In regards to “A Girl Like Me”

I am not sure what year the study was conducted but from my recent experience with family and relatives and as part of a minority group my experiences with children and dolls has been quite different.

I have a young female cousin in particular who prefers the Bratz and Dora the explorer dolls . The majority of the dolls she plays with have a brown or tan complexion which is pretty much in line with being a Hispanic. However, my family has noticed the extremely sexy and grown up manner in which the Bratz dolls are always dressed. They wear miniskirts and tons of garish makeup. I think manufacturers are realizing that a large part of their target market is minority or non-white girls.

I also had a conversation many years back with a friend of the family who is Hispanic and married to a Puerto Rican man. Her children look both Hispanic and black as far as skin color, facial features and hair texture. All the children have thick curly hair. She told me that both her children and their cousins prefer black dolls. They do own dolls with different skin colors. However, the leader of the pack is always a black doll and her sidekicks can be white or Hispanic dolls. She also told me that some of their relatives in cities like Atlanta have a very hard time finding black dolls because they always sell out around the holidays.

I know that racism is alive and well but I think that our society is acknowledging that a large part of consumers are nonwhite minority groups and moving in a more positive direction.