3 ms·
I'd go so far as to say characterizing camel sports and shows as beauty contests, a phrase that implies "women" to pretty much every english speaker, is probabl
by motohagiography 5y ago
I'd go so far as to say characterizing camel sports and shows as beauty contests, a phrase that implies "women" to pretty much every english speaker, is probably the most farcically and unselfconciously racist thing I have read in an edited publication. Horse versions of events like these around the world are a huge part of rural culture and economies. The festivals (Golega, Portugal, Seville, Spain, Verden, Germany, Calgary, Canada, even Palm Beach, USA etc.) draw millions of dollars to local economies and provide livelihoods for generations of people.
For all their concern, exotic'izing Bedouin culture and implying racist tropes about their relationships to camels and women, I wouldn't be surprised if the Times pulled the article, as it's hard not to read it as risably offensive.
- h2odragon 5y agoThey falsely advertise such shows here too: bring your fancy custom matched lingerie to a "Horse Dressage" event and they'll kick you both out.
- mbg721 5y agoThey didn't kick you out for the lingerie, they kicked you out for pronouncing it "dressage" instead of "dressahhhhjjjjj".
- tehchromic 5y agoI suppose as someone interested in cancel culture I would wonder respectfully why there's anything wrong with celebrating beauty as a feminine attribute, or with comparing a beautiful camel to a beautiful woman, (if in fact that's what was done)? True, males have been traditionally denied the status of "beauty" in more traditional cultural arenas, and yes, many unfair prejidices towards domesticated animals exist such that their comparison to a human is assumed to be derogatory. However why let a few bad apples spoil the bunch? I don't think there's anything wrong with celebrating beauty in all its forms and comparisons and I thoroughly enjoyed this article.
- hydrok9 5y agothe issue is that it implies that Bedouins have relations with their camels. It's a common slur towards desert nomads & arabs.
- mbg721 5y agocf. Wales and sheep,
- throwaway0a5e 5y agoSee also the age old proverb applied to anything is highly male: "the men are men the women are men and the sheep are scared"
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago>I'd go so far as to say characterizing camel sports and shows as beauty contests, a phrase that implies "women" to pretty much every english speaker, is probably the most farcically and unselfconciously racist thing I have read in an edited publication. Or they're just trying to distance it from dog shows and farm animal competitions like you see at state fairs because those are boring and well known and won't get western audiences to click. Not everything is racist.
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 5y ago> Or they're just trying to distance it from dog shows and farm animal competitions like you see at state fairs because those are boring and well known and won't get western audiences to click. One of the ways to be racist and put down other cultures is exoticism, make the culture feel more dissimilar than it is. They are increasing the sense of “otherness” and de-emphasizing commonality (the camel show has more in common with dog and horse shows than with beauty pageants) The title definitely is doing that and as you said, doing it for clicks which makes it all the more risible.