Cultural Appropriation on Wolfhome

Old announcement of past promotion rounds and updates to Wolfhome.
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Loki
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Hello Wolfhomians!

As we continue to move forward with making Wolfhome more culturally appropriate we will be modifying and/or adjusting any artwork that is deemed to be culturally inappropriate, including but not limited to; removing or modifying certain poses from pose sets, art pieces containing the Guardian and Guardianess.

We appreciate your patience while we diligently work to undo 20+ years of cultural appropriation and hope that this will be a seamless transition into the new Wolfhome!

- The Wolfhome Administration

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I wanted to ask for clarification; has there been upset regarding the site mascots and their designs? That part confused me.

Edit: I'd personally like education on the changes here to better understand the appropriation. I mean that genuinely.
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Brew wrote:
Mon Aug 22, 2022 7:41 pm
I wanted to ask for clarification; has there been upset regarding the site mascots and their designs? That part confused me.
We have received some concerns based on a few things on the home page (The rune necklace, the armbands, as well as the tattoo on the Guardian). We are adjusting the mascots to no longer have upper armbands or any tattoos or runes.

After some research, we found that armbands are actually a symbolic piece of indigenous culture (especially tattoos) as they typically do signify what tribe they are in! edit: as well as a part of tribal wear (Ie. dance, ritual)

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Thanks for explaining! I definitely look forward to future updates on this. I admit, I have concerns about this whole topic, but I'm happy it's being discussed accordingly.
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Brew wrote:
Mon Aug 22, 2022 7:50 pm
Thanks for explaining! I definitely look forward to future updates on this. I admit, I have concerns, but I'm happy it's being discussed accordingly.
Feel free to DM me any concerns you may have!! :smile:

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With our continued work to remove cultural appropriation from Wolfhome, we have removed three poses from the Jackal set. The warrior pose, the sorcerer pose, as well as the jester pose, we will continue to post updates here on what is being removed and updated!

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Curious, how will this be working towards original characters and designs? I guess my concern is being unable to use certain elements as inspiration for world building or design work; rune work, jewelry, head-pieces, etc. As humans, we derive every creation from elements of the already known world. I fear that concept creation may become misconstrued with appropriation. I did not necessarily see those poses as appropriation (though I admit, I don't entirely remember what they look like as I did not use them). As for the homepage, a lot of cultures used armbands to signify status, title, military position, family, etc. Were the designs exact copies of an existing people?

Example; I use a lot of norse elements in my character building. I am a practicing pagan with teachings in shamanism and celtic druidism. Would such content be restricted on WH now?
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Hi! I’m currently on mobile but will do my best to discuss this.

We removed these poses due to Wolfhome being ran by primarily white people, we do not feel it’s appropriate for us to have poses with head dresses, dance sticks, or Egyptian symbols. We have received complaints about these poses.

The reason for removing these poses from wolfhome is due to us being commercial, not private. If you wanted to upload these items that is fine and we will not be constricting that nor asking race etc.


This simply goes based on how wolfhome is commercial not a private user.

Edit:

Again there will be NO ban for users on items that can and can’t be used, what is being done is simply due to concerns from the public. If you wish to upload a pose with runes, head dresses etc that is up to you and we have 0 place to say you can’t.

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Loki wrote:
Wed Sep 07, 2022 9:01 pm
Hi! I’m currently on mobile but will do my best to discuss this.

We removed these poses due to Wolfhome being ran by primarily white people, we do not feel it’s appropriate for us to have poses with head dresses, dance sticks, or Egyptian symbols. We have received complaints about these poses.

The reason for removing these poses from wolfhome is due to us being commercial, not private. If you wanted to upload these items that is fine and we will not be constricting that nor asking race etc.


This simply goes based on how wolfhome is commercial not a private user.

Edit:

Again there will be NO ban for users on items that can and can’t be used, what is being done is simply due to concerns from the public. If you wish to upload a pose with runes, head dresses etc that is up to you and we have 0 place to say you can’t.

Is this going to have a negative impact on those who either are or wish to become admins? From what I've read thus far, the criteria for defining what is and is not 'cultural appropriation' seems rather broad and a bit vague in places.

Per quote from the admin CoC. (viewtopic.php?f=8&t=213219)

See text highlighted in bold. "Wolfhome has 0 tolerance for racism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, or any type of cultural appropriation on the Wolfhome Administration. If Wolfhome Administrators become aware that you are a part of any hate groups/statements made pertaining to any of the above you will be terminated of your administration position. "

Some clarity would be most helpful.
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Thank you for bringing this up Lucan as we didn’t really fully think it through-

For instance, if someone who is white has a pose that had a head dress and is well known to be white (posts selfies etc) and the user gets reported AND they are an admin this would be an instance we would step in.

We would not step in if we just felt it was cultural appropriation, we would do research on if the item is commonly culturally appropriated, if the person is apart of that religion, if they are apart of a tribe, a lot of factors would go into play here rather than just a straight cut and dry answer.

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Glad to help. :)
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Loki wrote:
Wed Sep 07, 2022 9:01 pm
Hi! I’m currently on mobile but will do my best to discuss this.

We removed these poses due to Wolfhome being ran by primarily white people, we do not feel it’s appropriate for us to have poses with head dresses, dance sticks, or Egyptian symbols. We have received complaints about these poses.

The reason for removing these poses from wolfhome is due to us being commercial, not private. If you wanted to upload these items that is fine and we will not be constricting that nor asking race etc.


This simply goes based on how wolfhome is commercial not a private user.

Edit:

Again there will be NO ban for users on items that can and can’t be used, what is being done is simply due to concerns from the public. If you wish to upload a pose with runes, head dresses etc that is up to you and we have 0 place to say you can’t.
Not one to post often.. To describe as mostly run by "white" people and then your post about how people are white who pose with selfies as "white" is in itself a gross overstatement of those that are defined.

There needs to be a greater context applied because a person may seem as Caucasian but could be found to be a mixed heritage of African, Asian, Pacific Islander, North American,, Swedish, Dutch, etc. Mostly run by "white" people is really off putting, there needs to be a greater context applied beyond playing the card of majority of the white world is offensive and painting a broad brush saying that the admin team is going to act offended for those that are not offended. It is understandable to apply a cultural sensitivity but to apply a filter without context and using the broad brush of cultural appropriation would be consider in itself offensive. Those who are of mixed race and are predominantly appear "white" or Caucasian, have just as much of right to feel cultural appropriation by individuals if of a different race or ethnicity. It is true that predominantly in the past history mainstream entities have utilized things such as Indian head dresses in times long past, well before the last 20 years of cultural appropriation. But to point and say white people bad, is in itself offensive. Every individual person is different and surely deserves an equal treatment as such.

Please remember to apply a context of cultural sensitivity across the entire` spectrum of races, genders, orientations, religious and spiritual aspects, beyond just saying this is run predominantly by white people. Otherwise keep up the decent work trying to respect to understanding one's individual differences and perceptions of this world we reside in Wolfhome.
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Hi,

First off, I would like to correct your usage of the term "Indian" as it is extremely offensive to Native Americans and Indigenous people. Let's not use that term when referring to this culture, again it is offensive.

Secondly, as I stated above, we will be only going by reports on if/when to handle admins who are culturally appropriating items or cultures. For instance, If an admin were to use a pose with a Native American headdress, and there was a reason for the userbase to feel it was appropriating we would ask the user why (for instance selfies when the admin is white, the admin stating previously they are not of NA decent) we would approach the admin in question asking them if they are white-passing, we understand white-passing is common. For instance, I know many people who are we would never assume culture based on a single selfie. If the admin in question states no, they are not Native American or a part of a tribe- then they would be terminated. If they stated they WERE of decent or were a part of a tribe that would be sufficient and we would close the case until further proof is brought to our attention.

At this time, I will be locking this thread, none of the information on this topic is up for debate, nor feedback is needed all of this is FINAL. We will not be a website that supports cultural appropriation of the people who run it or has items/art that is for our website that is commercial. I will again reiterate, that we will NOT be controlling what our userbase does with their art and we will not be "race checking" or anything of the sort. This is for the administration who signs a code of conduct and represents this site. This is also for the identity of the website as we do not want to be associated with cultural appropriation.

If you have further issues, questions, or suggestions please do not hesitate to reach out to myself, or another administrator. You can also post on "Suggestions for Wolfhome" but all information posted on this topic is FINAL and not up for debate.

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