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Golliwog dolls

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Yrael

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Living in Australia, something I've felt uncomfortable about is the golliwog doll. For those who've never heard of it, it's a doll originating in the 19th century (from a book by Florence Upton) that had a lot of popularity in Europe and Australia. It is based on the blackface minstrel shows - from the Wikipedia page explaining its origin:

Florence Kate Upton was born in 1873 in Flushing, New York, the daughter of English parents who had emigrated to the United States three years previously. Following the death of her father, she moved back to England with her mother and sisters when she was fourteen. There she spent several years drawing and developing her artistic skills. In order to afford tuition to art school, she illustrated a children's book entitled The Adventures of TwoDutch Dolls and a Golliwogg. The 1895 book included a character named the Golliwogg, who was first described as "a horrid sight, the blackest gnome", but who quickly turned out to be a friendly character, and is later attributed with a "kind face." A product of the blackface minstrel tradition, the Golliwogg had jet black skin; bright, red lips; and wild, woolly hair. He wore red trousers, a shirt with a stiff collar, red bow-tie, and a blue jacket with tails — all traditional minstrel attire.
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220px-Golliwoggs_on_sale_2008.jpg


"Golliwog" is also a racist insult. I believe that these were mostly phased out in Europe (correct me if I'm wrong!) because of the racist connotations of blackface, but in Australia, it's still actually pretty common to see these dolls in tourist strips outside the major cities (often called "Golly dolls"). They have even had a surge in popularity in the past few years: http://www.news.com.au/national/black-day-for-golly/story-e6frfkw0-1226361244641. Several years ago, when Oprah came to visit, her handlers asked a Melbourne store to remove one particular golliwog doll from its display (a "Mamee" washer woman):

906349-golliwog.jpg


My question is this – for those who live outside Australia, how would seeing these being sold in stores affect your opinion of this country's attitude towards racism? I think these dolls are pretty awful and distasteful, personally.
 
Yrael said:
They have even had a surge in popularity in the past few years
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Yes, and it's fucking weird. Even putting aside the racist connotations associated with them I still can't understand the desire to own one. They look fucking bizarre.
 
Log4Girlz said:
It shows incredible insensitivity. I mean, cultures develop at different rates, but its 2014, come on now.
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I'm guessing the only reason it didn't vanish ages ago is that the stereotype isn't from Australia.

If the design was something specifically mocking indigenous Australians rather than the minstrel thing, I can guarantee it wouldn't have hung around as long as it has.
 
PaulloDEC said:
I'm guessing the only reason it didn't vanish ages ago is that the stereotype isn't from Australia.

If the design was something specifically mocking indigenous Australians rather than the minstrel thing, I can guarantee it wouldn't have hung around as long as it has.
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It's most definitely clinging to life because of that. As a kid it was just like any other character design, because we didn't have the cultural context.
 
It's racist as hell and can sometimes be seen or heard in the UK too. That's what gets me vex when Europeans & Australians like to play the "oh it's just Americans being sensitive, it's not racist here!!" Line.
 
Aussie here. I had one of those dolls as a child. So did my friends. Never knew they were a racist thing until like last year when I read something here...
 
PaulloDEC said:
I'm guessing the only reason it didn't vanish ages ago is that the stereotype isn't from Australia.

If the design was something specifically mocking indigenous Australians rather than the minstrel thing, I can guarantee it wouldn't have hung around as long as it has.
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huh? this makes 0 sense. dolls and cookies that display Jewish stereotypes would have 0 tolerance in the US, regardless of where the stereotype originated.
 
A friend's father married a woman who collected these jockey lawn statues and had them all over their backyard. Like a half a million dollar home and there's almost a dozen of these things all over the back deck and landscaping. I couldn't believe it when I went over there with my buddy one time in my 20's. They're not even that old, this woman was in her late 40's/early 50's at the time. I have no idea if she still has them out there or even had any idea that they could be offensive (maybe they aren't, I dunno.)

jockey.jpg


blackjockey1a.jpg


m2FZxUAWPdMt7G8PnogEFvQ.jpg
 
They used to be a thing during my childhood in the UK during the 80s. Both the dolls, and the imagery (a brand of Jam had them as their mascot).

When I moved to Australia 10 years ago, I was taken aback how they were still available here.
 
When I was a kid, we used to have Robertson's Jam and you cut out the tokens from the label and sent them away for little badge/pin things of all sorts of different Gollywogs, or "Golly's" as we knew them as.

Being a kid, we just knew Golly as a mascot for the Jam, he came in all sorts of costumes and stuff and you collected them, traded them etc.

Wasn't until I was much older that blackface and the racist/cultural idea of the term "Golliwog" really got known to me.

Had the biscuits too of course, as did a lot of households around that time. They were always at parties and in cupboards for snacks.

English background home here and yeah, I guess Australia isn't best known for being culturally sensitive either.
 
Yrael said:
220px-Golliwoggs_on_sale_2008.jpg
906349-golliwog.jpg


My question is this – for those who live outside Australia, how would seeing these being sold in stores affect your opinion of this country's attitude towards racism? I think these dolls are pretty awful and distasteful, personally.
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Yeah, those are offensive.
 
I don't support the availability of Golliwogs over here. I completely understand why there was campaigning for them to disappear in the UK. But it should be noted that the taboo around blackface is a US thing.

Difference countries have difference histories around racial terms and events. Outside of the UK, I doubt people would find the term Paki for Pakistani to be offensive, but it's a racial slur in Britain.
 
WorldStar said:
huh? this makes 0 sense. dolls and cookies that display Jewish stereotypes would have 0 tolerance in the US, regardless of where the stereotype originated.
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You misunderstand, what he's saying is that there's little to no awareness of the connection. Most people don't see black stereotypes, they just see Golliwogs.

Don't get me wrong, we have a huge problem with casual racism in this country. But that's not the whole picture here.
 
speculawyer said:
Well when John Oliver called Australia 'comfortably racist', the country erupted.
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Really, I think a lot of casual racist Australians don't believe they're racist.

Like, for example. In the car today, my mom (Australian) was talking about one her co-worker's friends being 'racist.' My mom has on multiple occasions said "I'm not racist!" but the thing is, she will occasionally say things like "Mate, don't go to <town> it's full of Lebbos" or "Bloody Asians" while driving. To add to that, she also owns a Golliwog doll, which she admittedly knows it's racist, but keeps it around because it's apparently funny :\

I've lived here all my life, and I've found this to be common in many Australians. I don't think they have bad intentions, it's just that this underlying xenophobia is so engrained in their culture that it's just who they are. It's kind of sad.
 
WorldStar said:
huh? this makes 0 sense. dolls and cookies that display Jewish stereotypes would have 0 tolerance in the US, regardless of where the stereotype originated.
Click to expand...

I think you'd be quite surprised if you asked the average Australian about various common racial stereotypes from abroad. It isn't that we're aware of them but give them a pass because they're "not from here", it's that they're simply not well-known enough here to build much opposition.

EDIT: Thanks for the assist Dryk.
 
I haven't seen one of these dolls in years here, in fact I didn't even know they were still in production, let alone for sale. Are they offensive? I'd say absolutely yes as Indigneous Australians have been on record stating as much.

This isn't an Australia only issue - for example Oxfam UK were in the news last year for selling second hand dolls on their website.
 
Dryk said:
You misunderstand, what he's saying is that there's little to no awareness of the connection. Most people don't see black stereotypes, they just see Golliwogs.

Don't get me wrong, we have a huge problem with casual racism in this country. But that's not the whole picture here.
Click to expand...

PaulloDEC said:
I think you'd be quite surprised if you asked the average Australian about various common racial stereotypes from abroad. It isn't that we're aware of them but give them a pass because they're "not from here", it's that they're simply not well-known enough here to build much opposition.

EDIT: Thanks for the assist Dryk.
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ahh, i c
 
Another difference between England and AUS.

In England, wog was a racial slur about blacks. I'd always assumed it was the shortened version of Gollywog, which made the name/doll even more explicitly racist.

In Australia, wog is a racial slur against Mediterraneans. So there is another disconnect of Gollywog from blacks, unlike in the UK.
 
Dryk said:
You misunderstand, what he's saying is that there's little to no awareness of the connection. Most people don't see black stereotypes, they just see Golliwogs.
Click to expand...

I've never seen one of these dolls in person, although I had heard of them by name. It's true that there is very limited cultural awareness of a lot of these stereotypes. I think this is changing as we get more and more exposure to American culture - that's how I discovered them all actually. An American guy I met on a message board had to explain one of the lines in Full Metal Jacket to me about "Fried Chicken and Watermelon" because I didn't understand what Sgt Hartman was talking about. Later on, I'm talking like college age, people online told me that Shoop Da Woop was a racial caricature.

There's also this perfect storm of cultural relativity that came from KFC Australia.
 
SPE said:
Another difference between England and AUS.

In England, wog was a racial slur about blacks. I'd always assumed it was the shortened version of Gollywog, which made the name/doll even more explicitly racist.

In Australia, wog is a racial slur against Mediterraneans. So there is another disconnect of Gollywog from blacks, unlike in the UK.
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now wogs are a term that scientologists use to describe people outside the cult
 
Azurex said:
Really, I think a lot of casual racist Australians don't believe they're racist.

Like, for example. In the car today, my mom (Australian) was talking about one her co-worker's friends being 'racist.' My mom has on multiple occasions said "I'm not racist!" but the thing is, she will occasionally say things like "Mate, don't go to <town> it's full of Lebbos" or "Bloody Asians" while driving. To add to that, she also owns a Golliwog doll, which she admittedly knows it's racist, but keeps it around because it's apparently funny :\

I've lived here all my life, and I've found this to be common in many Australians. I don't think they have bad intentions, it's just that this underlying xenophobia is so engrained in their culture that it's just who they are. It's kind of sad.
Click to expand...
This has often been my experience with Australians, and it's extremely frustrating because they just get angry when you try to explain to them why their attitudes are offensive.
 
ThoseDeafMutes said:
I've never seen one of these dolls in person,
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I work near a big market in Melbourne, and it has a Gollywog stall in it. That's all they sell.

The other places you can find them are the tourist tat shops along Elizabeth St and Swanson St in the CBD. Which felt weird thing to sell to tourists. "Come to Melbourne and enjoy the arts, culture, coffee and racist dolls".
 
I used to think a Golliwog was just a character from Noddy (British children's stories). So I thought they were ok. Just like any other character in any other stories.
 
ThoseDeafMutes said:
I've never seen one of these dolls in person, although I had heard of them by name. It's true that there is very limited cultural awareness of a lot of these stereotypes. I think this is changing as we get more and more exposure to American culture - that's how I discovered them all actually. An American guy I met on a message board had to explain one of the lines in Full Metal Jacket to me about "Fried Chicken and Watermelon" because I didn't understand what Sgt Hartman was talking about. Later on, I'm talking like college age, people online told me that Shoop Da Woop was a racial caricature.

There's also this perfect storm of cultural relativity that came from KFC Australia.
Click to expand...

Yep, I can definitely relate to this - I didn't have much awareness of the greater cultural context and history of minstrel shows either until I had already left school. It was certainly an eye-opener for me, and makes seeing caricatures like golliwog dolls very uncomfortable indeed.
 
PaulloDEC said:
For a long time here I remember seeing these:



That's a very old picture, but I can remember eating these during my childhood, so 90s. Nowadays they look like this:



I'm not sure anything of value would be lost if they just completely changed the design.
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Yeh I remember them being Golliwogs, even now I still call them that occasionally because I was so used to it as a child.
 
I remember when I was a kid of about 6 loving the books about golliwogs. I didn't know it was racist at the time. Even remember Golliwog balls at Waitrose as a treat. (I was in England at the time).
 
They are awful and should be removed because they are offensive.

However if it was common knowledge that they were racist then they wouldn't be popular.I didn't know they were offensive when I was growing up, and I doubt my parents did either. Blackface was never a thing in this country, so a degree of cultural relativism must be employed.
 
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