Why Collect Dolls of Color

I am white women. I collect dolls of color. I try to do it for good reasons.

I grew up with Barbies. My sister and I only had one black doll- a 1990's Steven (black Ken). In our stories he was married to our one black-haired doll, a Kira. (She could be interpreted as Asian/Pacific Islander.)

No adult told us those two belonged together, or that Steven shouldn't date the white blonde dolls. (And we were certainly not taught that dolls of color were bad or ugly.) I was raised to be "colorblind," but when you never talk or think about racial issues, bad messages can be sent accidentally. These are often subconscious messages, or schema.

Accidental Race Lessons

1. White is normal.
2. White is beautiful.
3. White is good.

I know these may sound over the top, especially if you are a white person raised like me. Give me a chance to break it down. I'll use myself as a prime example, but hopefully I can show this happens. (Perhaps you had a different life experience, and the adults in your world always went out of their way to show positive representations of people of color. Hooray! But here's why other white people have accidental prejudices.)

Dolls have been used since a famous 1940's experiment to show children's perceptions of color. Here's a video compilation of some contemporary tests:

In these videos, both white and black children identify black dolls as unattractive and bad, and white dolls as lovely and good. (A hard part to watch is a white mom realizing that her young child has absorbed these beliefs without her wanting that.)

1. "White is normal"

In my town, it was. In the stories I read, it was. I remember the first time a character in a book observed how unfair it was that she had to describe herself as black, otherwise the reader would assume she was white. (It was Cassie from the Animorphs.) I felt weird about that, but I didn't know how to solve a problem like that. At the time, it was good to start questioning my perceptions.

Like the smurfette principle, when I had 10 white dolls and just one doll of color, that one doll is othered. She has no personality, no defining characteristics other than skin tone. She might be considered special or exotic, but she doesn't get to be ordinary or fully human. (In many stories, the best friend is a person of color. This makes the hero look good and not racist. But the POC rarely gets to be a hero.)

Let's invert the lesson. With many dolls of color, it's normal. They can have different personalities, hobbies, jobs, families, and lives.

2. "White is beautiful"

This one is tricky. 

In the 90's, the average Christie (90s black Barbie) doll was the same mold as Barbie, same nose, lips, and perfectly straight long hair. Only the color is different, but the western beauty standards are the same.

I've never been told that black people are ugly. But I have grown up with people saying, "I'm just not attracted to black people." I was accidentally taught that wide noses and full lips aren't beautiful, and that only a certain set of curves on a women are pleasing. (Or worse, women of color's bodies are sexualized, with bigger curves implied promiscuity.) Only smooth hair or spiral curls are good, black hairstyles are "unprofessional" or "political."

Seeing the beautiful in all skin tones, all body types, all the different noses and hairstyles and lips, can start with art. Beautiful women of color in paintings, in movies, and in dolls, changes perceptions without ever saying a word.

3. "White is good"

Why did the children in the video think white dolls were good? Sure, white characters are the heroes in their cartoons, white people are their teachers, police, and city leaders... White is used in everyday language as metaphors for cleanliness and purity... and in our culture, the idea of beauty and goodness overlap (villains in cartoons are ugly). It's honestly hard to pinpoint one thing- there are hundreds of little messages whispering to you that define what you think is good.

Doll manufacturers seem to consider it risky to make dolls of color. "They don't sell as well," it's argued, and a company must focus on profits. They don't admit what power they have- they tell kids what to want. Nethilia does an excellent discussion about this on her blog, American Girl Outsider:

This pattern of white character after white character is racist by American Girl. And they don't have to do it on purpose for it to be racist. Racism is not burning crosses and back of the line and "I'm better than you because I'm white." Racism is a institution in this country that gives whites privileges and respect over any other race--nowadays, in very subtle ways that it's hard to open other people's eyes to and make them see. It's whiteness as normality and everyone else as the other. And you don't have to intend for it to be racist for it to be racist. -Nethilia

When doll manufacturers promote white dolls and fall back on old excuses for why they do it, we go along with it. But that isn't good enough. Representation matters. Sell dolls of color! Buy dolls of color! We believe people of color are good when we see them, hear stories, live into those stories. Let's teach new lessons.

Islander is Normal - Black is Beautiful - Latinx is Good 

Asian is Normal - Native is Beautiful- Middle Eastern is Good