Within the activist circles I run in, I routinely hear people accuse others of appropriation, or claim that certain behaviors or endeavors are appropriative. I myself have written about how certain people (e.g., cisgender academics and media producers) sometimes appropriate transgender identities and experiences (discussed more below). So I am certainly sympathetic to the concept.
At the same time, however, I have seen the concept of
appropriation used (or misused) in order to undermine marginalized groups as
well. For instance, cisgender feminists have long accused trans women of “appropriating female dress” or “appropriating women’s identities”—indeed, if you click
the link you will see that this was part of the justification for why Sylvia
Rivera was kicked off the stage at a 1973 Pride rally in New York City. On
Cathy Brennan’s anti-trans-dyke website “Pretendbians” (which I refuse to link
to), the byline at the top of the webpage says: “We don't hate you, we hate
appropriation”—the implication being that trans women cannot ever be actual
lesbians, but rather we can only appropriate lesbian identities and culture.
