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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