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Golliwogs - love 'em or hate 'em?


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On holiday recently, I passed a shop window sporting a colourful group of Golliwogs, all wearing jazzy bow ties and big, wide smiles :)

 

There was even a dreadocked Golli :)

 

So, after his/her loss of popularity/acceptability in the 80s-90s, I wondered what popular opinion is now regarding the Golliwog?

 

Love 'em, hate 'em, or can't see what all the fuss was about?

 

Not a troll post, and as Joep would say, can you all play nicely please :)

 

I think if you do some research into their history you'll probably understand why they are no longer acceptable.

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You would seem to know quite a bit about the subject.

 

Perhaps you would care to enlighten me/us all?

 

Google is your friend, but many of the depictions by Enid Blyton are almost certainly racist, for example:

 

From The Three Golliwogs

 

Once the three bold golliwogs, Golly, Woggie, and ******, decided to go for a walk to Bumble-Bee Common. Golly wasn't quite ready so Woggie and ****** said they would start off without him, and Golly would catch them up as soon as he could. So off went Woogie and ******, arm-in-arm, singing merrily their favourite song -- which, as you may guess, was Ten Little ****** Boys.

 

 

And the fact that it's all based on Black And White Minstrels, should give you an even bigger clue of why it isn't acceptable.

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you can buy golliwogs at a shop in the lanes in meadowhall, they were the first i have seen for years. i remember them being behind the label on jam jars when i was a child.

 

yeh i bought my mum one for christmas from that shop! they had been her favourite toy as a child, so i thought it would cheer her up

 

i think theyre cute! :)

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Google is your friend, but many of the depictions by Enid Blyton are almost certainly racist, for example:

 

 

From The Three Golliwogs

 

Once the three bold golliwogs, Golly, Woggie, and ******, decided to go for a walk to Bumble-Bee Common. Golly wasn't quite ready so Woggie and ****** said they would start off without him, and Golly would catch them up as soon as he could. So off went Woogie and ******, arm-in-arm, singing merrily their favourite song -- which, as you may guess, was Ten Little ****** Boys.

But thats Blytons interpretation of the toy.

And unacceptable it is.

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theres a difference in how you use em

 

like certain "offensive" words, they can be used affectionately......or used for abuse.

 

a 3 year old would play with a golliwog toy just the same as any other doll

its adults that insert racist thought/behaviours

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Google is your friend, but many of the depictions by Enid Blyton are almost certainly racist, for example:

Blyton's depiction of the gollywog characters are the problem from a modern perspective, not the gollywogs themselves. The language and the attitudes expressed are very much of their time. I believe modern versions of those works of Blyton's which cause problems have been changed.

And the fact that it's all based on Black And White Minstrels, should give you an even bigger clue of why it isn't acceptable.

A small child sees a cuddly doll. S/he isn't aware of the connotations, negative or otherwise. The problem is with some adults who might choose to use the dolls as an excuse to pass the associated stereotypical nonsense on to the child. A gollywog in the hands of a small child with sensible, rational parents isn't an issue. It's just a doll. Numpty parents will find a way to pass on racist garbage to their kids anyway.

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