Kendall Jenner was recently faced with backlash after she posed in pointe shoes for a Vogue España cover shoot. Her pictures soon went viral and she was being slammed for her weak ankles and dodgy feet. To some measure, it is reasonable for ballerinas to feel slightly upset. Kendall is seemingly mocking the thing that these ballerinas live for. But these people have gone exceptionally far— especially when just last week, Kendall appropriated black culture for probably the hundredth time.
Kendall Jenner passing off as a ballerina is reductive, insulting and actively harmful: https://t.co/FpkEKjEgND pic.twitter.com/7txU9tVFUI
— Fusion (@Fusion) September 22, 2016
Kardashians appropriate Black culture.
*crickets*
Kendall Jenner portrays a ballerina in Vogue.
White People: THIS IS HARMFUL. INSULTING. https://t.co/rh5jZaKvnQ— Lemon Pepper Wet (@soLEXsaid) September 22, 2016
Marc Jacobs’ controversial fashion show had white models wearing pastel dreadlocks— white models including Gigi & Bella Hadid, Karlie Kloss, and you guessed it: Kendall Jenner. And yet, there was more of a fuss raised when Kendall “appropriated ballerina culture”, as some Twitter users like to call it. This is unbelievable, but at this rate, should be expected.
Somehow, humanity is at a point where someone dressing up as a ballerina for a photoshoot is more controversial than that same person, who is white, wearing dreadlocks. People are so rattled over Kendall Jenner’s weak ankles rather than how she wore dreadlocks in a highly publicized event. Kendall Jenner can get away with being a white girl having dreadlocks, even after the new American law that you can be fired from your workplace for having dreadlocks. But she just can’t escape the offended ballerinas.
The Marc Jacobs cultural appropriation stuff? Already old and forgotten news. The new law allowing one to be fired from one’s workplace for having dreadlocks? No one heard of that, it never went viral. Kendall Jenner dresses up as a ballerina in a whimsical childhood callback for a photoshoot? APPROPRIATION. Forget the stuff about her appropriating black culture, just like the rest of her family does daily— it’s the pointe shoes that we should be offended about, folks.
Marc Jacobs chose to use white models with “dreads” instead of just using black models with actual dreads pic.twitter.com/iEOLd63DcL
— Affinity Magazine (@TheAffinityMag) September 15, 2016
Kendall hasn’t spoken out yet about her appropriating black culture— maybe she didn’t have a choice, it was Marc Jacob’s show, but we can’t forget the times she had cornrows. We also can’t forget the drastic appropriation from the rest of her family. She’s continually stayed silent on this topic, but that doesn’t matter if she stops or apologizes or learns from it, does it? The only important thing is if she stops appropriating ballerina culture.
