Doll choices piss me off....!

[bliss_eternal]

I'm watching QVC Christmas in July. There's a doll on, that dh and I thought might be cool for our niece. Get this, it comes in blonde, brunette and African American. That's it... no other options. No Asian doll, no latina doll, no doll that has an olive or beige complexion. :eyes:

And of course the African American doll is brown with brown hair. Excuse me, but African Americans come in MORE than one shade! WTH?! And what about children that are biracial or multiracial? Our niece is biracial--none of the dolls on this show even look like her...

:mad:

When are manufacturers going to face the reality that our world is diverse and they are leaving out an entire community of children? The world is growing more diverse, not less so--yet manufacturers continue to create items that reflect "their impression" of the world. So I guess all black people are brown, none are yellow, or beige, or olive or even tan--and all caucasians are blonde or brunette and nothing else exists in our world according to this company...

:wtf:

[Catherine Vincent]

1. I know what you mean.

The manufacturers are just lazy. I think they figure the whites would stick with either blone or brunette. The Asian/Hispanic would stick with Brunette and the Blacks with stick with Black doll..in other words, whichwever is closest to their shade. Of course I would want a doll of all shades.

[bliss_eternal]

2. Thanks, cat_girl...

I guess it also bothers me because it reinforces the idea that there is one way an African American should look. I don't look that way, and got a lot of grief because of it unfortunately.

A guy I knew once told me, I wasn't marriage material for him because he wanted his children to "look black"...whatever that means. :eyes: Of course he was ignorant, and had bought into the idea that one must look and act a certain way to be a particular ethnicity, anything short of that is "acting or looking white." Well excuse me, but no one can do anything about the way they are born.

It saddens me that the toy industry reinforces these ideas--that there is one way to look and be representative or a particular ethnic group. It's so limiting and it's very damaging.

:(

[bliss_eternal]

3. Oooh, Check this out!

It expresses an aspect of what I was trying to say. I'm so pleased to see someone addressing this issue.

Sunday, February 05, 2006
Interesting Web Siting and My Opinion on Such

I was at a biracial blog yesterday and saw a posting where a mother thought it was crazy that people asked another mother what color doll she preferred to give her daughter of color. Her response to the mother suggested that she thought a doll was just a doll and that it was not important what color the doll was. I immediately thought about all of the expert opinions I sought when developing DollsLikeMe.com (there were 14) and all of the research reports I read about the low levels of self esteem in girls of color. I reflected on what I have learned about self-esteem in children of color (particularly girls) over the last couple of years and how giving white dolls to younger girls of color actually jump-starts the problem (several articles on this topic can be found at DollsLikeMe.com). I also considered how well-meaning, but ignorant, parents cause little girls of color to grow up wanting to look and be white; hate their yellow, tan or brown skin; and despise their thick and wavy, coily-curled, or heavy straight black hair. Then I thought about how mothers like this contribute to the problem the rest of us are trying to solve.

Taken from:

http://www.dollslikeme.blogspot.com/

:hi:

[yorkiemommie1]

4. Love the dolls!

I got my daughter as many types of dolls as I could get ahold of. She has so many cabbage patch kids of all different colors as well as vinyl dolls.

now if she would only get married and give me a granddaughter so i could get these Dolls Like Me!

[bliss_eternal]

5. LOL! Aren't they adorable?

I'm sure that's just what your daughter wants to hear...(not) lol. :rofl:

[AspenRose]

6. Here's another site

http://www.real-kidz.com/