The black guy and the girls: the get no action action figures?

@snood,

snood wrote:

It's an interesting idea - not sure if I agree on your conclusion that the white dolls would be left behind in similar fashion if the shopping happened in a black neighborhood. You see, I believe strongly that our (of color) children internalize from early on in this country a sort of devaluing. I think it happens subtly - whenever there are months and years of angst-filled stories about some random missing blonde haired blue eyed child, and every little black or latino missing child is relegated to a couple of paragraphs in the 'B' section. I think its subtle, but relentless. I think little children notice that their "history" is relegated to a single month, but the real, American History is propagandized every school day.

I think those little white dolls might move off the shelves just fine in a black neighborhood. I mean, to a black child, they might appear to be the "best" ones, so to speak.

That is the way I would have responded to this thread, had snood not already done so.

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I think all cultures have their ideals of beauty and children are indoctrinated into it at an early age. Growing up in the late 60's I wanted to look like the blonde woman in the Mod Squad. If my mother would have let me bleach my hair I would have done it. I literally made her iron my hair for years to make it stick straight. She did let me use a hair relaxer once and it burned my hair so badly I never did that again. I wasn't angry about my ethnic background, just my hair DNA.

I wonder which kids (of any race) would chose if they had to pick between a thin black doll and fat white doll? Anyone know of any studies?

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@Green Witch,

No. But I think fat trumps race.

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@Green Witch,

Quote:

So do you ever kick yourself in the balls from having your knee jerk so quickly?

Why don't you try to actually comprehend what people are writing? You might find you are on the same side as they are.

Excellent advice, Green Witch.

[makes a note to add molasses to sarcasm so it drips]

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@snood,

I don't know, I only have anecdotal evidence, extremely anecdotal in that it is about one person. As you know, Snood, my niece's parents were a woman from a tribal village in Africa and an irish-american man; she was raised by both of them for a short time, one or the other for different periods, and me when I had the opportunity, as an aunt. For various reasons having to do with the money and personality of the parents, she didn't have many toys as a child. Me, the thrift store maven, started buying her black/brown dolls when I found them in those shops. She was very keen on them for a year or two and then moved on to the preteens and other interests. I don't remember getting her a 'white' doll at any point, probably because she liked the first black doll so much. Her friends, that I knew of, were of several different groups. As a teen and now adult, she is most attracted to 'mixed' people as partners, the more mixed the more interesting.

I haven't been in a toy store in eons. Do 'mixed race' dolls/toys have any presence in the stores?

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@Letty,

Letty wrote:

boomer, when I was just a wee thing, I asked for and got a rubber dolly similar to this one.

You made me remember!!! I demanded two black dolls as a little kid!

I can see them now. I had completely forgotten that. I bet, in 50's Australia, they were bloody hard to find, too. I wonder where my parents got them from? I also wonder why, in particular, I wanted them.

One was a very small one, which was a little girl. The other was a larger baby doll.

Wouldn't it be fun if you could go back and ask your little self about why she did some stuff?

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@dlowan,

I think you are correct. I vaguely recall sometime I saw on PBS where they showed children pictures of other children and asked them to chose who they would like to be friends with based on the pictures. In each case the picture of the fat child was the last one chosen and race didn't seem to be an issue. I Googled around but can't find a link.

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@dlowan,

No, I think thin trumps race - my daughter (again the younger one) has mentioned about being fat.

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@Linkat,

I took dlowan's comment to mean fat was the least desirable trait. I think kids of all races worry about how much they weigh. Fear of fat knows no border lines.

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I've got fairer skin than most white people.

As a teenager, most of my friends were Italian girls.
During the summer, we'd go to the beach and they'd get all tan, while I just burned red, then immediately faded back to white. Some of the girls would get darker than many black people who have lighter skin.

I felt so ugly and self conscious next to them. All white and (in my mind) sickly looking. Not exotic and brown. It seemed that the boys liked tans on girls better too. Other (white) people would ask me "why don't you get out in the sun more and get some color?"

Am I comparing my plight with discrimination with (and among) black people?
No.
But it's no fun looking like this....

http://www.herbalgranny.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/freckles.jpg

When everyone around you looks like this...

Oh, my sis-in-law?
Half cherokee.
Man, did she tan.

Honestly?

I thought that those girls who were tan = good
Pale freckled skin like mine = bad

Then I got over it.

my sis-in-law died of skin cancer when she was in her mid thirties.

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@boomerang,

I posted a similar observation last year.

http://able2know.org/topic/136397-1

maporsche wrote:

So I'm in Target this weekend, and I'm browsing through the toy isle looking for new Star Wars items. I look over to the Wrestling figure section and most of the figures are sold out. Except for literally 18 versions of a black female wrestler, which didn't appear to be popular items.

I asked the person in the isle, who was black, why they ordered so many of these figurines if they weren't popular, and she replied that they order more black figures than white ones so that there is always a black figure on the shelf so that they are not accused of being biased towards white toys. They've apparently received numerous complaints when they had the old policy and the black figures were sold out; so now instead, they are the only figures on the shelf.

I thought it was interesting.

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@snood,

Sad to say there was a study about this and little black girls chose white dolls over black dolls...and said because they were "cleaner" and "prettier." My class was really surprised. We assumed it would be the opposite. I don't know if there have been studies that found differently. I only heard about the one...in diversity class.

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@Green Witch,

Green Witch wrote:

I took dlowan's comment to mean fat was the least desirable trait. I think kids of all races worry about how much they weigh. Fear of fat knows no border lines.

Bingo!

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@dlowan,

Ah, I read it the opposite - meaning that fat trumps because it is better - well I tend to think differently than most people I am a bit backwards.

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@Linkat,

But it does need to be taken into account that what is considered 'fat' in some cultures is not considered to be 'fat' in others. In the African American culture in which I taught - a well-padded and voluptuous physique which many American white people might consider to be 'fat' or 'overweight' or 'chubby' is something to be aspired to. In fact, 'skinny' is the derogatory term or condition to be avoided. I've many, many times heard young black men say, 'Ewww, what do you see in her -she's skinny - bony....' but then when they're talking about someone I would consider plump or chubby they say with obvious relish and delight - 'Damn - she's THICK- she's fine!'

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Adriana gets which ever baby doll she wants. She's chosen white dolls and black dolls. I don't care. Some of the white babies are u-g-l-y and some of the black babies are u-g-l-y.

I am trying my best to raise my daughter to look beyond superficial things like hair and skin. We all need to work with what God gave us to look OUR best. Not the best someone else can look. She needs to know that all of us hate something about us. I hate my pale sickly skin. I'd kill for shewolfs complexion. Personally, I think that curly outta control "black woman's" hair is pretty. White people spend tons of money trying to get that look. And even more to be tan!

I think that people need to get over it. White and black. We all want to be something we're not in some way or another and the sooner everyone realizes that, the better off we'll be. You hate your hair. I hate my nose. You hate your skin color, I hate my skin color.

Yes, there are much different backgrounds to why people feel a certain way about certain attributes but the bottom line is that we are all insecure. We are all in this one together.

The black guy and the girls: the get no action action figures?

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