Sunday, August 30, 2015

Ivory

From The Ethicist:
When my mother passed away, I inherited an antique necklace made of carved ivory beads. I love the look of — and am sentimentally tied to — this necklace, but I am also a supporter of anti-poaching programs and organizations. I have avoided wearing the necklace because I don’t want to appear to support the ivory trade. On the other hand, I hate not being able to wear one of the few pieces of jewelry that I have from my mother. What should I do with the necklace?
 One thing that occurred to me while reading this: would people actually recognize it as ivory?

When I do a google image search for ivory necklaces, they look like plastic costume jewellery to me. I have no idea if they'd look non-plastic in person, but based on the image search I seriously doubt that I'd look at them and automatically think "Clearly, that must be made from dead elephant tusks!"

I have a few pieces of jewellery from my late grandmother, and one of the necklaces has a few white beads on it.  The only reason why I know for certain they aren't ivory is because my grandmother wasn't anywhere near wealthy enough be able to afford ivory, even as small beads in a necklace made of many other things, even if it were a special, one-time luxury. 

One of the lines of discussion in the column is whether wearing ivory jewellery promotes the notion of ivory as a glamorous luxury item that is beautiful and should be coveted. But I question whether anyone who isn't enough of an expert to already have their own well-established opinion on the matter would even recognize it as ivory.

And, if LW is asked about the composition or origin of the necklace, she could simply and truthfully respond by talking about how it was her mother's and has great sentimental value.

2 comments:

laura k said...

I've heard this question raised about fur - an inherited fur coat, or one bought used, or a coat worn before becoming sensitized to the issue. But in that case, fur is so obvious, so out-there, it would be like walking around with a big I Do Animal Cruelty sign. Ivory, not so much.

impudent strumpet said...

It's interesting how fur is kind of the opposite of ivory that way. Fur looks like fur, and artificial fur also looks like fur to the non-expert eye. But ivory doesn't necessarily look like ivory to the non-expert eye.

I also think ivory doesn't look glamorous (which was a concern raised in the original column), but I've never knowingly seen it IRL. Of course, I also don't think fur looks glamorous (I think it looks primitive), but I recognize the look that's culturally marked as glamorous in a sort of 1950s way, which I can't see with ivory.