formal occasions and, most importantly, a sign of the third eye from Hindu culture. After meditation, bindis were a way to open the third eye and increase meditation. It’s a tradition that dates back centuries.
So if South Asian women don’t even know the religious context of bindis anymore, why isn’t that fair game? The answer is that a white girl wearing a bindi and an Indian girl wearing a bindi are treated very differently. While models and actresses today flaunt their jeweled foreheads, Indian girls are mocked and ridiculed for doing the same. While the inequality of races is more prevalent today than it has been in the past, it’s easy to see why this is infuriating for Indian women. Furthermore, it’s a way to fetishize South Asian women, coining them exotic and treating them as such. A bindi on an Indian woman can serve as a barrier while bindis on white girls offer intrigue and mystery.
This problem doesn’t span just to traditionally white women, either. Beyoncé, Rihanna and Selena Gomez have come under fire for doing the same things. The bindi isn’t part of their culture, either.
So next time you’re in Urban Outfitters and question buying a pack of jewels to plaster to your forehead, keep in mind the individuals you’re affecting.