To chuck this "toy" in the bin??

[ginmakesitallok]

DMIL brought DDs presents from her hols as usual. DD1 got a doll and a key ring, DD2 got a Golly (!!) DMIL thought it was lovely and that as DD2 "doesn't have a gollywog she'll like this". DP let DD2 take it with her to SILs house for tea - lots of questions asked of MIL "Where on earth did you get it?", "Why did you get it?", "Isn't it rascist?". DMIL insists its "not rascist, its just a gollywog, she likes it.."

I feel uncomfortable having it in the house - should I just bin it???

yes, bin it before she gets attached to it

How old are dds? Have a chat about golliwogs and racist stereotypes.

Euphemia, I see what you're trying to say but there's more to it than that. If your DD saw, say, a t-shirt or some stationery with the Playboy bunny symbol on, would you be happy for her to have it, given that she's not likely to know it's the logo of a soft-porn company?

OP, I hate throwing away toys, especially if they are presents and if the intention was kind, but I would get rid of the golliwog and tell your DD you'll buy her something else to make up for it.

Euphemia is right. I never realised gollies were meant to be people at all until I was 10 or 11. I thought they were fantasy beings like fairies or elves.

Actually, I can see Fluffy's point of view as well, though.

Does the girl actually like the golly? Can it be banished to the top of the wardrobe safely?

I had golliwogs growing up and it never meant anything to me. We are not a racist family and I hate racism.

It may need to be 'lost' unless you want to confront your DP or MIL. These kind of things happen surprisingly often on buses, in playgrounds and in coffee shops.

It's just a toy.

i love gollis

we used to collect them from the jam jars, probably worth quite a bit now

I know lots of people don't realise the backstory that comes with golliwogs and may have played with them quite innocently. (My Gran gave me a 'Golly' money box - I never even knew they were called Gollywogs.) But the history is deeply unpleasant. So I wouldn't let ds have one. And if MIL gave him one, I'd chuck it away and get him something else.

What if she innocently uses the 'wog' part of the name in public?

Nothing wrong with a golly
Tho a gollywog is wrong.

I always thought they were racist too until I dated a black man whose daughter had one. He was very uppity about their origins and felt that white people had taken them and labelled them as racist when they were originally made by black women for their children to play with. I read this book and educated myself about them:
www.golliwogg.co.uk/books/buygolly.htm

However despite all of that I still think I would feel uneasy giving one to a white child.

Golliwogs were around for years before people started using the term 'wog' as a derogatory term.

i think my kids still have one in the cupboard somewhere, they loved it

My OH is black. He is a man you could never accuse of having a chip on his shoulder or playing the race card (or whatever trite phrase is usually trotted out).

But he hates Gollywogs or Gollies. The affect they have on him is quite amazing as he is a very laid back person.

I suspect it has a fair bit to do with growing up in the 70s and 80s.

I would bin it.

Toy apartheid? Only give gollys to black children and Barbies to whites with blonde hair?

AKiss - that's a site that sells gollywogs. Their story about the origins of the dolls is hardly going to be unbiased or accurate.

Although to be fair I've just checked and they do say, of the original story:

"The story begins with Peg and Sara Jane, on the loose in a toy shop, encountering "a horrid sight, the blackest gnome." The little black "gnome" wore bright red trousers, a red bow tie on a high collared white shirt, and a blue swallow-tailed coat. He was a caricature of American black faced minstrels - in effect, the caricature of a caricature. She named him Golliwogg.

The Golliwogg was based on a Black minstrel doll that Upton had played with as a small child in New York. The then-nameless "Negro minstrel doll" was treated roughly by the Upton children. Upton reminiscenced: "Seated upon a flowerpot in the garden, his kindly face was a target for rubber balls..., the game being to knock him over backwards. It pains me now to think of those little rag legs flying ignominiously over his head, yet that was a long time ago, and before he had become a personality.... We knew he was ugly!"

AKiss - that's really interesting! I always thought most black people found them offensive.

I had a golly as a child. I also grew up saying - like my parents - things like "that's Irish" when something was odd or stupid. Not intentionally racist, just thoughtless social conditioning. But the sort of thing that when you understand it, is unacceptable nonetheless.

Edam: fair enough. As I say I always thought they were racist too until I dated a black man who bought one for his daughter. I'm sure he didn't buy the book from that particular website, I just googled the book and linked to the first site I found it on. He could well be wrong about the history of gollys but he did seem very well read about them.

From the publication of Florence Upton's book in 1895, people used the term 'golliwog' to refer to black people. The most recent public example being Carol Thatcher using the term about the french tennis player.

I bet no-one slated Enid Blyton for writing a book about three golliwogs. I used to love that book :)

I bet no-one slated Enid Blyton for writing a book about three golliwogs. I used to love that book :)