Follow up to the last post

 I was just going to leave my last post as it was, just links and me saying 'this sucks' but I've been feeling all angry and need to rant!  To apologise for the upcoming drama llama below the cut, here's Justin Bieber made from meat:

1. Grey

For the people who were confused about Grey of legothique here is a good post from the Lime Crime Examiner Article (which is basically a forum about Lime Crime and other makeup shenanigans) that explains it well. I've paraphrased it a little to make it more factual and less emotional:

'Back in January of 2008 a member of Ravelry, a knitting community, username MommaMonkey (GiGi Silva), died of Lupus complications. The community mourned and was sad because she posted a lot of awesome knitting patterns, sent people gifts and even started a community of her own called Socktopia. Her husband, Nico, logged on to her profile and asked people to continue purchasing her knitting patterns - in exchange, he was going to donate all the profits to a Lupus research foundation.

Fast forward to a year later. It's January 2009 People were still suspicious about MommaMonkey's death. Especially because profiles were popping up on Ravelry that suspiciously had the same voice and overall writing tone of MommaMonkey. People were starting to accuse MommaMonkey of faking her death, and others were defending her. Someone put in MommaMonkey's email address in to twitter, which opened up a giant can of WTF. There was a twitter profile tweeting and posting pictures of tattoos that MommaMonkey had, using MommaMonkey's old email address, with the same basic info: Lives in San Diego, has a husband, 2 kids, proficient in handmade crafts. The knitting community exploded and drama ensued. 

People started posting blog entries about how MommaMonkey was this huge scam artist. Meanwhile Grey was watching from a safe distance, content that she had left that world behind and had enough money to start a new life as a Crafty Punk blogger with loyal following that was getting bigger every day. Some people even claimed she "honed" her new "Grey Persona" using a blog called Miss Cissy, until people realized that Miss Cissy was MommaMonkey and she proceeded to DELETEF*CKINGEVERYTHING.
Grey was basically safe as Grey, until someone stumbled on the MommaMonkey info. Maybe someone's curiosity finally got the best of them, because Grey was relatively secretive about how she looked and the pictures that she posted of herself. She used to post lip swatches on her lips, but stopped and then deleted the photos. She had pictures of her old tattoos on her twitpics account, but deleted those and then ultimately deleted her twitpics account' 

And it was found that the Legothique domain was owned by Gina/GiGi Silva.

I think it's obvious why people are upset here. Not only did it turn out that Grey was not who she claimed she was (or was a liar at least) but faking your death is a Goddamn shitty thing to do. And then adding to that she basically stole charity money. That's just evil.

I'm very lucky in that I've never lost anyone who was incredibly close to me (the only person I've known who died was my aunt, which was terribly sad but she had lived a long life and had been ill a long time so it wasn't surprising) but I've felt the heartbreak of grief when my pets have died. I can't imagine how awful it would be to find out a friend had died. Even if you've only known someone over the internet it doesn't make your friendship any less.

I was never super close to Grey, we chatted sometimes and I liked her and she was always very nice to me but I wouldn't have considered her a 'friend'. I'm lucky in this sense because it means I'm not hurt by her lies, I'm just furious! I also feel stupid and foolish because I had no clue. I even sent her a piece of jewellery from Callooh and Callay to review. So I'm angry that I trusted a fraud basically.

There's a chance it might not be true, and I hope that, somehow, is the case but I find it incredibly doubtful.I'm truly sorry to anyone who was close to her and considered her a friend and hope you're not finding this too upsetting and that anyone owed a refund for the Awesome indie box thing gets it promptly!

The links regarding Grey in my last post don't work anymore, if anyone knows some good links to replace them please leave them in a comment.

2. Lime Crime.

Cultural appropriation is too big and complicated an issue for me to really get into,  especially considering I am a white, middle class woman from a country that used to go around making empires.  

For instance, in my opinion anyway, there's a big difference in simply portraying someone of a different race and offensive cultural appropriation. I mean the difference between Laurence Olivier 'blacking up' to play Othello and a black and white minstrel show. While a white man playing a black character is certainly problematic I don't think it's the same as something as outwardly racist as the minstrels who nothing but a charicature of racist stereotypes.

Personally I know that I have probably been very racially insensitive in the past because I LOVE the makeup of geisha women so often use elements of it on myself. I have read up about geishas and the culture but am not super knowledgable. I guess the reason I think that this is ok is that to me I feel I am just replicating a makeup, not trying to look like or pretend to be part of the culture. (I'd love to know peoples feelings about this!)

And this is my problem with Lime Crimes photo. If it was just the photos of caucasian Hanna Beth in 'Oriental' garb I would see it as problematic but wouldn't think it was hideously offensive (Again this is my opinion only, I'm not saying anyone should necessarily agree with me. If you find a white person wearing inaccurate Asian style clothes and makeup offensive then that's perfectly valid too). Too me the horrible part is the stereotypes of Asian women that come through in the description:

'Don’t let her milky skin, pouty mouth and flushed cheeks fool you; underneath the poised façade, there lies a heart of a tigress ...

Chinadoll is fragile and bold, soft-spoken and out-spoken, a free spirit of undeniable presence. I created a romantic duality by casting watercolor gradients against sharper lines -- Lotus Noir was applied under lower lashes, blended into Jade-o-Lade, then faded seamlessly into Parasol. Finally, I added soft-red accents to her cheeks, brows and around the temples for an innocent glow evocative of vintage Chinese advertising posters.' 

This description manages to invoke both the stereotypes of the demure, subservient, delicate Asian flower and the fierce, agressive Dragon Lady. Doe has claimed that this description is not offensive because (i'm paraphrasing) 'China Doll is not real, she is a fantasy' but the problem with that is that she's a fantasy born entirely from the Wests fetishized view of Asian women. The idea of this woman as the exotic bloom with skin smooth as porcelain, and a personality just as fragile but also a ferocious, domineering heart, not a real person with a personality but just an object to be admired.

I've seen people bizarrely try to argue that 'China Doll' doesn't have anything to do with Chinese women, it just refers to dolls made of china. But it's so obvious that the name is trying to be a pun, she's Chinese and a doll basically. (though I doubt that Lime Crime knew that 'China Doll' is a name given to the stereotype of the demure Asian woman. Well I certainly hope not!) . The whole collection is just chock full of Chinese imagery from the names of the colours (Parasol, Goldfish, Fly Dragon Fly, Lotus Noir and... uhh... 'Jade-O-Lade' -__-) down to the dragons that now grace the Lime Crime header.

Using stereotypical charicatures of a race that (I can only presume) you know little about yourself to sell eyeshadow just isn't cool.

"I'm very sorry to hear that some of you found the Chinadoll concept offensive. Chinadoll is inspired by a time and a place, and is not meant to depict any contemporary or even real person. My Chinadoll is strong but not afraid to cry, rebellious but in control, traditional and untamed all at once. She is a living contradiction and, above all, a *woman* -- she can never be, or will be stereotyped. I hope you guys can continue to support our independent brand, we truly do pour our hearts and souls into it. Thanks for your feedback!-Doe"

 It's great that China Doll can never be stereotyped, but ethnicities can be. And it's hurtful. Even positive stereotypes are hurtful because it brings the idea that different races/sexualities/genders (in this instance Chinese women) are a sort of homogenous society, they're all the same. And that leads to racism/sexism/homophobia because if you don't see a person as an individual, but as just a member of a group who all have the same traits, it lessens the idea that they are a real person and strengthens the idea that they are different from you and that in turn makes you think you can treat them differently.

If you're a company and do something that offends someone then APOLOGISE! And not some half-arsed 'I'm sorry you were offended' rubbish, apologise for being offensive! You might not have meant to be, there might be nothing you can do about it now but you can always just say you're sorry. Not 'I'm sorry to hear that you found it offensive' but 'I'm sorry'.

I know i linked to this in my last post but I think Mai's post put's it better than I ever could.

Gragh, why does there have to be so much nonsense in the makeup community?