A Lack of Cultural Competence in the Media: When's Enough Enough?

 Following my last blog post about cultural appropriation, I would like to speak about cultural competence. Cultural competence is a way of behaving in light of a person or people from another group, whether it be a religious group, ethnic group, gendered group, or group based on sexual orientation. Cultural competence is the act of acknowledging differences and similarities between one's own values, norms, customs, history, and institutions and that of other groups of people. Being culturally competent involves acknowledging any comforts or discomforts between said groups, and understanding their own biases towards or against particular groups of people while recognizing the impacts of discrimination, oppression, and stereotyping. Unfortunately, our media today is not very culturally competent as I have already shown through music videos displaying cultural appropriation or the taking of elements of another cultural group without permission causing a detriment to said group.

Just recently, Kylie Jenner was under fire for what seemed to be photographs of her in "black-face." Black-face was used in minstrel shows in the pre-antebellum period (and still seen today) when Caucasian actors and actresses would paint their faces black with burnt corks, and draw on large red or white lips in order to mimic what the stereotypical African-Americans looked like at the time. This was used in order to reinforce the idea of black people as dehumanized animals, in order to maintain social inequality.

Here is the photo that Kylie Jenner posted, and later removed after heavy criticism for the elements of black-face.


While it may seem like an innocent photo-shoot, the darkened skin-tone and overly-dramatized larger lips (an element of black-face) seem to mimic the old "art" form of minstrelsy.

Another example of a lack of cultural competence is singer Katy Perry's use of cultural "costumes" in several of her music videos. This is problematic due to the fact that she is acting on behalf of a cultural group that she is not a part of, and misrepresenting it at that through stereotypical images that have been used in the US media.

Here are a few examples of Katy Perry's lack of culture competence:

In order to make sure you are being culturally competent, you should ask yourself a few questions:
1. Is there any reason to believe that my actions would be perceived as racist or discriminatory?
2. Am I displaying a racial/gender/religious (etc) stereotype?
3. Would my actions be hurtful to another group of people?

By trying to be sensitive to other groups, we can increase cultural competence and reduce negative portrayals or appropriation or other groups. This does not mean that you should not partake in learning about another cultural group, but through invitation and respectful observation, or practice, you can learn about a group of people without misrepresenting their group in the mainstream. It is their history, their culture, their voices that need to be heard, and so we should remain respectful, and let them tell their own stories. Cultural competence is key to reducing stereotypes, discrimination, and oppression. I highly encourage reflecting on your own beliefs and attitudes to make sure that you are practicing cultural competence.

Article on Kylie Jenner's Instagram Photo:
https://www.yahoo.com/tv/s/kylie-jenner-defends-questionable-instagram-165500386.html