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AIBU?

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Original poster

AIBU to tell my mum to find her own racist knitting patterns

201 replies

gamerwidow · 26/01/2018 16:21

I am currently embroiled in a disagreement with my Mum because she wants me to find her a knitting pattern for a golliwog.
I have tried unsuccessfully to explain that this not the innocent toy she thinks it is and have told her that I am staggered that she thinks it is anything but racist. She is only 70, she should know better.
She is now in a massive sulk.
Am I right or should i just have let her have her knitting pattern?

OP posts:
Gilead · 26/01/2018 20:36

Seriously daftpink you'd have a go at an advocate? At someone who stands next to you, at someone who would be willing to support? Golliwogs are racist.

bakedappleflavour · 26/01/2018 20:39

Thank God us black folk have people like you to point out racism! I mean, it's not like we've ever experienced it firsthand.

Some of us ARE black. And golliwogs are racist.

BIWI · 26/01/2018 20:41

I'm a 35 year old black woman and my golliwog is my most treasured possession.

It was given to me by my African grandparents on the day I was born.

In my experience, the people most ofended by golliwogs are white people.

Your words.

If you can't see that this is racism, then perhaps I/others need to point it out to you - regardless of the colour of our skins?

daftpink · 26/01/2018 20:51

A golliwog is not racist. Calling someone a wog is.

The same as a monkey isn't racist but making monkey noises at a black person is.

I make no apologies for not being offended by every tiny thing.

BIWI · 26/01/2018 20:59

OK. I'll bite. First, no-one has used the word 'wog' here. If they did, I would absolutely agree it was racist.

I also agree that a monkey isn't racist. But the association with monkeys and black people is

But a golliwog is absolutely racist. Please explain why you think it isn't.

VladmirsPoutine · 26/01/2018 21:09

A golliwog is not racist.

Except when it actually is. As in: EVERY SINGLE INSTANCE.

MipMipMip · 26/01/2018 21:13

I wonder if she was asked because to many they are comforting reminders of a childhood toy (when it may not have been considered racist in the environment they were in). Particularly if someone has the beginnings of dementia it could be very comforting. But if that is the case it might be better to request one for an individual, rather than available and promoted to all. I think most people would accept it in those circumstances.

I was shocked (and depressed) when I saw them in a shop a few years ago. Very torn over them.

quencher · 26/01/2018 21:19

🤾‍♀️🎱🏌️‍♀️. 🧘🏿‍♂️ when one of these appear

BertrandRussell · 26/01/2018 21:21

My mother told me why gollywogs are racist in 1965. She was born in 1920.

ilovesooty · 26/01/2018 21:30

My mum was born in 1920 as well and wouldn't have had a golliwog in the house.

grannytomine · 26/01/2018 21:34

daftpink has explained why her golly is important to her, to her it is a symbol of love from grandparents, sometimes things can have two meanings. I had a golly when I was a child, for some reason I hated dolls and teddies but I loved my golly, it is long gone I think the dog got it. I was a toddler, it had no racist meaning to me. If it hadn't been eaten by the dog I''d still love it, in principle yes I object to the origin but in the particular I loved my golly.

I think my husband's golly is in a case in the loft, his was also a present from a loving gran and he wouldn't throw it out. He is black, is very sensitive about racism, I don't suppose he would have wanted our children to have a golly, I don't know as it never came up.

BertrandRussell · 26/01/2018 21:38

Fascinating that people feel the need to call them "gollys" I do wonder why tht is.

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 26/01/2018 21:40

I wasn't imaginative when naming my toys

I had a doll named doll

And a dog named dog

Golly was just golly

I think it was laziness

grannytomine · 26/01/2018 21:41

I thought most people called them gollies, the old Robinson's advert called them gollies, "Look for the golly on the jar." was the jingle I remember so I guess that is why people my age call them a golly.

BertrandRussell · 26/01/2018 21:46

Yeah, sure. No other reason for dropping the "wog" bit....

VirginiaWatering · 26/01/2018 21:47

Well OP, here's hoping you spend your 70s being reviled by your kids because a new sanctimonious generation has judged your harmless hobbies to no longer be acceptable.

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 26/01/2018 21:51

bertrand

I am happy to call it a gollywog...

It always reminds me of the Fawlty towers sketch when the major says that wogs are the italians

I dont like gollywogs, i dont have a gollywog and i think gollywogs are racist

As indeed i have been saying on this thread

But yeah do feel free to judge me for omitting the wog part Grin

Rufustherenegadereindeer1 · 26/01/2018 21:52

Oooh my apologies

I havent said it on this thread

But yeah gollywogs are racist

IMightMentionGriddlebone · 26/01/2018 21:59

VirginiaWatering

I think it's a tad overdone to imply that the art of knitting itself is being reviled by anyone. There is more breadth to it than non-existent gollywog patterns. In over twenty years of being able to knit, I have never once been reduced to knitting gollywogs for the sake of something to do.

IMightMentionGriddlebone · 26/01/2018 21:59

*in nearly 20 years

grannytomine · 26/01/2018 22:01

Yeah, sure. No other reason for dropping the "wog" bit I didn't drop it, I never used it. It was my golly before I could speak.

Lovesagin · 26/01/2018 22:05

I don't know whether the horrible bit was originally dropped because of what it meant, most likely. Then perhaps people just continued that without really thinking about why it was dropped. I'm probably a mix of abbreviating like I do with 'obvs' sometimes and obviously (obvs) the...umm.....obvious......for want of a better word....

My grandma called hers dolly, then just her baby when the dementia got really bad. I don't actually know if she had one as a kid, i assume she got the one she had from the care homes she'd been in! Its shoved in a box in the back of my wardrobe in clingfilm, I try to detach from what they now clearly mean and just think of it as the only thing she really showed emotion for towards the end. I'd feel pretty cringe if anyone ever saw it.

Gilead · 26/01/2018 22:09

I got my ds to ask my Mum if she'd knit one Virginia, the sanctimonious 83 year old told her that she wasn't knitting racist crap for anyone. So your 'new generation' stuff is nonsense. I refer you to my previous posts where you may like to read some of the history.

VirginiaWatering · 26/01/2018 22:14

Gilead

There are outliers in every generation. But it's the current generation of the professionally-offended that has made a fetish of caring so deeply about this nonsense and - most importantly from their perspective - of being seen to care. I would hope my hand would wither before I refused my 70-year old mother a simple request that does no harm to anyone.

BIWI · 26/01/2018 22:16

But it's the current generation of the professionally-offended that has made a fetish of caring so deeply about this nonsense

Are you saying that racism is nonsense?

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