Hemashri
So I’m making up Hindu myths or something. She charms men, has sex with them, then eats their souls. fun stuff.
(Hemashri means one with a golden body apparently)
Are you Hindu?
If you’re not (and judging from this bizarre Jasmine flower-of-the-desert outfit and lack of knowledge of EXISTING Hindu myth figures, I’m guessing you’re not even Indian), why do you think it’s your right to “make up Hindu myths”?
I don’t know, creative freedom maybe?
Just because I don’t know much about Hinduism and clearly didn’t do any research doing a stupid doodle doesn’t mean I can’t give it a half assed story related to what I happened to be inspired by.
Maybe if I had seemed a little more serious about this I’d understand why you felt the need to ask this, but in all honesty, do I have to explain creative impulses to you? I’d do research if I was more serious about it because there’s nothing worse than being the artist that doesn’t know about what they’re drawing, but I’m not really even planning on doing anything with this character.
I don’t know if you’re an artist but if you are you know how you can just see an image in your head, and you have to draw it. Usually while I’m drawing I make up stories, and that’s not exactly a time when I want to be doing research. I just create, regardless of inaccuracies.
Maybe instead of getting angry you could try and educate me as to why you think I shouldn’t do this or what I did wrong or something. I always accept critiques on my art, which includes problems with accuracy, or if it offends you I can draw something more accurate. I’m not here to make enemies, I don’t want you to feel like you can’t tell me that I’m wrong. (for the record though, I’d definitely prefer you take it to my ask box)
Maybe if you didn’t want actual Hindus to be grossed out by your half-assed assumptions and perpetrating of stereotypes, you should keep this kind of shit in your digital sketchbook and not post it with a laconic comment about how you invented a Hindu creature who sexes up men and eats their souls.
“Artistic license” and “creative freedom” are valid concepts. They mean that as an artist you can use images in whatever way you choose to communicate a message. What they DON’T mean is that nobody should criticize you if blithely use the iconography of a group you don’t belong to, because we should all understand your artistic methods and that your creative impulses are more important than the way this representation of Hinduism hurts actual Hindus.
“Maybe instead of getting angry you could try and educate me”
AHAHAHAHAHHA
I don’t do Racism 101, sorry. Maybe instead of being defensive and demanding an education, you could DO SOME DAMN RESEARCH.
Well, I guess this’ll be the last time I post any of my doodles anywhere on the internet because they’ll offend someone
I bet you didn’t think twice about offending me, but that’s okay because I’m a white majority and I don’t get any kind of racism. I hope you read what your followers are adding, it makes me feel so important, especially all of the insulting shit about me being an ignorant ”whitey”
And since you’re so unwilling to teach me, I don’t even fucking want to learn. Why would I do research on people who are now rudely putting me down? You tell me to not be so ignorant, then you don’t even tell me what I should do to fix it? Honestly, just because you’re a minority means you can walk all over people, even when they offered to compromise? It’s not like I was planning on offending people, I realize that’s how you deal with some people but why are you taking out your anger on me? You don’t know me at all as a person, and if you couldn’t tell from my last response I just want to understand.
I know you won’t believe me but I’m literally crying right now because you did this in probably the rudest way possible. Thanks for ruining my week.
If you want me to take it down I fucking will, but it looks like now that you’ve drawn everyone’s attention on the “ignorant whitey” everyone has seen it anyway.
Hey, you know what ruins my week, every week? RACISM.
Let’s break down this bingo card:
“I bet you didn’t think twice about offending me”
Did you think twice about offending Hindu people?
“I hope you read what your followers are adding, it makes me feel so important”
Am I here to make you feel important? Are any of the people who reblogged me? Why should *you* be made to feel important when you make me and Hindu culture unimportant?
“And since you’re so unwilling to teach me, I don’t even fucking want to learn”
That’s a great attitude. Please consult: tone argument.
“Why would I do research on people who are now rudely putting me down?”
BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT A RESPONSIBLE PERSON WOULD DO FOR FUCKSAKE
“Honestly, just because you’re a minority means you can walk all over people, even when they offered to compromise?”
What the fuck compromise do you think is possible when you and white people like you have had the monopoly on how my culture is portrayed in the West? Why do you think I have to *bargain* with you over my own fucking culture?
“I know you won’t believe me but I’m literally crying right now”
Oh, I believe you. Please consult: White Women’s Tears.
“everyone has seen it anyway”
I don’t understand. You were cool with people seeing it all this time, offering you kudos. Now that you’re getting flak for your condescending, defensive response — and make no mistake, it was your *response* that got people commenting, not the original art itself or my original reblog — you want to flounce and act as though you’re being persecuted? Go ahead.
Look, maybe this is the first time anybody’s called you on doing racist shit in your art. I get it, everybody freaks out when they get called on shit the first time. But instead of whining and carrying on and declaring that your hurt feelings are more important than the racism you perpetrated, you could choose to use this as a learning experience. Y’know, instead of declaring that now you’re going to completely refuse to treat non-white people as people because somebody was Mean To You on the Internet.
Let’s breakdown what happened here: The OP posted a picture of a brown woman in a stereotypical desert princess outfit, and made a comment about inventing a demonic, sexualised, female deity from a living religion with millions of followers which has a history of being exoticised and vilified in popular culture in the West. When told that this was offensive she attempted to excuse herself with an offhand comment about her galling lack of respect for the history and culture surrounding Hinduism and the purity of her ~creative expression~, demanded that someone she had offended take time out of their day to educate her so that she could presumably carry on doing the same shit (but with a native informant to back her up!), then declared that she was willing to continue to flaunt her disrespect for, again, MILLIONS of Hindus, because one had personally annoyed her by calling her out on her blatant disrespect. And, of course, she’s the victim. She has gone through her entire life not even questioning the basic dignity her cultural background is treated with, not questioning her right to pile on the indignities that people from minority ethnic groups face, but because someone made her cry by making her see a fraction of the ugliness that she’s perpetrating, she is the victim.
