[Closed] Do you consider a/the golliwog doll racist...

My Golliwog is definitely racist. You should hear what it calls Chinese people.

LOL. The thread should close on that 😉

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is having a black doll racist if a white child is playing with it ?

You genuinely can’t see the massive and fundamental difference between that doll and the subject of this thread? Jesus wept.

<span class="bbp-reply-post-date">Posted 7 minutes ago</span></div>

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<div>Oh come on ! Of course I do !!!!</div>
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Good, good. Sorry—I think my brain started self-harming halfway through the thread.

"Think you are stretching credulity to argue its not based on the thing it looks exactly like."

It was a genuine question because if you've read the origins of the golliwog there doesn't appear to be much racist about it. What it was subordinated into, sadly, is obviously racist. It certainly a grey area re. Upton as it's impossible to tell if she was a racist. After all the golliwog was just a character in a children book. Less an argument JY - more of an observation.

"Context is everything, but context very much includes the world we live in and the provenance of the things (physical or abstract) within it."

Indeed, but isn't it sad when something that was initially harmless - a playful character described as jovial, friendly & gallant in a children's story turns into something so offensive.

I'm not for one second defending it's derogatory use in the modern age, rather lamenting something that in it's original guise was really quite innocent or at least appears to be.

Though, I'll admit the choice of dress & colour of the golliwog does seem questionable......

Anyone fancy a drink in my local?

Though, I’ll admit the choice of dress & colour of the golliwog does seem questionable……

Well, this is the point, no? The imagery reproduced the costume and make-up used in minstrel shows which were, at the very least by today's standards, quite clearly racist. Whether the character itself was created with a racist motive or simply as a naive reflection of popular culture at the time (or even as an attempt to counteract racism) matters little: at the point of time which we inhabit, it represents a clear link to a racist practice which we would do well to consign unequivocally to the past.

I remember calling them Golliwogs and was told as a kid, that the Wogg part was the problem and should call them Golli's. I also had no idea about Woggs and found that quite strange as a kid.

My opinion is the term is racist if calling a person that. Calling a badge/doll by that name isn't, but I can understand if some people feel offended by it.