November 02, 2011

Sophie Turner's "Poca-Hotness"

One starlet hasn't gotten the message about stereotypical Indian costumes that objectify Native women. The same applies to the website touting her racist apparel.

Sophie Turner’s “Poca-Hotness”Just in time for Thanksgiving, here’s Australian supermodel and television host Sophie Turner reminding us of the importance of honoring our Native American ancestors.

Actually Turner, 27, wore that Pocahontas get-up in honor of Halloween, not Thanksgiving … although for reasons surpassing understanding we neglected to include her in our “Happy (Slutty) Halloween” post.
Comment:  So many fails in such a small space. The stereotypical costume, of course, but more than that. The website's ignorant assumption that Turner was emulating Pocahontas, a real-life person, rather than a white man's fantasy figure. And its ignorant assumption that this is some sort of honor rather than a racist portrayal of Indians as barbaric savages.

Can you imagine turning Amelia Earhart, Harriet Tubman, or Indira Gandhi into sexual figures? Then why would you do it to Pocahontas?

Oh, yeah. One, because Indians are everyone's favorite fantasy figures. No one thinks they exist anymore...not really.

Two, because you can make a bad pun on the name "Pocahontas." I guess "Sexagawea" would be too obvious; it would call too much attention to the notion of Native women as sexual objects to be raped by white men. But calling a woman a "hottie" is okay. We know what that means (wink, wink).

For more on the subject, see A History of Sexy "Indian Maidens" and Racist Costumes = White Privilege.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You forgot the fail that I'm pretty sure Sophie Turner doesn't have any Indian ancestors. How many Aussies do? How many of them have so many recessive phenotypes atypical of Indians (e.g., blonde, blue-eyed)?

As for turning Pocahnotas into a sexual figure, it might have something to do with her age. LOL (In this case, that means Lots Of Loli.) Though I did one time, channel-surfing with insomnia, come across an Indiana Jones porn parody on Cinemax where a female archaeologist finds a now-immortal Amelia Earhart and cue lesbian sex scene.

Rob said...

It wouldn't make any difference to me if Turner were Native. The costume still would be stereotypical.