The saga of Polly Pocket
My mom came over yesterday to take Noah for a sleepover and she brought a Polly Pocket set for Madison. Both the dolls were white and my mom said she’d look for brown-skinned Pollies and didn’t find any so just got these. I’m kinda rabid about getting Madison brown-skinned toys so I shot off to Target to find a couple of “ethnic” (that catch-all phrase that means “not white” in toy industry language) Pollies to switch out with the white ones.
I was not so successful.
The only not-alabaster Polly I found was this one (this is the best image I could find of her) only the one I found has stick-straight brown hair. (I bought two to switch out both white ones.) Shani, as she is called, is the stand in for all children with a brownish tint to their skin. She is not dark enough to be absolutely not-white (although in looking for her image it looks like in the Polly Pocket straight-to-DVD
I feel so furious and sad about it.
Someone said to me, “Well, don’t you think she should have all kinds of dolls and not just black ones?” Yes, I do but I think they should be in the minority. She has the white cabbage patch that was Noah’s (along with the African American one that was also his) and the giant Raggedy Ann & Andy pair that were mine (along with the African American Ann) and she has a Mandy because Lucia has one. But most of her dolls have brown skin of varying shades and I make an effort to try to keep it that way, thus the midnight Target run for Pollies.
Sometimes I hear, “Aren’t you making too big of a deal out of this?” Ummm, NO. NO I AM NOT. (The only people who ask this are — surprise surprise — WHITE people. You know, people who never have to say, “Gosh, I feel underrepresented by the world and it feels like I don’t exist sometimes!”)
Madison is a minority in her own home already and any time we turn on the tv, pass a billboard or go to the toy aisle she gets the strong message that people who look like her are a deviation of some corporation’s manufactured “norm”. She gets the not-so-subtle message that she is an after-thought to what’s been deemed typical. According to this site, thirty percent of the US population are not represented by the plethora of white Polly Pocket dolls but you’d never know it to visit the toy aisle.
I mean, look: this is supposed to keep the little black girls feeling good about themselves?
I have to go because my beautiful, adorable, fabulous little girl wants me to play with her. She probably wants to play with the racist Polly Pockets. Great.
I imagine those people have never read “White Privilege: Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack,” or if they did/would, would be one of those who would:
~ completely miss the point
~ would roll their eyes at it and say how nowadays, it’s white people who are the minority (I’ve had people actually tell me that)
~ would wonder why I/you care so much since we’re white
People can be so obtuse if something doesn’t affect them personally. ARGH!!!
““Well, don’t you think she should have all kinds of dolls and not just black ones?—
White people get dolls to look like them. Why should people of color get dolls that reflect our demographics?
This is such a closed issue in my mind, meaning I think there’s no room for discussion on the importance of having dolls and toys available in the marketplace that reflect the race of everyone here is , and it makes me sad to know that there are still companies who would rather cut corners. But it doesn’t surprise me, because this is business.
At this point I’m so out of touch with toys that I have no suggestions to offer, but that wouldn’t be the point anyway. Polly Pocket is huge, their manufacturer should certainly be able to do a better job.
My cousin was probably 4 or 5 when she decided she wanted a “brown doll. Happy to oblige my aunt found herself between a rock and a hard place when the only “brown” doll to be had was…Barbie. Barbie ended up going home with them.
Said cousin is 20 now. I guess things have changed somewhat, but obviously not enough.
Linley thinks she had one a few years ago named Sasha who had a Princess Leia hairstyle that was black. She loved her, so did the dog who chewed her up. She says to go to Polly Pocket dot com or everything girl and maybe you can find one. Mind you this is all from a nine year-old, so I have no idea how reliable all of this is.
My kids always had “ethnic” dolls. Mallory’s cabbage patches were all black and asian. Her first AG’s were Addie and Josephina. It was my liberal guilt. My blue-eyed blonde didn’t have one doll that looked like her, but I figured she saw them everywhere else. And eventually other people gave them to her as gifts.
I can remember from those days, there wasn’t much selection. A token doll out of each line was about it.
This thing with the Polly Pockets made me crazy! My nieces, whose mom is white and dad is black, were really into them a few years back and I’m pretty sure, though I could be wrong, that there wasn’t even a Shani then. And even if there was, it was just ONE Shani in a sea of little blonde- and red-headed dolls, and part of the fun of Polly Pockets is getting a bunch of them and then changing them in and out of all the various little rubbery clothes and shoes. Every now and then I’d take them to the store for a new Polly and we’d search the racks in vain for just one or two dolls that looked like them to accompany the dozens that looked NOTHING like them (They were open to playing with BOTH but I at least felt like there should be SOME dark-skinned representation in their dolls!) It was really frustrating and I am puzzled that toymakers wouldn’t be more forward-thinking. This is, after all, 2007, not 1907.
We haven’t arrived at Polly Pocket yet (thank goodness) — obsessions here still with Snap n Style dolls and babies (both happily diverse) and Little Mommy dolls (the same). Our next big thing, though, is buying the aa Loving Family dolls — each set has two family members, so our plan is for her to have white parent figures, black parent figures, white and black children and arrange them in whatever configuration suits her play needs.
An aa friend told me after the “brown Cinderella fight” that some of it is just inevitable, that I’ll have to let her have the cc dolls and talk, and talk and talk about it . . .
We have the same issue with Baby R. He is of Pacific Islander descent and there is NOTHING for him. No toys, no story books, nothing depicting a PI man.
In SF we can find Asian toys but they aren’t quite the same thing. It would be great to find a toy maker or publisher the reflects a multitude of ethnicities.
I feel your pain. My children are Hispanic, and I’ve always tried to find dolls for my daughter that look like her. Unfortunately, she’s deep into her Disney princess phase, and almost all that crap is white. I was glad when she discovered Jasmine, and I was more than happy to get her the Jasmine doll when she asked for it. We’ve also got a couple of brown Barbies, even though I tried really hard to ban Barbie from the house.
Check out the Groovy Girls (http://store.manhattantoy.com) for a nice line of dolls with lots of variety. There are lots of skin tones and hair colors/styles to choose from, and the dolls themselves are quite unobjectionable.
Just an FYI- Groovy Girls used to come in a variety of colors and genders and outfits when they were in the hippie dippie toy stores. I don’t know if now that they are in mass market stores if it’s the same.
I’m white, and I get why you are trying so hard. My mom went to great lengths to make sure that I had African American and Asian barbies, and that I read books about other ethnic groups as well. We lived in a small, very WASP town with no diversity, and she wanted us to be prepared for the larger world. I’m really glad she made the effort. All kids benefit from having exposure to different groups and being reminded that not everyone is the same. I really wish the toy people would realize this instead of acting like the “different” dolls are just for that particular ethnic group. When Madison is slightly older, the American Girls line, while pricey, has a number of different ethnic groups represented.
Madison does have a groovy girl (Jessica bought her one when we flew out to Tacoma) but it’s just not the same as Polly Pocket.
The hard part is that I can control which doll sets she plays with only so far and then sooner or later someone is going to get her (or she’s going to see) a set that isn’t going to recognize her. I just hate that it happened at three. I was hoping to avoid it all until preschool at the very least. (sigh)
When my now teens and mid-twenties girls were little, they had white, tan, and brown baby dolls, Barbie dolls, Little Tykes ‘people’ (Asian, Black, and White), and Fisher-Price people of many shades. My mom had a beautiful baby doll with short, curly Black hair, and dark skin. It had a special place in her family room, and was a favorite toy. My youngest had a doll with the same caramel shade of skin that she does, the wavy-curly long hair, and even the face shape to match hers; she got it from her birthmother.
They were more into drawing, creating, doing experiments, and playing outside than playing with their dolls. Their stuffed animals got the most attention. Even with their dolls sitting nearby, they would rather take spools of thread and make ‘families’ out of them!
I think it’s important that all kids have dolls that look like they do. On the other hand, if they are biracial or Black in a White family, I think it’s important that they have dolls that look like the rest of their family, too. Kids identify with their White parents (and birthparents) and should feel good about that, too.
Thanks for reminding me to broaden my very much unthinking mind about these issues.
I have to admit, the only dolls of color in our (all white) house is Dora. But I’m going to recify that.
My only excuse is my not thinking about it and that makes me sad.
Buddy is getting into legos now and I realized we have a 20 gallon tub of legos left over from Buster’s childhood and not one of the zillion little men (no women) is anything but lily white. WTF? We have a tub of duplos too and a couple of the men there are hispanic-looking. Hello!
[...] article about a new line of multicultural dolls — timely given that Dawn has recently written a few posts about the difficulty of finding appropriate ethnic dolls for her daughter. And also of the importance of doing so. [...]
Hannah’s not really in to dolls, but I try to make sure they’re not all white. I might need to score her one from Dolls Like Me for her upcoming birthday, or another Groovy Girl (along with *cough* stickers–she decorated her grandparents this weekend, BTW).
WRT Polly Pockets, I totally get why you want them not to be white, but honestly? Polly Pockets are a PITA anyway. I would vote for zero Polly Pockets.
Yup, PP is a PITA. Ella got one last year when McD’s had them in Happy Meals and OMG, I couldn’t get that thing in the trash fast enough.
As for Dolls of Color, I remember one of my fave Barbie’s was a knock off who had dark hair like me. Even just that made me love her more.
That’s why I’m so happy for Dora. Ella looks like her, so she has a doll that looks just her. How kewl is that? Althou, then folks see Ella and see Dora and I’m not so sure how well I feel about that. Now isn’t that F’d up?
Polly came to our house for a short visit after the kid’s 5th birthday. Best argument for ‘open the gifts later, not at the party’ one could ever want, was MNSHO.
Fed her accessories to the vaccuum and followed up by letting her soak in the pool for a month. We now shoot our giant water cannons at Polly and some Breyer horses as they float past on kickboards.
The Breyer horses are a real problem. The kid and her BFF are the cutest little English riders you ever did see. We refuse to buy the clothes from the all-white-models catalog or the Breyer horses with riders all of whom are white…because we’re the meanest moms in the world.
Consider this your advance warning: The issue this year, going into second grade, is whether she can spend the money she gets in allowance or earns around the house on dolls that act and dress like her, on their horses, who also are all white. When I figure out the right answer to that, I’ll let you know. Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?
hi, the polly pockets have been recalled, the lead paint thing this morning. YOu should see if yours is included, then you can get rid of it!
You’re kidding! Can you send me the link so I can send it to my mom and sister?
http://www.mattel.com/safety/us/
PP’s issue is magnets.
Careful…the CEO of Mattel wants us know that he cares, so a video immediately starts.
Awww, rats. These aren’t the magnet ones. But they’re up on top of the ‘fridge and she hasn’t asked for ‘em yet today.
Yes, but you could be super cautious and toss ‘em all! *evil cackle*
[...] I wrote on my blog about trying to find an African American Polly Pocket for my 3-year old daughter. My efforts were only slightly successful – I did find a brown-skinned [...]
I run a children’s charity. Year after year, I watch white people give black kids white barbies for Christmas…not just white barbies, white princess barbies…..not even a good thing for a white kid!!! A friend was going to give me a collection of Polly P’s to bring to children we support in St Lucia…but I just found out, they are all white…leading me to google racist Polly pockets…….who knew???
Michelle, the bright spot is the Fisher-Price Loving Family dollhouse — the Mommy doll and little sister both have beautiful, crinkly hair in pretty styles. It’s harder to find them donated (I scour thrift stores to find them to pass on) but you can get ‘em on ebay sometimes.