Me & Barbie Can't Be Cool...

Growing up I went through a loooong phase of playing with dolls. I had everything from Cabbage Patch Dolls, My Child Dolls, and raggedy looking dolls with no names. But the dolls I played with the most were BARBIE DOLLS! I took playing with Barbie to the extreme. I had TWO Barbie Mansions, Barbie convertibles, and a Barbie camping RV that transformed into a truck. Not to mention the Barbie ice cream shop that had the ability to make real ice cream and finally the Barbie flower shop. My Barbie's had plenty of clothes and accessories but the one thing I never had was a Ken doll. I thought he was a punk so my Barbie was hooked up with my MC Hammer doll. He was hotter than Ken at the time & had the number one song and album… Can't Touch This … DaaaNaaaNa Na NaNA … Can't Touch This … Anyways I digress...

So that whole intro should give you a pretty good understanding of my attachment to dolls and my world of Barbie. But now that I am older and moved on from Barbie I look back on my friendship with Barbie a lil' differently.

Now most of my Barbie's were black but I had an aunt to give my sister and I a white Barbie to share. Let's call her Kelly. My Aunts first mistake was thinking we could actually share a doll (we had TWO of everything growing up, yes were fortunate lil brats) & her second mistake was buying a white doll (don't judge just yet… keep reading). So my sister and I referred to our new white Barbie as "light skinned" since there weren't two "light skinned" dolls we fought over Kelly. So you know what happens next … my dad took the doll away. But my Dad just couldn't take it away without giving a speech about the white doll. Everything my Dad did came with a speech! I can't remember the entire speech but I remember the gist of it went something like … "Why do ya'll think you have to play with this doll so bad? You have plenty of other dolls to play with that look like you, play with those dolls!" Then Kelly was gone…

Hmmm what a statement, "Play with the dolls that look like you" Looks like me??? HUH? I question the statement because I remember having a Barbie that was supposed to be "African Barbie". She came wearing an African patterned outfit and even matching head wrap and her name on the box was Kenya. Now if this is the doll that looks like me … why does she have brownish-greenish eyes? Why is her hair just a straight as the white dolls hair? Why is her nose and lips all skinny and thin? This doll doesn't look like me? It looks like the white doll dipped in chocolate! The ONLY difference was the makers gave Kenya all lil extra plastic in her hips & butt. So, is the doll that looks like me?

Growing up I have ALWAYS loved track & field. So naturally I had a Flo-Jo Doll. She came with the signature Flo-Jo outfit but that was the ONLY similarity she had of Flo-Jo. This doll had the BIGGEST hooters. There is no way in hell Flo-Jo could have been an Olympic Gold Medalist with hooters that big! But I am to play with the doll that looks like me? The same premise is noticeable with a lot of my other dolls, so Daddy they don't look like me.

Lets tie this childhood memory back to history. Remember the study done by Kenneth Clark in the 1940's. The study was used in the historic Supreme Court case of Brown vs. The Board of Education to challenge segregated schools. The children in the study were asked "Which doll would you play with? or Which doll do you think is bad?" The children answered according to what they were taught & they answered with the image that had of themselves. They wanted to play with the white doll & they considered the black doll to be bad. So was the answer to the problem to make black dolls as close to white dolls as possible and just make their skin darker? We internalize our values unconsciously at very young ages & at 5 years of age children can see what society favors. Is this the impression we want to bestow upon our youth? I guess so. The study was done again in 2006 with the exact same results.


I need to tell you what spawned the idea to write all of this. I decided to let my hair be as God made it and wear it in its natural state. The whole process took about 10 months and literally it had a liberating feeling. No longer am I bound by perms & chemicals that did more damage than good. But here is the kicker… I had a homeboy ask me "Why did you do that? Is that the new fad for black chicks now? I will be glad when it's over; it's not a good look". So in return I asked him, basically I have to alter the way God made me in order have a "Good look". I guess he, like a lot of other brothas would have picked the white doll too.


If you would like to see the 2006 study, check out the link below…
www.mediathatmattersfest.org/6/a_girl_like_me/
With all the changes we see around us the things that need to change most … somehow have remained the same.
I could say more but I am done...Let me know what YOU think!