entry #1

“Blackfishing”, Cultural Appropriation, and Racial Fetishization in Popular Culture

Between music, movies, and other forms of entertainment, the proper and equitable representation of people of color in the arts continues to be a long-term work in progress. Even in circles of the most sophisticated and prestigious critics of art works, creators and performers of color are often excluded or unrecognized, even when their work itself has been met with public acclaim. This is evidenced by the emergence of movements such as #OscarsSoWhite, which in 2015 sought to bring attention to the lack of diversity in both the year’s nominees and the voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The growing sense of awareness of the impact and consequences of race, and thus the amplified demand that authoritative groups like the Academy work to remove bias and become more inclusive, can be in part attributed to the mainstream achievements of the Black Lives Matter movement, which has brought race into mainstream focus and forced many to come to terms with racial realities in a world often perceived as post-racial.

Even when popular culture attempts to embrace diversity, there can be a tricky balance to be found between respectfully representing marginalized groups and tokenizing them or appropriating aspects of their culture. Cultural appropriation is generally recognized as the act of a dominant or majority culture “taking” something from a minority or marginalized culture (such as a traditional form of dress or expression, a ritual or significant action, or other significant cultural symbol) and using it in a way that ignores the symbol’s cultural significance and/or is inappropriate given the actor’s own culture. Though an act of cultural appropriation may be performed without harmful intent, the impact upon members of the impacted culture is often that their identities are minimized or threatened, and their experiences literally “whitewashed” or stripped of significance (Brunk & Young, 2012).

“Blackfishing” is a relatively new concept included under the umbrella of cultural appropriation, and describes the phenomenon of white people (and particularly white women) attempting to include stereotypically Black aesthetics in their own appearance (Lutz, 2019). This may include using makeup or self-tanning the skin to appear very tan, using lip fillers or makeup to make lips appear fuller, wearing streetwear clothes or other styles associated with rap and hip hop culture, or even adopting traditionally Black hairstyles like dreadlocks or box braids. The “fishing” aspect of the term is derived from the contemporary term catfishing, in which someone poses as another person or otherwise alters their online identity to appear different from who they actually are. The embedding of the concept of catfishing within blackfishing brings to focus the idea that those who partake in the act are pretending to be something they are not, and draws upon this phenomenon’s close relationship with the Internet and social media as the primary means of deception. The extensive control that personal computer/smartphone technology and social media offer to us, as well as the specialized tools that mass amateurization through the Internet has made more accessible (like Photoshop or Lightroom, both popular photo-editing programs), are key to understanding how blackfishing can be easily practiced and even rewarded in a society that would condemn similar offenses such as blackface.

The recognition of blackfishing as a type of cultural appropriation raises important questions about what white American and European culture may value about other marginalized cultures. For white women to want to alter their appearance to appear more racially ambiguous or even Black suggests that certain aesthetic features known as belonging to POC are conventionally desirable (enough for someone to want to “fake” having them). However, adopting these features as a white person erases the cultural significance of Black identity. Such an idea can be clearly demonstrated using examples of hairstyle. For example, particular kinds of braids have origins rooted in indigenous African culture. The act of braiding was socially significant, persisting even through the era of slavery. However, in a post-segregation America, braids and natural Black hairstyles were viewed as unsophisticated and unprofessional, and many women had to assimilate and abandon this facet of their identity to succeed in their lives. Because of the historical context of this hairstyle, it is considered to be culturally appropriative for someone who is not Black to wear their hair in this way, as they cannot and have not experienced the generational trauma that is central to understanding it.

The phenomenon of white women wanting to appear Black also risks falling into problematic patterns of racial fetishization, which dates back to American colonization (Holmes, 2016). The problematic and pseudo-scientific beliefs held by colonizers about Black women, such as ideas that they were promiscuous and hyper-sexual, were used to justify continual mistreatment, physical and sexual abuse, and the system of slavery itself. With this in mind, the morality of blackfishing for social media attention is called further into question. A person who blackfishes is not simply appropriating from Black culture— they also are helping to perpetuate stereotypes used to justify historic and systematic abuse of Black people, even if indirectly.

In more subjective forms of pop culture, such as music, cultural appropriation can be somewhat harder to place. It is a fact that much modern music is descended from traditionally Black forms, such as the blues (Jackson, 2019). Jackson notes the importance of aesthetics to artist identity, particularly for young women who want to be seen as more mature after achieving fame as children and teens. Appropriating Black culture is then seen as a reliable option for these young white women— as demonstrated by Miley Cyrus’ twerking performance at the MTV Video Music Awards or Christina Aguilera’s box braids. Black culture is seen as a route to showing female empowerment through sexual maturity, as it is a sociological fact that Black girls tend to be seen as older and more sexually experienced than their white peers (Cottom, 2019). While this fact can be taken advantage of to sell the idea of a young white woman’s empowerment, it unfortunately also serves to excuse the disproportionate sexual violence that occurs to Black girls and women— not completely unlike colonizers’ treatment of female slaves.

Blackfishing as a cultural phenomenon has extended beyond the amateurized realms of social media and entered the cultural mainstream. In an early 2020 cover photo for the magazine Interview, the celebrity actress and musician Selena Gomez appears to embody some of the traits identified as blackfishing. Her skin is tanned to a darker shade compared to past photos of her, which does make her appear a bit racially ambiguous. She wears her hair in two long braids and her baby hairs (the shorter strands around her forehead) are styled in place, a common feature of Black hairstyles. She also appears to pose in a somewhat sexually provocative yet casual way, and has her tongue out in the photo.

Gomez, much like Miley Cyrus and Christina Aguilera, can be seen as a teen star grown up, as she too jumpstarted her career by acting and singing on children’s programming and the Disney Channel. Now that she’s older, she performs more contemporary pop music for teens and young women. Therefore, her borrowing of aesthetics from Black culture could too be seen as an effort to appear more mature, empowered, and free. After all, her cover shoot photo’s caption does read “she is done letting people control her narrative.” However, as someone who is not Black (Gomez identifies as third-generation American-Mexican), Gomez’ appropriation of this culture is dismissive and harmful as she hasn’t and will never experience the unique trauma of the Black community that makes their culture significant and special to them. Blackfishing and cultural appropriation in general are important to consider as facets of a greater system of racial oppression. While they may be seen as insignificant acts not causing personal harm, they are in fact permissive and perpetuative of a system that harms people of color by dismissing and minimizing the obstacles they face throughout life.