Golliwog Yay or Nay?
At the recent International Toy Fair, I noticed alot of Golliwog dolls are now available. This particular one is a miniature, but there were many versions of all sizes. Most, if not all, of the companies producing them are European. The reps I spoke to said they are very popular in England, Germany and the Netherlands. I asked if they had heard anything negative from American buyers, and they said yes, they had.
From a visual standpoint, a black doll is obviously very beautiful, but Golliwogs have a very unsavory, racist past in the US. Am I too old fashioned? Are these simply a relic, not to be taken seriously? Are they now just amusing and a toy?
Here's a comprehensive history.
Feel free to weigh in with an opinion in the comments. So far, these tiny ones have not brought any angry responses from visitors to the shop, but I wonder... People are actually fascinated. Hmm.
posted by staceyjoy at 10:30 AM
13 Comments:
he is so tiny that he's scarily cute. but i just can't deal with the samboness of golliwogs. i got some great vintage craft books recently that i had to give away because i got to golliwog how-to pages that i could not take.
on a positive note...that lego knitting machine!!!!
I agree, they're too full of bad juju. Thanks for your opinion!
The original Sambo was supposed to be Indian... FWIW. The story itself isn't that bad... I worked in a bookstore where we carried it, and I was always hiding it behind other things, and made a point of reading it at one point. It's the set of Golliwog illustrations in one particular edition, and their racist associations, that has made the Sambo story non-grata. The story itself has imperialistic associations if you really take the trouble to deconstruct it AND the environment it was written in, but in reading... honestly, it's a fairly innocuous children's story.
I don't know what to make of this doll. I think it's adorable. I don't have any association with those caricatures - they're before my time. BUT I KNOW THEY'RE LOADED, so I'd shy away from them, and (as a white woman) away from commodifying blackness.
In other countries, where the racial issues are not less present, but less loaded, it's not as big a deal. Check out a book called "True Brits" to see how there are traditions that would be considered terribly racist in the US in certain small British towns - they seem to mostly be performed thoughtlessly, but without much malice. In comparison to the US, Britain has a very small number of black people - only about 1/100th of the population, IIRC, and often of Caribbean extraction. If these images and items are popular in the UK, it's most likely because of ignorance more than hate. Ten to one, it's "Oh, I like that!" divorced from most of the associations.
When I saw the pic, before reading the commentary, I thought that you must have found the little doll in a Japanese company's booth. There's no stigma at all attached to those images in Japan. For a long time there was a toothpaste with a golliwog mascot, but I think they might have changed the mascot in the 90s.
The other thing is that supposedly a lot of black families collect this kind of thing, as long as it's more folksy and not virulently hateful in execution.
So, I've just done a brain dump of all I know on this topic, and I don't know if I've said anything of use. In the US, I would tread carefully with this kind of thing - not necessarily because you or the makers mean anything disrespectful by it - of course not. But because it might be mistaken for such. I think this one in particular is a really cute little doll, and it's a shame that it has ugliness attached to it by association.
They definately are not popular in the UK, I'm not sure where in Europe they are popular, I think the reps were lying! Brits (me being a brit included) are mega uptight about stuff like that. Cute doll though!
Thanks for the realistic UK POV. Reps lying? There's a concept! :->
They are absolutely, definitely not
popular in The Netherlands. To be more specific: the picture on your blog is the first time I ever saw a golliwog.....Being Dutch as dutch can be: I have my doubts about your reps!
I have no idea why people are trying to sell these brand new. Lying, obviously, too. Weird. I can see collecting the old ones.
My husband is from Ireland and had golliwogs as toys as a child. I was mortified to hear it. They definitely have negative connotations for me, mainly because I grew up around a bunch of racist white people who had such things.
I would hesitate to guess they still have negative connotations in the UK, as I was just watching an episode of Magnum PI (I can't believe I just admitted that) where an English character referred to a woman as a "wog", which I took to be a shortening of golliwog.
I think the golly is fantastic,
never had one as a child but have some now.I don't think they are racist at all I think it's the wog bit on the end that sounds racist,If you just say golly or gollies then it doesn@t sound racist at all.
What's the fuss?
We are all in it together; Black, White, Yellow, Red.... all the colours in the rainbow.....have you noticed that all the gollies have all the colours too!
What's interesting for me is that all the gollies have smiles...it must count for something!!
In the UK the golly is seen as taboo these days because some people take it to be a caricature of a black person or a black-and-white minstrel. There is, however, a long history (over 100 years - longer than the teddy bear has been around) of gollys who were much loved children's toys.
The golly image has, unfortunately, been used to portray negative stereotypes, such as being thieves, that were associated with black people many decades ago. If you look at a golly though, it doesn't look like a black person - nobody looks like that! They're just cute dolls.
We could have the same debate about Barbie - is she a sexist caricature of a white woman, or is she an innocent children's toy?
I think you have to be aware that some people may be offended by the golly image because of how it was used in the past, but also be sensible - people can be offended by anything. If you take the time to read up on the history of gollys you will be able to provide people with an informed discussion if they leap to the conclusion that you are racist.
this is cute!!??? how its so ugly. and yes i believe this is a huge no no and if i saw anyone holding them or giving them to their child i would think a whole lot diffrently about that person. i'm from the uk and areas out side of london you have to be really careful of being brown myself. although alot of people outside of london still use words like half cast ect they don't mean it to be mean its just all thay know
GOSH seriously, i dont understand what is wrong with golliwogs, black people don't actually think white people are being racist by this. but its the British government going mad! i mean for gods sake banning 'baa baa black sheep' because its too racist for children to sing this. instead its, 'baa baa rainbow sheep' how stupid it this? theres no such thing, instead your gonna get 'mummy what does a rainbow sheep look like?' 'errmm, the government changed it because singing about black sheep is racist .
YEH cause black sheep are clearly racist!!
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