Talking of Golliwogs.. . .. .

[WinkyWinkola]

I was a bit taken aback when I was looking for a dolly for my DD's birthday and I came across this:

{[https://ssl3.lon.gb.securedata.net/rosablue.com/dolls.htm It's the Mimi doll]]

I made an enquiry about the size of the lovely dolls on this site and also about the Mimi doll. I just felt it was a total caricature of the black slave especially when you can get her dress embroidered with Every Day is Wash Day .

The response to my enquiry was:

Mimi doubled as a student and our live-in nanny when we lived in Cape Town in the 80s.

She was very much part of the family when Penelope started to make her dolls. The whole family was still all living under the same roof then and each of us provided a name for at least one of her prototypes. Which is they all take their names after one of us.

Mimi liked the doll then and it while I understand the sensibility in Britain over the "golliwog" image, that is not what it means to us and we would be loathe to discontinue it.

Am I being over sensitive to find this doll offensive and not buy from the site as a result? Their other dolls are lovely.

YOU ARE NOT SERIOUS Northernrefugee39? A Business cashing in on the publicity given to them on a well know website in order to get more press? Well I am staggered. How could they do such a thing?????

This thread is becoming ridiculous.

well with mentions in the Guardian and Country Living (see previous entries in their blog which wasn't "started" after this thread) I'm not sure their motives are quite as dubious as you do.

Actually - they're advertising us - they've linked to the homepage

I think they're being very open in it

"But the debate has made me aware that many continue to see in objects like the Mimi doll symbols of something quite different. To them she is a reminder of servitude, bigotry and inequality."

acknowledging that others see the doll in different eyes to what they do.

AL
FAQ- yes, you're right, they do say that as well.
sprogger- that's a really good point,the white privilidge; it's hard to pin down the paternalistic feel of the dear litle black doll thing, but it certainly makes me uncomfortable.

My sil is Nigerian, she squirms at this kind of thing.

so have we established yet what makes it offensive

is it

a) the clothes

b) the words that are shown (bearing in mind you can get a blond haired doll with the same words)

c) the colour of the doll

d) the "story" of this particular doll

e) a combination of the above

f) something else entirely

Personally I found his e-mail quite touching and not at all difficult to understand.

The doll was made by them to represent someone they cared about and she liked it...such a shame you dont direct all that indignation toward something more productive.

I notice it has been completely overlooked that as well as being a "servant" that MIMI was a student

I had a golliwog when I was a child which I just adored it never ocurred to me that it was a characature of a black person until I was much older and it was brought to my attention by someone else. Looks like we should all be sticking to Barbie from now on so we can be sure we are not being racially offensive.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but it sounds like the people being accused of racism have done more to stand against aparthied than any of their accusers.

Surely that's the end of it? aside from wishing them well with their enterprise

woooooo a voice of reason

It's great that the makers of the doll are very open to discussion and debate about this. And publicity - there's nothing wrong with their blogging it, surely?

They definitely sound like they are more anti apartheid which was pretty bold in the era.

But I do wonder if the real Mimi said she liked it because they employed her? She wasn't likely to say she didn't like it, was she?

Is Penelope black, do you think?

I wonder how many black people had golliwogs when they were children and if they adored them too?

This dolly isn't a golliwog but it's a pretty negative representation of what being a black woman means.

penelope is not black

FAQ - you quoted what they had put. They see this, don't you?

"To them she is a reminder of servitude, bigotry and inequality."

Are you black?
Have you friends or relatives who are black?

Can you understand how it could make some feel uncomfortable?, because the makers of the doll can....

contentious, the fact that they liked Mimi is neither here nor there.
The tone is patronising, ooh, she was our black servant and she was so clever she went to uni...ooh ooh... the style of the doll does nothing to imply she was a student, it looks like a representation of a Mama, a post war little black sambo...
I think Sproger's whiteprivilidge phrase pretty well sums it up.

Yes, the white privilege concept is not something I had really thought about before. It wouldnt necessarily make me think anything sinister about this doll but in general I want to try to learn more about it and whether I am guilty of it. You sort of think that as long as YOU are behaving decently then you are not guilty of or associated with racist behaviour but it runs so so much deeper than that.

Have any black women come on to give their opinion?
My SIL doesn't use mn.... I should persuade her a bit more.

When she sees the golliwogs in shops around here she flinches...

"Are you black?
Have you friends or relatives who are black?"

No I'm not - but my children are mixed race and my H is black - and therefore my default all my in-laws (with whom I get on very well) are also black.

I don't see anything patronising in the tone whatsoever, pretty normal way of showing endearment to someone that I experienced (from black and white). I think the fact that she went to university is something pretty unique - not many black South African were so privileged to be able to do that - so definitely something worth mentioning IMO. I bet Mimi was damn proud of herself too for that the fact she managed to go.

It looks to me like what many South African women, yes including maids, commonly wear - a scarf on the head (yes we don't own the rights to "bandanas" or similar.....), a dress with apron. Equally many maids wear what you or I may class as "normal" clothes.

sprogger- great link- thanks for posting this.
I find it quite worrying that people on here are being obtuse enough to think this is making a mountain out of a molehill.

"The phrase "Aunt Jemima" is sometimes used as a female version of "Uncle Tom" to refer to a black woman who is perceived as obsequiously servile or acting in, or protective of, the interests of whites."

The picture of Aunt Jemima bears a great resemblance to the doll actually.....

Haven't read the whole thread... can pretty much imagine how the conversation has gone.

There are plenty of discussions about golliwogs on MN and if I wasn't so tired and my brain completely addled I'd give you a synopsis.

If you find the doll offensive then don't buy it and if you don't want to don't buy from the site. It is your choice.

Yes I am a black woman.

No I don't like racial stereotypes and as a black woman have a particular bugbear about negative black women stereotypes (go figure).

No my life is not pc gone mad. It is my life and it is sadly far too full of bigots and overzealous liberals fighting my corner that doesn't need fighting.

Yes I should just ignore these threads and yet a perverse part of me is intrigued into how people on hearing something offends another (whether by virtue of race or creed etc) jump about defensively saying... you might feel that but it's up to me to still say/do/have it.

And so with that I close the door behind me... knowing that when I finally wake up I may look again and post something incredibly wise

We seem to have established that the makers of the doll are not racist and that the people objecting to it here are not racist. So where does the racism come from? Does it distill from the air like dew?

People can say 'it looks like it's meant to be racist' all they want, but racism requires an intent which is lacking here.

No, I don't think racism does necessarily require an intent at all. Not that it's ever benign. But it can be borne out of innocence or ignorance.

Our family has had experience of a racist nature which I would call soft racism, paternalistic racism. The doll makers obviously aren't racist in any aggresssive way. They recognise too that the doll is a symbol of something, a metaphor or stereotype that isn't appropriate in this day and age.

I am black
and yes i did give my opinion at the beginning of thread

aaagggh!..I had to blardy do it didn't i!

link doesn't work. judging by the written dipiction about the 'mammy' in tom and jerry cartoons - i suspect it is a golliwog - and sorry folks but yes they are offensive. slavery, depictions of black people in demeaning roles - very offensive...i'd buy something else

It wasn't a golly. I remember this thread from last year when the link worked. They must have taken the doll down from the site as the others are still there.

why has this thread been dug out - really old ...

I know, I was ready with my comfy chair in the front row but it's already been done