In Finland we have a term: kukkahattutäti. Literally translated, it means an auntie with a flower hat, but in internet forums you're likely to get that mock name if you support equality between people, ethic choices, ecological thinking, or display similar symptoms of naive idealism.
We decided to turn the tables and appropriate the term.
The auntie with the flower hat has come to be such an excellent term in the critical debate about immigrants that we must make the most of it. In the old days the straitlaced moralist scampered to her meetings wearing a massive flower hat and knew just how others should lead their lives.
Today, it is the immigration critic who seems to know so well what is right and what wrong for others and society. While he too propounds his views with self-righteousness, he does so in internet forums while hiding behind a screen name. In these discussions, the flower hat is given to a person who supports equality between humans, calls racist outbursts into question and makes eco-friendly choices.
We shamelessly support equality and other values typical for the ladies with the flower hats and are looking for like-minded people. Racism is being justified with freedom of speech, and giving one’s face to racism has even become trendy. We think flower hats are trendy and suit anyone who doesn’t accept racism.
Here, in January 2011 opened community art photo gallery, the pictures of us, of you and of other ladies with flower hats will be displayed. You can join us by taking the photo yourself and sending it to kukkahattutati.com[at]gmail.com.
With kind regards,
Jaana Ristola and Ninni Luhtasaari
Students of the Fine Arts Programme at the Tampere University of Applied Sciences
Kukkahattutäti.com, the flower hat auntie website (also in English)
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2 Comments:
In my understanding, that term is not used in the context you write about. Of course the term has never been officially categorized to suit only X type of person, but still I think you might have understood it quite wrongly.
In my own experiences and understandment, the term means someone who:
- Is quite conservative and wants Finland to go back to the policies and lifestyles of the 1950's/1960's (but not racism)
- Wants to protect children from anything harmful, such as movies, games, music depending of the decade
- Over exaggarates everything harmful
- Wants strict policies and laws from government (which restrict the freedom of speech), such as the infamous child porn-law, which restricted (or really didn't, but was supposed to) access to child porn sites
- Kukkahattutätis are considered quite naive, and rightfully so since they expect that every child who sees a horror flick or plays a violent video game, must be a rapist murderer in five years time. They also believe that defunctioning laws must be made, even though they are defunctioning.
The term is ofcourse (as you and I said) connected to naivism, but not in a good way.
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That being said, it is of course nice to see people fight against racism and.. well, frankly said ignorant and idiotic ideals, but wanting to show that you are a naive, old-fashioned and overexaggarting cuckoo may not be the best way to do that.
Anyways, I hope you get many pictures and that your little project gets a lot of attention!
Dear Anonymous,
Thank you for your comment. You are totally right about the historical etymology of the term 'flower hat auntie'. However nowadays the term is used the way we described. You can find the term used most often in Finnish websites for critical debates on issues such as immigrants, global warming and human rights, etc.
You are welcome to join us by sending your photo :)
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