Gollies?

[jadavi]

People born in the 50s/ 60s will relate to this.
I grew up with gollies and loved them, collected marmalade vouchers for golly badges and they were generally a lovely part of my childhood. Also read Enid Blyton who was big on gollies
Yesterday I picked up two lovely ones from my charity shop and my daughter freaked and says I can't have them out as they are so un PC.
Do you agree?
I don't like being told what I can and can't have by a faddy gmt culture. I never saw them as black people just like I didn't see teddies as white people. They are black toys.
Can I really not have them in my setting?
Honest opinions please!

[shortstuff]

I have one in my playroom so i will be interested to hear too. Ive never understood why there ws a problem with Gollies, im a child of the 70's so never had the chance to collect the lids and things though. Also i should add my Gollie was given to me in the last three years by a friend with dark skin.

[nikkiv]

I'm a child of late 70's / 80's and my aunty knitted me a golly and I loved it! I would love to get them for my setting maybe even one for my bed they are just so expensive these days not quite sure why they would be "un pc" though!

[christine e]

Here is what wikepedia says

Golliwogg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I wouldn't have one they are a caricature of black people

[jadavi]

I have researched it since my post. It seems that if some people are offended then that's reason enough not to have them.

It seems to me though that people have been told to be offended by them - by our culture. The queen had to remove her gollies from the sandringham shop.!

It's to do with the name being golliwog and wog being an offensive racial word - even though they were named golliwogg by their inventor and had nothing to do with colour discrimination. It was a made up word by Florence Upton in 1894 who was an illustrator and story teller.

It's also to do with stereotyping black people with the fat lips and spiky hair and encouraging? children to see ethnic people like that.

As a kid I never saw them representing black people and as it was a loved toy it hardly represented hatred or discrimination.

It's sad but mine are gonna have to live in my bedroom I think.....

[jadavi]

Christine I don't think they are a caricature of black people (altho that is why they are un pc) any more than teddies are not a caricature of White people.
We have only been told that they are.

[Koala]

Happy Gollying.

Just because others have issues don't let them bring them to your setting.

Your Gollywog signifies your childhood memories and I presume these are happy and valued, how can any 'right minded' person challenge this.

On the other hand-I don't know the pc issues around them apart from the obvious but I am sure that if any of your customers were offended you would be mortified, it sounds like the current teachings in school from your daughters point of view is rather delicate and challenging so I would probably respect this and put golly away, children are too young to analyse the difference between theoretical and practical pc correctness.

Probably sounds like i'm sitting on the fence.

[jadavi]

Haha thanks!
She is doing sociology a level and would be embarrassed to have her friends see them in our house. It's not a young child thing... Sadly most of the country would see them as wrong today... The queen had to take them off her shelves at the Sandringham gift shop!

[pat75]

Hi my husband is from Jamaica and he would not be offended by the doll. He remembers the picture on the marmalade jars and thinks that all this pc staff is stupid.

[nikki thomson]

I'm sorry but the worlds gone mad, having a golly which I remember from my childhood is not in my opinion offensive, it's a doll that is black, that's like saying I'm offended as my children's dolls are white and I'm white!!!! It's so silly.
I don't understand why everyone gets so easily offended at things that arn't even offensive, it's like oh I know we have nothing to moan about we'll make something up.
My adopted brother is black my parents fostered him when he was 4 mths old and he's now 37, e use to get the most bizarre looks when we were younger as me and my sister were blond hair and blue eyed, everyone we met thought it was great and to us we knew no different.
There is far more important issues going on in the world than what colour a doll is, rant over.

[FussyElmo]

I'm sorry but the worlds gone mad, having a golly which I remember from my childhood is not in my opinion offensive, it's a doll that is black, that's like saying I'm offended as my children's dolls are white and I'm white!!!! It's so silly.
I don't understand why everyone gets so easily offended at things that arn't even offensive, it's like oh I know we have nothing to moan about we'll make something up.
My adopted brother is black my parents fostered him when he was 4 mths old and he's now 37, e use to get the most bizarre looks when we were younger as me and my sister were blond hair and blue eyed, everyone we met thought it was great and to us we knew no different.
There is far more important issues going on in the world than what colour a doll is, rant over.

To be fair the term golliwog was used as a racist term. If someone called your brother a golliwog would you and him be very angry and thats the issue with them the racist undertones.

If I remember (and I do properly have the book somewhere) didnt Enid Blyton write a book called the Three Golliwogs and they were named Golly, Woggy and Nigger. Doubt if anyone would be reading that anymore due to the names

Would I buy one - no. If I had one it would be stored with the three golliwog book not in my playroom.

[Tazmin68]

Hi

I had a golly as a child. My parents bought me one for nostalgia. When we were going through the adoption process the social worker saw it on the bed and we were asked to remove it from display.

[bunyip]

I believe there is a deeper problem.

Political correctness began as a well-intentioned attempt to re-educate and prevent causing offence. In many ways it was nothing more than a modernised attempt at good manners and kindness. Nowt wrong with that.

But it developed along some unwanted lines - it's one of life's unwritten rules, known as "the law of unintended consequences".

Too many people these days seem to be on the lookout for the least excuse to take offence where none is ever intended. The result is that we're all walking on eggshells for fear of upsetting anyone unintentionally. When I started work on the railways and was being inducted onto the station, my supervisor (a lovely Sikh bloke) quite openly said, "well, since you're not a Pxxx like me, you'd better pretend you're gay - cos then the managers won't give you any trouble."

Too many people with the slightest bit of authority seem to be gleefully proscribing things because they might offend others - without ever checking if the 'others' they think they're protecting are actually offended. A Guyanan ex-colleague put this very well when he said, "I get sick of people telling me what to be offended by. It's so patronising." Similarly a friend (Irish) who is a prison officer was disciplined under E&D rules, not for saying something about someone else, but for allowing a colleague to call him a "fat P*ddy".

I find it really sad, cos we lump people in to categories and tell them what their identity is going to have to be. It just stamps on people's individuality. I also believe the fact that it is allowed to go too far only provides truly bigotted people with ammunition to preach their particular form of right-wing nastiness and xenophobic hatred.

[christine e]

Christine I don't think they are a caricature of black people (altho that is why they are un pc) any more than teddies are not a caricature of White people.
We have only been told that they are.

I am able to form my own opinions and I believe they are a caricature of black people although I don't understand what you mean by teddies being a caricature of white people - although named after theodore (teddy) roosevelt they were so named because teddy was his nickname because he refused to shoot a wild bear whilst out hunting - nothing to do with a bear looking like him

[winstonian]

I had never thought about it until one of my parents (who is black) had quite a rant on facebook after seeing Gollies for sale in a shop, she is a lovely lady and it really upset her. I remember saving tokens for Golly badges too but after seeing how upset/annoyed she was I wouldnt have any out here.

[bunyip]

I do find it totally random and bizarre what people choose to be upset about.

I don't notice anyone getting upset about the ritual burning of Catholic effigies every November.

I know my local Children's Centres would all blow a fuse if a child arrived clutching (and probably loving) a Golly-doll. But they were happy to join all the local schools, nurseries, pre-schools, and probably a high proportion of CMs in celebrating the Olympic torch ritual last year. Presumably that was an acceptable way in which to celebrate racism and mass-murder?

[jadavi]

Wow touched a nerve here- love this forum!

Have already sadly decided no way can iI have my two lovely gollies in my setting.
Now I have the problem if what to do with them? Bin them?

Sorry to offend Christine. You were stating it as a fact which I was disputing but yes it seems that many people do see them as caricatures.

[QualityCare]

From what l can remember it was more the name that was offensive, and not the Gollie part but the ending, when every one went overly politically correct they were removed from sale as being offensive along with alot of other things that were 'black, remember when they wanted to ban baa baa black sheep, there was and is nothing wrong with the doll its self, we are encouraged to have dolls of all colours and creeds so why not a black rag doll (dare l say it a golliwog) with afro hair and dark skin ,which, after all, all that this is. We have had rag dolls for years all white we never banned them as a characture of white people nor were we called raggy because of them gollies just need rebranding. Sorry if l have offended anyone.

[bunyip]

Wow touched a nerve here- love this forum!

Have already sadly decided no way can iI have my two lovely gollies in my setting.
Now I have the problem if what to do with them? Bin them?

Sorry to offend Christine. You were stating it as a fact which I was disputing but yes it seems that many people do see them as caricatures.

Options:-

1. Take them back to the charity shop to swap for Bob the Builder toys (a caracature of white building labourers with dangerously low workplace safety standards.)

2. Put them in the cupboard until everyone else has thrown theirs out, thus creating a shortage which will may them highly collectable and valuable in future when the cultural wind has changed direction. (I'll look out for you on Antiques Roadshow in 15 years.)

3. Convert them into something more acceptable for Mothers' Day.

4. See if your local Children's Centre has a non-pc-toy amnesty bin (you know, like the police do with knives every so often.)

5. Cuddle them, love them, and say, "stuff you World."

[bunyip]

From what l can remember it was more the name that was offensive, and not the Gollie part but the ending, when every one went overly politically correct they were removed from sale as being offensive along with alot of other things that were 'black, remember when they wanted to ban baa baa black sheep, there was and is nothing wrong with the doll its self, we are encouraged to have dolls of all colours and creeds so why not a black rag doll (dare l say it a golliwog) with afro hair and dark skin ,which, after all, all that this is. We have had rag dolls for years all white we never banned them as a characture of white people nor were we called raggy because of them gollies just need rebranding. Sorry if l have offended anyone.

Do children really get the point of our grown-up paranoia?

Owing to repeated comments made by my visiting DO and Ofsted inspector, 2 of my mindees now refer to our black dolly* as "Token". It has stuck fast, so now they actually believe it's her name. "I'm giving Token a bath"; "I want to change Token's nappy"; etc. etc. ............

* Just thought: am I allowed to say "dolly" or is that a sexist reference to "dolly birds"? Sorry ladies, this little Bunyip is confused.

OMFG