In my opinion, Amandla Stenberg gave us a really good, concise and useful definition of cultural appropriation when she said, “Appropriation occurs when a style leads to racist generalizations or stereotypes where it originated, but is deemed as high fashion, cool, or funny when the privileged take it for themselves.”

Now, she said this in the context of white women appropriating Black hairstyles, but I think it’s much more widely applicable. For my part, I know that it is a definition that has me much less touchy about people using elements from my culture in some cases and more conscious of the reasons that I object when I have an objection that I feel is grounded.