There has been a lot of news about dolls of color lately. Two that have probably been the biggest news busters have been the new Barbie black doll and the tween Dora doll. There have been several black Barbie dolls out but the special thing about this latest edition is supposed to be the body attributes a little more accurate rather than older versions that just darkened the skin. While this definitely is a step in the right direction it seems like it is not enough. I am not a big fan of Barbie in general due to the whole body image debacle. I won’t go into how ludicrous it is but I feel pretty sad about the impact on the young female population. To get back to the Barbie doll, there is an uproar, and rightly so, about the naturalness of the straight hair on the dolls. Hair is one of those things that immediately make an impact on a person. I mean, how much does a simple haircut change on a person? You would have thought they would have given that some thought during design. I assume a lot of thought was given but maybe they did not want to scare with too much changes, lest the regular audience move away from Barbie.
My next beef is with the new Dora doll. I wrote about Dora tween doll a while ago when I heard about the changes and it caused an uproar. What I have not discussed though was the fact that Dora is one of the few role models, character and toy wise, that teach a girl to be something other than a fashionista or cheerleader. Not only is it rare to get a good role model but it is tougher to get one of color. Even in reality the inspiration for a female of color to emulate is not an easy find. Many of those of color that have the power to influence with their demeanor also end up trying to mainstream so badly that you can barely tell they are of color as they blend in.
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The doll arguments have certainly been interesting. I’ve only read a little about both the new black barbie collection and Dora’s “coming of age”. I’m not 100% sure they make me uneasy. Perhaps there could have been a better range of hair types on these new barbies, but maybe there will be with the dolls that haven’t hit stores yet. With the multifaceted skin tones and hair textures of the black community, it would probably be impossible to ensure that every single black girl gets represented in these dolls. What I found more disturbing is that Mattel will be coming out with a Rocawear clothing line for these dolls. Nothing against Jay-Z, but with African Americans being the biggest spenders on fashions, I see this as a potential problem for the wallets of parents.
I can see your points of wanting Dora to stay just as she is, but the truth is, to keep a wider range audience some changes are gonna have to be made. Here’s what I mean… my daughter has been a Dora fan for a while, even grew more in love with the Spanish language because of Dora. But now, my daughter is 6, and she has outgrown Dora’s preschool adventures. She knows everything that Dora is currently teaching, lol. Now she wants to engage with that darn Hannah Montana and those other older girls. If Dora could mature and continue to keep my daughter’s interest so that she can continue to look up to her, I think it would be great.
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