interesting

[flea]

Casper got her first Barbie yesterday (choosing that over Hannah Montana jibbetz for her knock-off crocs), courtesy of Grandma. She chose a black Barbie. Now, the Barbie is Halle Berry black, not Alek Wek black - I can't tell if she's got the same face mold as white Barbie (not having any other Barbie to compare) but her features are pretty caucasoid, her skin is coppery, and she has waist-length straight hair. (Also, she's got ACTUAL FEET, and much less boobage than I remember on the Barbies of my childhood, which I gather are brand-wide changes.)

Casper also got to choose her own doll in January or so, when mr. flea accidentally broke one of her little dolls, and she picked a new Polly Pocket. Interestingly, she also chose the black Polly Pocket.

I bought myself a black Sasha doll when I was 11 or 12, but I think I was already enough aware of race at that time to be all White Liberal Girl about buying myself a black doll. Casper's too young for that, I'm pretty sure. Anyway, I'm fascinated that twice in a row now she's chosen the black doll.

What about you? Multi-ethnic doll collection?

Comments

[larisa57.livejournal.com]

When I was about three or four, I told my mother that I wanted a black Cabbage Patch Kid. She said OK and took me to the store to pick one out. When we got up to pay for it, the cashier looked at me, looked at the doll, and asked, "But don't you want a pretty doll?" (I don't actually remember any of this, but my mother's told me this story. That doll wasn't ever my favorite -- I already had a favorite doll, and no doll could be better than her -- but I did play with her a lot.)

One thing that always annoyed me about white dolls was that they just about always had light hair, light eyes, and very pale skin. Even as a little kid, I was acutely aware that my skin was darker than most other white peoples', and I didn't like that all the dolls were also much lighter than me. I think I had a few dolls with brown eyes, and maybe one with light brown hair, but it wasn't until I got the American Girl Samantha doll that I had one with dark eyes AND dark hair. And dark curly hair, even!

(I have no idea why I was so aware of skin shade that young, but I definitely was. I remember once at summer camp -- this had to have been the summer I was either 4 or 5 -- a bunch of girls were doing that thing where everybody puts an arm out and they compare to see who has the best tan. I put my arm in, and was clearly darker than the other girls, and they told me that no, I didn't count, it wasn't fair because I started out darker.)