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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To assume someone who has a gollywog from childhood is racist?

370 replies

InigoTaran · 19/08/2017 00:05

Me and my partner are currently having a discussion about this and he wants to know whether it's true that black people associate gollywogs with racism...?

OP posts:
echt · 19/08/2017 00:06

Your title says one thing, your OP another. Which bit do you want addressed?

MrsOverTheRoad · 19/08/2017 00:08

echt you get the gist surey?

I think they're unaccaptable because black people think that.

That's enough for me.

Orangebird69 · 19/08/2017 00:09

Yabu. I know they're not the done thing now but when I was little, my grandparents had a woollen gollywog doll and I loved it! It was just the little man from the Robertsons marmalade jar in my mind. The specific colour of him didn't actually register. It was just made of black wool.

EnidColeslaw771 · 19/08/2017 00:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

echt · 19/08/2017 00:11

No, I don't get the gist, that's why I asked the question. I'd like to know more about the childhood golliwog scenario.

Also, thinking that black people associate golliwogs with racism does not equate to the golliwog hoarding person being racist. That's why I asked.

ihatethecold · 19/08/2017 00:13

I'm brown. I used to collect gollywog pins from jam jar labels when I was a kid.
I'm not racist!

squoosh · 19/08/2017 00:13

If they displayed them prominently in their home or were keen for their own child to be seen playing with a Gollywog when out and about I'd certainly have my suspicions.

If someone had held on to one for sentimental reasons (gift from a now deceased relative) I wouldn't necessarily assume they were racist.

Golliwogs are most definitely associated with racism though.

BadPolicy · 19/08/2017 00:13

I think it's a big leap from childhood toy to racist. If someone collected them as an adult I would certainly raise an eyebrow, but not one old toy.

ITCouldBeWorse · 19/08/2017 00:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

tethersend · 19/08/2017 00:13

Golliwogs are racist. It's not just black people who think so. Although I'm sure someone will be along soon with tales of how their black friend doesn't think they're racist at all.

Children rarely are.

I'm pretty sure this child didn't agree with the annihilation of 6 million Jewish people, but the book remains pretty racist.

HTH.

To assume someone who has a gollywog from childhood is racist?
WorraLiberty · 19/08/2017 00:14

A simple Google will answer your question about Golliwogs and racism, OP.

You really are asking two different questions here.

echt · 19/08/2017 00:14

Spot on, squoosh.

Notknownatthisaddress · 19/08/2017 00:14
Biscuit
SylviaPoe · 19/08/2017 00:15

The only way that the OP would know if someone else had a golliwog was if they were going around flaunting it, unless she's a cat burglar.

sandgrown · 19/08/2017 00:18

I collected the gollywogs from Robertson's jam jars. I still have a collection of pot gollywogs I sent for. There is no way I associate them with black people and racism. They were just jolly little men who advertised jam and happened to be black.

Liiinoo · 19/08/2017 00:19

I had a much loved gollywog in about 1966. He looked so unlike any of the black people I knew I didn't even realise he was meant to represent a black person.

Roll on 10 years to 76/77 when I was a teenager, my beloved golly had gone the way of most other childhood toys. I had become aware of the racist significance of the doll and have never missed it or sought to replace it. So I do think your DP is wrong - owning a gollywog 50 years ago did not make me a racist, then or now. It was however an indication that I was growing up in a racist society and I thank god for the progress we have made.

mnaab · 19/08/2017 00:21

I have a relative with a gollywog. not an old one but a new(ish) one. they did start doing them again at one point (I can't remember exactly when). this relative has it because they remember gollywogs fondly from their childhood.

I'm not comfirtable with it but this person insists on keeping it

WinterIsComingKnitFaster · 19/08/2017 00:21

A person of age 60+ who still kept their own treasured childhood golly is not necessarily racist. Beyond that the balance of probabilities shifts.

NoqontroI · 19/08/2017 00:21

I've got one. It's hidden away in the cupboard. I can't bring myself to throw it away because it is so old, and it was a gift from my mother when I was really small. But I can't bring myself to look at it either, let alone display it. It's like a bad secret in the cupboard Shock

echt · 19/08/2017 00:22

I collected the gollywogs from Robertson's jam jars. I still have a collection of pot gollywogs I sent for. There is no way I associate them with black people and racism. They were just jolly little men who advertised jam and happened to be black.

The way things work though is that your perceptions aren't the only ones. Times have moved on, and things that were done in innocence back in the day because of the different values of the time, are now considered offensive.

ITCouldBeWorse · 19/08/2017 00:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

WorraLiberty · 19/08/2017 00:25

The only way that the OP would know if someone else had a golliwog was if they were going around flaunting it, unless she's a cat burglar.

Going around flaunting their Golliwog? Grin Grin

Please do elaborate because the mental image I have in my head is hilarious.

Right now, they've got it perched on the baby seat in their shopping trolley, whilst perusing the frozen veg aisle in Tesco...

SylviaPoe · 19/08/2017 00:29

Well, we would need the OP to come back and explain how exactly she came to know of the toy in question.

There's a ghost story somewhere in that tale of the one secretly hidden in the cupboard by Noqontrol.

Mum2OneTeen · 19/08/2017 00:29

I used to love my little woollen golliwog last century Sad but just because something was okay in the past doesn't make it acceptable now. Moral change & evolve with the times.

SanFranBear · 19/08/2017 00:30

My Gran knitted me one for my first Xmas and my god, I loved him so, so much. I took him everywhere, he was squashed so much he had no stuffing, his mouth which was two simple pieces of wool was wrecked but he was Golly.

He's still somewhere in my room - not on prominent display but I would never throw him out. I'm only early 40's, so was given him in the mid 70's but I never saw him as anything other than my adored toy... his skin tone didn't even really register - it's hard to describe.