Comments on: Polly Pocket Politics

By: Deborah Quinn

Deborah Quinn — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 05:52:47 +0000

cute pajamas! what a brilliant choice! must remember that for future…

By: Suzie

Suzie — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:56:51 +0000

Wow, how did I miss this post from two years ago. I do the exact same thing, same toy drive, same shop with the kids, except that time I completely forgot, same over thinking. My policy now is K-mart, cute pajamas, and a colorful plastic game. No gender, no race, so middle of the road and hopefully helpful and fun. So glad the holiday are over.

By: betsy

betsy — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 03:27:50 +0000

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Shamesha Dilemma lately, so while this comment comes nearly a year after the post I hope you’ll forgive. Even here in United Colors of Brooklyn the babydolls are all Pepto-pink or chocolate-brown – - nothing in between (unless it’s some gnarly handmade cloth thing so organic and crunchy no self-respecting girl could love it (unless in fact a relative *had* made it )- those politically “sensitive” and “colorblind” dolls with purple hair that were surely made by the original authors of Our Bodies, Ourselves. I have pored over the (many) pages of the American Girl website, looking at the rainbow-hued, $95 “Just Like You” dolls which really DON’T look just like you, if your eyes are not round, your nose not button, your hair not silky, and your cheeks not Shirley Temple’s, wondering what I’ll say when my (possible) daughter (possibly) asks me: “why don’t any of the dolls look like me?”

By: a guy

a guy — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 03:52:51 +0000

I struggled with this in less stark terms over the holiday, buying books for kids 3-11. I usually try to buy plucky heroine books for the girls, but what counts as pluck changes a lot over the timespan of the books I like. Increasingly I also have kids of non-European backgrounds in my list. Should I try to get them something heritage-specific (where I’ll know a smaller pool of books), or remember that as Americans they inherit the fine English-American tradition of mystery-solving young white kids? An additional factor is how many other books (or in your case, dolls) you expect them to encounter. If your present will join a diverse group, I think you can obsess less over its message. Oy.