Are You Appropriating or Appreciating Queer Culture?

Are You Appropriating or Appreciating Queer Culture?

A very good gay male author friend of mine has been dealing with the attack of straight women writing gay fiction simply because he said he doesn’t believe that straight women can capture the authenticity of gay culture the same way gay men can do it. Which seems perfectly reasonable to me.

I’m not talking about readers. Readers should read whatever they want. Just authors, singers, actors, writers, and anyone who appropriates another culture. The story I’m linking to now is about how Madonna appropriated gay culture many years ago and thought nothing of it. But first, here’s a good definition of cultural appropriation.

Defining cultural appropriation isn’t easy. Typically, it’s used when members of a dominant group borrow the customs of another group, often one that’s experienced oppression in some way.

Here’s more. The excerpt above is not only accurate but it’s been happening for years to queer culture. And if you think my friend and I are the only ones talking about it you are living in a dream world. It happens to other marginalized groups, too. I don’t want to minimize that. I recently posted about how it was happening in Asian culture with a popular TV show called Kim’s Convenience.

It goes on to mention how Madonna was accused of cultural appropriation. And that’s exactly what it was. With her straight white privilege, she made a lot of money.