Draco Malfoy: A Cultural Appropriation

“I’m from Florida,” the girl said, smiling politely.

The boy’s eyes were a lighter shade of brown in the light, squinting into the afternoon sun. The girl stared back at him, watching him carefully. She knew the truth behind his question, its true intention, but she ignored it, answering the same way he would if she’d asked him.
“No, where are you really from?” he asked, smiling a little.
“Florida,” she repeated, her smile ever so slightly strained.
Our society is evolving. We are at the precipice of a new era, a new era more reliant on technology and the internet than ever, one where there is equality between all citizens of many nations, no matter the tongue they speak, who they chose to worship, the colour of their skin, or the gender of
the people they are attracted to. However, as there always is when there is change, there are those who oppose it, people who insist on clinging onto outmoded morals and beliefs—the appropriation of minorities, discrimination and stereotypes against people of most any decent, the oppression and prejudice against individuals who are not heterosexual, the pay gap between male and females in the workforce, and the continued reinforcement of male supremacy and dated gender-roles in our most definitely patriarchal society.
What many people seem not be be aware of is where the fine line is that differentiates appropriating and appreciating a culture—or that such a line exists at all.
Many people who are guilty to cultural appropriation are not aware that they have crossed the boundary, and are not longer appreciating the culture. Imitating traits of a minority or part of a minority’s culture for one’s own personal gain, is not appreciation—it is appropriation. Appropriation is considered offensive, as rude as Draco Malfoy is to his Muggle-born peers. If it is for one’s own personal agenda, for instance, as a fashion statement, then you are no longer appreciating a culture. Traditional clothing is one of the most common ways cultures can be appropriated: Native American headdresses, wearing chopsticks in one’s hair, bindis, parasols painted with “oriental” designs, “kimono” cardigans, conical hats, niqabs and burqas, and saris. However, wearing a race’s traditional clothing for the benefit of someone and those of that culture, and not for only one’s own personal gain, then you are appreciating, not
appropriating.
Another challenge many ethnic people face are the often untrue generalizations made about their race. Many do not seem to register the full extent and meaning of what they are saying when disrespecting people in this way. People of Asian descent are often expected to be more intelligent than their peers due to their race, and are often told they are “good-looking,” by today’s standards, more often in subtle ways—for example, the often used, “good-looking for an Asian,” which can be perceived as subtle racism. On the other hand, Caucasians, especially blonde ones, are often seen as more attractive and less intelligent than their Asian peers due to something as silly as their race and hair colour.
There are also other ways to alienate other by race—another prominent example of which is someone of the major race wanting to date someone of a minority simply because they are of that minority. The most well known form of this type of discrimination is known as “yellow fever”—or when white males do not see East Asian girls as girls, but as not-really-people who are the manifestation of untrue, offensive stereotypes. Those with “yellow fever” do no date East Asian girls for their traits, they like they because they are “exotic” and because they believe they are submissive and delicate, generalizing and romanticizing East Asian girls. However, this is different from having a preference for East Asian girls—those who have a preference for East Asians get to know the person first, while for those with “yellow fever,” a girl being East Asian is the only prerequisite for wanting to date a girl.
Race is not the only cause for discrimination.
Another common form of discrimination currently is one’s sexual orientation, as the debate about whether or not it is “natural” or “normal” has been brought to national attention with the mandatory legalization of same-sex marriages in all states, and by those who continue to defy such laws. One of these people is Kimberly Davis, the county clerk in Rowan County, Kentucky who refused to grant marriage licences to several same-gender couples. She, along with many other who oppose the law use their religious beliefs as their reasoning for taking a stance against such laws. They say they cannot support homosexual matrimony because their religion states only men and women can marry, and because it is the most “natural” (and only) form of marriage, as only men and women can reproduce with one
another.
While it may not seem as prevalent as young children in middle school, as adult in the working world, there still discrimination against women workers. On average, in almost any profession one can think of, female are paid significantly less that their male colleagues, even if the female is more experienced and productive, or at a higher ranking in their office. Some find it shocking, when in America, four of ten households are funded partially by the household’s matriarchal figure, and yet, a wage gap of on average, twenty-one percent, still remains. While this number is unpleasant and too high for the liking of feminists, or people who wish for equality between both genders (not those rooting for female superiority), a male supremacist or someone who believes in dated gender roles don’t care much about it all. Male supremacists believe they are higher than women simply because they are male, and often make efforts to suppress their female colleagues and peers. People with both mindsets and beliefs believe that men are superior to women, and for the most part, than women’s existences are to assist meant achieve their goals by doing the activities that are not men’s activities, such as cooking for caring for his children.
Another form of sexism that is often overlooked is the concept “friend-zoning” and the friend-zone itself. Typically used by men, opposers say it is a term coined over the years by boys who could not deal with their reciprocated feelings towards women who wish to only have a platonic relationship with them. They say the term is misogynistic, as its typically negative connotation implies that women are obligated to have romantic feelings toward a boy because he does. These opposers are also often opposers of the idea of “nice-guys,” as they say it implies that women owe men something when if they act kindly toward them. On the other side, people protest that the women in these situations can also be held at fault, noting how the phrasing women used when friend-zoning begins in a way that seems positive to the other person, and then shut them down with the second statement. They say this—lifting their hopes and then crushing them—is manipulative behaviour that should also be frowned upon.
In an idealistic society, there would be no discrimination at all, and everyone would be equal. While many activists are attempting to make the world as Utopian as our world could possibly be, others unintentionally offend others, discriminating them over lifestyles and traits that they cannot control, and the restraints on women in the real world are not assisting those activists. Discrimination is something that can affect all people everywhere, from elementary school to the workplace. However, with the proper education to people about what they are doing and overcoming those who discriminate due to decisions one do not make such as their sexual orientation or one’s gender will help steer our society into a more Utopian direction, one where social discrimination and cultural appropriation are looked down upon to change what defines a person into themselves, instead of their race, sexual orientation, or gender—things that people cannot control.