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I was in a local toy store the other day trying to get my daughter a last minute gift for the solstice. Our budget this year is next to nothing so I didn't have money to buy online, but I figured I might find something in the local big box store. I've been looking for a baby doll for DD for a while now and I never find a nice one. I got her a Waldorf one a while back that was custommade but she cared nothing for it and our dog chewed it up. Sigh.
Anyway, so I was at the store, and there were quite a few new dolls in our budget. But. They. Were. All. White. All of them. Most were bald but the ones that had hair were blonde. (The older Bratz type dolls which I didn't even consider were more diverse.) I even asked a lady if there were any ethnic dolls in the back, and she brought out a black one, saying it was the only one they had. My daughter is part Hispanic, and is a far cry from being full-on black. I know there are black Hispanics, but she's not nearly that dark. She's decidedly in the middle. She has rather dark skin and light brown curls. We're in Florida and there's tons, tons of Hispanic folk around here. And that's not even mentioning Asian dolls. None of those, either. I was floored that all the dolls here would be white.
Normally I wouldn't bat an eye but a few months ago we were in a different store, a more upscale one, and I pointed out a more ethnic looking doll, DD said "no Mommy, I don't want that, she's not as pretty as the one with yellow hair." She is 3. THREE. They were identical other than the skin and hair colors, so its' not like she liked the clothes or something better on the blonde one. We don't watch TV, we stay at home most of the time, her teacher at preschool when she went was Hispanic. I'm not blonde (though I am white skinned) and neither is anyone in my family. Where is she getting the blonde-is-beautiful thing from? Next thing I'm gonna hear that skinny is beautiful too. (And skinny she will never be, her body type is short and muscular and round.)
Even my son said he said my one friend was prettier than both me and my black-skinned friend, because she had yellow hair and blue eyes. Huh? Is this stuff instinctual or something? I've heard in a long-ago anthropology class that pretty much every society elevated light-skinned individuals of whatever race they were. The lighter the skin the higher the status.
Anyway, that was my mini rant. She didn't end up getting any dolls. If I end up getting her one it'll be a pretty one that happens to be ethnic. I don't think it would damage her to play with a doll that didn't look like her, but I think it would be nice if she didn't automatically prefer the blondes. And what's up with that store for not having any ethnic dolls on display? In a minority-dominated area, too?
Anyway, so I was at the store, and there were quite a few new dolls in our budget. But. They. Were. All. White. All of them. Most were bald but the ones that had hair were blonde. (The older Bratz type dolls which I didn't even consider were more diverse.) I even asked a lady if there were any ethnic dolls in the back, and she brought out a black one, saying it was the only one they had. My daughter is part Hispanic, and is a far cry from being full-on black. I know there are black Hispanics, but she's not nearly that dark. She's decidedly in the middle. She has rather dark skin and light brown curls. We're in Florida and there's tons, tons of Hispanic folk around here. And that's not even mentioning Asian dolls. None of those, either. I was floored that all the dolls here would be white.
Normally I wouldn't bat an eye but a few months ago we were in a different store, a more upscale one, and I pointed out a more ethnic looking doll, DD said "no Mommy, I don't want that, she's not as pretty as the one with yellow hair." She is 3. THREE. They were identical other than the skin and hair colors, so its' not like she liked the clothes or something better on the blonde one. We don't watch TV, we stay at home most of the time, her teacher at preschool when she went was Hispanic. I'm not blonde (though I am white skinned) and neither is anyone in my family. Where is she getting the blonde-is-beautiful thing from? Next thing I'm gonna hear that skinny is beautiful too. (And skinny she will never be, her body type is short and muscular and round.)
Even my son said he said my one friend was prettier than both me and my black-skinned friend, because she had yellow hair and blue eyes. Huh? Is this stuff instinctual or something? I've heard in a long-ago anthropology class that pretty much every society elevated light-skinned individuals of whatever race they were. The lighter the skin the higher the status.
Anyway, that was my mini rant. She didn't end up getting any dolls. If I end up getting her one it'll be a pretty one that happens to be ethnic. I don't think it would damage her to play with a doll that didn't look like her, but I think it would be nice if she didn't automatically prefer the blondes. And what's up with that store for not having any ethnic dolls on display? In a minority-dominated area, too?