Cruel Intentions actress, Selma Blair, is being accused of cultural appropriation after posting a photo on Instagram wearing a turban.
But for every fan criticizing her choice of headdress, there are others rushing to her defense.
46-year-old actress, Selma Blair, was having a “bad hair day” — something all of us know too well.
But instead of putting on a ball cap or putting her hair in a ponytail, she took a different approach to covering up her do.
She wore a turban.
In October 2018, Selma revealed that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
Since then she has been incredibly transparent about her struggles in the thick of a 10-month long flare-up .
She’s taken to social media to spread awareness — letting her fans know what she has been going through.
Simple, everyday motions have become an uphill battle for her.
MS symptoms can present themselves in many ways and vary in severity.
It is an autoimmune disease that targets the central nervous system. More specifically, it attacks myelin, the protective layer that covers the nerves themselves.
As a result, it causes inflammation, that presents itself as symptoms such as imbalance, speech impairment, fatigue, numbness in certain areas of the body, pain, difficulty walking, weakness, tremors, and other internal bodily dysfunctions.
It can also cause depression, bipolar disorder, hormonal imbalances in women, and hair loss .
Selma seems to be going through most of those symptoms — but with a seemingly positive and confident outlook in spite of the obvious discomfort she is feeling.
Using a can quickly became one of Selma’s full-time accessories, and she is totally rocking it with confidence and style!
She reached out to film producer and director, Rachel Fleit, who has dealt with her fair share of hair loss as well, due to alopecia.
While Rachel sports her baldness most often in photos, it is not uncommon to see her wearing head wraps and caps of all sorts.
On Tuesday, she posted a selfie of the two of them — both wearing headdresses.
“One answer to your bad hair days or NO hair days. #alopecia … wraps! (oh and it’s been around for thousands of years),” she captioned the photo.
Unfortunately, the post did not translate well with many fans.
“Has she not seen all the backlash with ‘cultural appropriation’? I mean…,” someone commented.
“You are so wonderful and I know you mean no harm, but this is serious cultural appropriation.”
“I’d be happy to have a private conversation about how this is hurtful to Sikhs if you’re open to it,” another wrote.
“I have alopecia and would love to wear a turban.. they are so beautiful but I’ve been told that since I’m white and non-religious it would be culturally inappropriate,” someone else chimed in.
Fans sympathized with Selma for having MS, but were still irked by the fact that she wore a turban, something so culturally significant to Sikh people, as a “bad hair day” alternative.
Other fans were less offended by her wearing a turban, but more concerned with the choice of words she used in her caption.
Selma, turbans have been “a thing” for thousands of years .
Many fans jumped to Selma’s defence, encouraging others to see this as her embracing another culture rather than mocking it.
“What I find so ludicrous is the same people screaming about cultural appropriation are the ones who demand multiculturalism yet want none of it to rub off!,” someone commented.
Someone brought up a very good point: Selma is Jewish.
“First of all, Orthodox Jewish women wear something similar every day! We call it a tichel! They’ve been covering their hair out of modesty in this manner for over 3,000 years! As Selma is a Jewish woman, this isn’t ‘cultural appropriation’ at all but a long standing tradition of her people,” a fan wrote.
“I think @selmablair was just expressing her love for those with alopecia and her appreciation for the beauty of turbans. I truly don’t think she ever meant to be culturally insensitive,” someone wrote.
As you can see, Selma received a ton of support from fans, encouraging her to keep rocking the turban.
Cultural appropriation is a major topic in the news.
Recently, department store powerhouse Nordstrom made a public apology for selling a $790 Gucci turban named “Indy Full Turban.”
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The issue is about commodifying and capitalizing of off an item of cultural significance to a specific community.
So, in order to critically analyze Selma’s accessory of choice, this is something to think about.
Either way, Selma did not let the haters get her down.
Sshortly after posting the photo, she shared photos of women of different cultures wearing similar headdresses on her Instagram story with the caption “hold my beer.”
Selma – 1 haters – 0.
Let us know in the comments if you think that Selma is guilty of cultural appropriation, or simply embracing another culture.
