The Golliwog

Barbie dolls are alright.

My black dolly, called Susie, had her eyes looking out sideways, so I had to sit her sideways on to the blackboard.

I didn't actually like my golliwog much.

Bit weird.

Right. Firstly Jacey has said it very well, it's not how we feel about golliwogs but about how Afro/Caribbeans feel about golliwogs. But sorry I think someone in their 20's would know what a white stick means - she was just a nasty young woman. You are all saying how in the past you had gollys, you loved them, had no racist views of them. What I'm trying to get across is that now that we know, we should object to them. Bags nothing wrong with a black Barbie, or a black doll or a chinese doll. My black and Chinese friends are delighted with them, about time they say something for their children to relate to in the doll world. A golly was an unpleasant caricature emphasing the black look with the mad hair, big eyes and large lips. There is information on the web but try Wikipedia it gives an excellent history of golliwogs. Just remember it's not you, unless you are black, that is offended it is your black neighbour/countryman. My daughter has actually contacted the Moderator at the university to have the round-robin removed. I'm also not asking you to bin your golly that you have from the past - perhaps keeping it will remind you of our past history. harrigan on both your comments, really?

Ah, since my very recent thread an unexpected visitor has arrived with some books for me to read. I've shown her this thread and she has said please feel free to ask HER any questions about this issue. She's staying for supper.

dorset

Racism is inherent in some people, and not in others.
It was always thus and always will be.

Political correctness cannot change that.

now look on wikepedia he was more then a rag dog - it was how he was depicted - if he'd been an ordinary doll no problem. My American white and Black friends find it extraordinary that people still want gollys in this day and age. Am I flogging a dead horse here? - friend thinks I should give up. Do none of you have black friend you can ask?

I notice you didn't respond to my suggestion, dorsetpennt. I understand that you feel strongly about this matter, but shouldn't we leave it to those who feel they are entitled to feel aggrieved to report such things?

Johanna just saw your post. You're so right but I find it upsetting and that is my problem, I just care too much and think other people should to.

I'm pretty sure I didn't connect my golliwog with a person. Alright, there weren't many black people around in those days where I lived, but I just sensed that no-one actually looked like that. I thought he was a species apart.

I must admit that on holiday last year, when we went in a gift shop, I was a bit shocked to see golliwogs for sale. Bit archaic. We (me and DD) put it down to the shop keeper being a bit of a fuddy duddy.

Having said that, there is a posh teddy bear shop in a market town near us who have golliwogs for sale.

Hmm.

I'm surprised children like them. They are ugly. Have never been tempted to buy one for grandsons.

Yes. I agree with You!

Bad taste.

You've changed your tune, jingl!

Phew! Did you hear my brain cogs working there?!

I've thunk.

dorset
Your American friends are years ahead of us.!!!!!!

Anagram do you never stand up for something you feel is wrong - do we just say it's nothing to do with me - that only black people should object. Have I got that bit wrong? Sorry if that isn't what you mean but I'm an old protest marcher so you get the picture?

Dorset yes it is an offensive toy, in this day and age. It's offensive to black parents and parents of black children.

My best friend in primary school was mixed-race black ... the only child of colour in the whole school if I remember rightly. She was often called 'Gollywog' and because she had green eyes, 'Greengolly'. It made her cry.

A black doll or barbie is a wholly different concept - its purpose is not to make fun of a child but to give young black girls something to identify with.

No, a bear can't be demeaned by a teddy wearing a smoking jacket but a black child can be demeaned when confronted with a grotesque caricature.

I don't think any of us would want to humiliate a child, would we?

Maybe Dorset is trying to say that a golliwog has a subliminal message?

Offensive, yes. We should empathise!

I wonder how a Medway moll would go down?

dorset I agree with what you are saying; although I loved my golly and my black doll I don't think we questioned racist attitudes in those days. Looking back the golly certainly represented a caricature of a black person in what now seems an unpleasant and paternalistic manner. As for my black doll, named by my mother 'Dinah' (and how stereotypical was that?) she was certainly a token and not just another doll. I don't blame my parents' generation as they did not know any different but I do think times have changed for the better and these toys no longer have a place in today's society (but maybe in our hearts, as we are after all the products of an earlier age!)

I agree too and only last Saturday I was very surprised to see Golliwogs for sale in a local shop. I wondered if anyone who worked in the shop has voiced concerns when they were put on display and if they realised that a lot of their customers would be offended.

Nobody looks like Barbie either, black or white. Why is it OK to have an unpleasant doll caricature of a white person but not to have what I think is not an unpleasant doll caricature of a black person? Surely saying one is OK and the other isn't is the racist bit?

I understand that some people think gollies are offensive but I still don't really understand why. Gollies are not horrible caricatures. They are nice caricatures. That's why Roberstons the jam makers adopted the golly as a mascot.

I understand that the term wog came to be offensive. I also understand from Wiki that it has been re-adopted by some people, including black people.

Sorry, but I just don't get it. I skimmed through the Wiki history and it confirmed that yes, the golly doll is a caricature, but not a nasty one. Surely most dolls are caricatures of one sort or another?

By the way, eleven year old DD doesn't know what a golliwog is. I asked her. She said no. She didn't ask me any questions.

She has some Japanese caricature dolls.