When well-meaning dolls go awry
CVK
Wow, props to blac(k)ademic for consistently unearthing gems like these. A woman has started a business selling lesbian identified action figures that she called DYKEdolls. The concept is great, the execution eh… not so great.
All the dolls are white, except for Badness, billed as “the first black lesbian action figure. A fierce female with kick-ass moves on and off the court.” Uh… why does the sole black lesbian have to be a ball player? As blac(k)ademic extrapolates:
why not also include a latina chola from the barrio? or a suicide bomber arabic woman ready to defend allah? or an asian mail order bride doll?–with feet that are bound, of course.
LOL! Seriously… but just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, check out Kelly, Christine and Soo Jin–the white lesbian couple with the adopted Chinese baby!!! I can’t wait to hear what Twice the Rice has to say about this! Unfortunately, these dolls just end up reinforcing so many stereotypes. Like, the idea that all lesbians are white, for one.
I have to say that I’m still a bit ambivalent when it comes to these “specialty” dolls. There are quite a few companies out there producing more “multicultural” dolls nowadays. For example, Real Kidz (all the dolls are of different mixed ethnic backgrounds), the Bratz dolls (criticized for their overly sexual facial features and trashy outfits but still, ethnically diverse) and my personal favorite, the Groovy Girls (they don’t hit you over the head with the diversity message, but clearly there are many ambiguous-looking dolls).
It seems like if you start a company like that, you just can’t win. Someone’s always going to complain–because there’s no doll that represents their child’s specific ethnic mix, or because the doll that is the same mix bears no resemblance to the child, etc. It seems like dolls like these invite people to take them too literally.
mtevc wrote:
oh the basketball stereotype…well, i had to laugh at that sports drink commercial…i think it’s for gatorade…when the black guy is literally hatched from a basketball egg…
Posted 24 Apr 2006 at 9:04 am ¶
Lyonside wrote:
I bet this is a case of “our customers are all XX so we have to cater to them.”
There are, of course, ways around it - mix and match dolls for one.
Sort of like the wedding toppers that are mix and match for different ethnic groups and hair colors. But still, there’d be issues of overstock, etc.
The best thing to hope for is that the demand is enough to warrant more diverse lines.
Posted 24 Apr 2006 at 9:30 am ¶
merq wrote:
But wait a minute, people. You’re forgetting one thing.
Her name is… BADNESS.
This is too funny to be true.
Posted 25 Apr 2006 at 8:04 am ¶
Ji-in wrote:
In the interest of accuracy, I wanted to note that Little Soo Jin is actually Korean, not Chinese (see “Baby Dykes” press release on the Web site). Not that this makes a heap’s worth of difference, given the stupidity of the “Mommies” set in the first place, but I found it intriguing that the doll’s creator — or somebody — apparently made the conscious choice to come up with a Korean name. As opposed to just naming the baby Mei Mei or Ling and calling her Chinese because who the hell knows the difference anyway.
In case you hadn’t noticed, Kelly, Christine and Little Soo Jin ruffled my feathers just a tad. Good blog fodder, though!
Posted 26 Apr 2006 at 5:02 am ¶
merq wrote:
“but I found it intriguing that the doll’s creator — or somebody — apparently made the conscious choice to come up with a Korean name. As opposed to just naming the baby Mei Mei or Ling and calling her Chinese because who the hell knows the difference anyway.”
…and then we have Badness.
Posted 26 Apr 2006 at 8:30 am ¶