BARBIE-TASTROPHE
I AM CALLING NOTICE TO THE DEPRECIATION OF DOLLS OF COLOR!!!
In the pursuit of a particular gift that Margaret has had her eye on, I came across this appalling and prejudicial act on Amazon.com. This isn't an economic problem, but a moral problem.
Princess "white & blonde" Rosella costs $29.95, while Princess "black & beautiful" Rosella costs 70% less at $8.99. WHAT?!?!? Is she somehow less of a princess?
Why must the black version of this character cost three times less than that of her white counterpart? I guess racism penetrates even the world of our representative human friends.
This kind of makes me sick.....how do you feel about it?
This kind of makes me sick.....how do you feel about it?
15 comments:
i think that's terrible-- then again, i'm not a fan of ANY barbie and have refused to buy them! i don't want them growing up thinking the ideal is long legs, big boobs, and 2% body fat!
That stinks! What a load! I hope you bought half a dozen of the black ones and give them as b-day gifts to all of Margaret's friends!
That's a good idea Jaime. I haven't been on the band wagon of "down with Barbie" or anything like that. But this is troubling.
I think she is prettier than the blondie..I would imagine that is what an 'island' princess really looks like too. BTW- Kristin Stewart is playing Bella. I think they both will do great. He's actually 19. Does that make it any better for me to watch longingly? :-)
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Oh, the whole Barbie® bag o' worms.
We never had them growing up, as my Mother thought they were sexist and agreed with Merathon about unrealistic body image.
Now, secretly, I really wanted Barbies because I wanted to sew FANCY doll clothes for dolls that were not straight up and down. So I played with my best friend's Barbies. We even cut their hair short (like ours). This was not a success, because, as you know, the hair is rooted right in the center of the stupid doll's skull so they just looked like punk freaks.
I never said anything about wanting a Barbie®, because I knew my Mom was right. Nevertheless, she would have let us have them if we really wanted them (as we understood their fantasy proportions and proclivities for pink interior design).
Sorry, not so relevant to this question. Is the "Black and Beautiful" princess on sale or is that always the price differential? If it's on sale because of a stock demand issue (as in some places there are more white little girls than African-American little girls - UTAH is an overwhelmingly good example) I could understand it better and it would certainly make a difference in how I felt about the pricing.
Even if this particular issue has to do with supply and demand - something obviously not as insidious as racism - I cannot argue - nor can anyone with their eyes even partly open - that racism is still HERE in our World in both muted tones and hideously coloured violence.
It makes me profoundly sad.
And I think the "Black and Beautiful" princess if prettier, too.
Thanks for making me think on a Tuesday,
Crazy Kate of Le monde de fromage de Kate
This is really interesting. I wonder if they increased the price on the white barbie because they know they will sell more of her. I don't know, but whatever the reason, I'm not sure I like it.
What about us island princesses that are somewhere in the middle? How much am I worth?
My daughter has been brain washed. She just walked in and said, "hey, the island princess is supposed to have yellow hair".
Guess I'm not doing such a hot job.
Capitalism! Capital doesn't lie... and here is the truth that Capital is telling us "more people are buying blonde and white Barbies" and what I infer from that is that people STILL think blond and white is more desirable and what I infer from that is that people just plain SUCK!
Merry Christmas!
I have no real comments about the Barbie situation except that I like the black and beautiful one better.
Now my real reason in commenting is to tell Heather that I sent her an email and wondered if she had checked it or not! :)
Merry Christmas!
Kelly Jo
That's crazy talk! I am outraged, just like you. It is so fun to get an update on your cute family! I found you thru Natty Sue.
When were those experiments - in the 1950s? - when little girls were asked to choose a white or black doll. Even the black little girls chose white dolls more. Nothing has changed.
Looks like the price is back to $20.82:) Seeing as how the books, CDs, DVDs, posters, and even the activity center feature the white doll, its no wonder little girls want that one.
I watched a show the other day date line maybe? a teenager did a science project of what dolls young black children liked better. She put in front of them a white baby and a black baby doll...I think it was about 90% of the time the kids chose the white baby dolls saying they were the prettier doll...sad state of affairs.
Imagine having children who are half Chinese, half Caucasian and you're standing at the local Toys R Us store debating whether to buy the white dolls with blonde hair or the black dolls with black hair for the doll house because they don't make Asian dolls, forget about finding interracial dolls. Or checking the "Other" box when you're asked to describe the race of your children. We still see people in terms of color, size, religion or whatever box we can check to fit society's expectations. BTW So good to have found you guys!
All of you have such pessamistic views of this barbie. Barbie is doing the samething that all dems/liberals do and the is giving a price break "handouts" to the repressed and descriminated minority.
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