posted by Sam Richards
So I’m curious about what you all thought of that video about the dolls. What do you make of how people in class answered the question about how and why this happens? Here it is again. That segment begins around 3:20 if you want to watch it again.
This video definitely was one of the more disturbing videos we have watched in class. I could see the children’s pained expressions as they were told to choose which doll was more beautiful and which looked like them. I do think it’s pretty disturbing that we live in a world where children are so affected by this so called standard of beauty at such young ages. They’re made to dislike their skin color as if it makes them ugly or less than someone with a lighter skin tone. I feel like a lot of it does come from the Disney movies and tv shows. Children grow up only seeing television shows that are dominated by white children and they feel that they must become white or they yearn to look white in order to make it in this world or to be accepted. I feel that more shows need to feature minorities, etc. I’m thinking of many of my favorite movies right now and they are heavily dominated by white actors and actresses. Positive role models can play a major part in the way these children see themselves. If they grow up watching movies or tv shows where the minority characters are seen in a negative light or not seen at all, chances are they probably will have a negative view of how they look. I’m glad that there are more children shows such as Dora the Explorer, Maya and Miguel and Ni Hao Kai Lan. These shows include characters that are white but the main character is a minority. I think it’s especially important that we allow children to see a positive representation of their race. I have a niece that is two and the video made me think of the dolls that she has. It seems like it is too often that people are bombarded with shows that have minorities but they’re only the “token character” They have little dialogue and don’t contribute to the plot in any major way.
I also remember a girl’s comment during class that there are skin issues in the black community as well. I definitely know where she’s coming from as some people I know also claim they don’t want to have children with very dark skin as if it is something that is negative. Many movies also have blacks with lighter skin as opposed to blacks with darker skin. There was a big article about the movie precious and the casting for that film. I’ve read the book and the characters that help her are described as having very dark skin or something similar. However, the movie only featured the black characters with light skin as the positive characters.
There obviously needs to be something done about this idea that having dark skin is not beautiful. Maybe it is people’s fascination with the so called standard of beauty that needs to be changed or as I said earlier, more representation of minorities. I think these ideas can possibly help these children realize that they don’t need to change their skin color to fit in with society. I have a niece who is only two but she has dolls of various skin colors, etc, but her favorite dolls are a pair of black doll twins. I hope we can advance as a society and allow these children to see that they are beautiful and should be accepted for who they are.
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I always knew that race was an issue that affected everybody in the world but I never thought twice about it affecting children that young. We grow up with all these ideal images in our heads of what is pretty and what is not pretty…who is good and who is bad…but I never realized how much it truly does affect how we think when we get older. Watching this video of these children and how most of them didn’t even think twice before they picked up the white baby doll shocked me a lot. I guess it’s one of those things where you subconsciously don’t want to believe that our children are growing up thinking that black people are bad and ugly and that white people are pretty and good. If anything we should be trying to teach children that race doesn’t matter…because it doesn’t. Who cares if I have white skin and you have dark skin? A persons personality matters so much more and I just wish that people could understand that and try and teach the next generation that. However seeing this video I realized that isn’t how it is and it probably isn’t going to be that way any time soon. Society doesn’t help this either since they always make white Barbie dolls or doll babies so much more appealing than ones of different races. Growing up, I never had a baby doll or Barbie doll of a different race, it was always white. I don’t think that it was every because I thought that other races were bad and I didn’t want them because I had been told they were not as good as white dolls, it was just something I didn’t think twice about. Even in Disney movies you see the white characters always so much prettier and always in a good role. Then ones of a different color were never quite as pretty but at the same time they had the same facial features as the white characters. Along with that the ones of color were cast in “evil” parts as well, not just good parts as if saying that white people were always good and could never be evil. These were things that I never thought twice about when I was younger and I’m sure that the kids in the video didn’t think twice about the roles they are seeing on TV. I think that it is sad to see the generation that is coming about growing up racist already. It is sad to watch the kids in the video feel bad about themselves because they aren’t the same color as the doll they picked and wanted to be. I think that we need to start teaching kids to love themselves and to not feel bad about themselves on the color of their skin.
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I had already watched this video in psychology 100 earlier in the year, before it was shown in class last week, but my reaction was entirely the same. Actually, I did not really even know how to react, but the video altogether was definitely disturbing. The actions and responses of the children were all very shocking. You never really think about how much influence the media and society overall has on the youth. Even at such a young age, the majority of the children found the white doll to be more “nice” and likable. The decision to pick up the white doll seemed almost automatic and seamless, as the children who chose the white doll did so with very little hesitation. It just goes to show you how deeply rooted and internalized the idea of racism actually is.
We are not talking about adults here. We are talking about young children.
I would’ve thought or assumed that a child would choose a doll that was easiest to identify with and who looked most similar to themselves. It was shocking to see the girl (at about 4:30) identify herself with the doll she felt was the “bad” doll. I did not see that one coming. And I mean I know these are children and who knows how much they would be able to explain their decision, but all they had to say to justify picking the white doll was the fact that it was white. The fact that white is almost always automatically associated with “nice,” while black is associated with “bad” is pretty messed up.
But how did these children come to the realization that the white doll was the most likeable? Who emphasized it to that extent? Does it have to do with how each child was raised or is it something else? Personally, I don’t see why the parents of these children would teach them that black is “bad” or “not nice.” Just doesn’t make any sense to me. Seems that parents would teach their children to take pride in who they are and skin color is part of that. The media and society itself is definitely shaping the children’s perception of nice or beautiful and what not.
I don’t know if it would be relevant, but I might have wanted to see this experiment done with white and brown children, just to see if the action and responses are the same. I feel like white children would choose the white doll as well, but I would have wanted to watch it play out and to hear some explanations.
And in all seriousness, I think it is sad to see that a children’s perception of beautiful, nice or what not is completely skewed.
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When I first saw this video it was shocking to me at first and even made me tear up a little, but then I began to understand the children. At first when I saw the black children choosing the white doll over the black one I asked myself why and I could not think of a reason. I did not understand how, at such a young age, children and see color and beauty in color? Then I thought back to the biggest influence of children at this age and it is Disney and toys. All of the princess’ in Disney have been white or had white features. The characters have the nice hair which could be easily combed, the perfect figure and the nice rosy check bones. These are the images small girls saw and wanted to be like so of course their vision of beauty was this white figure. I can’t relate to this because growing up my favorite princess was Jasmine. She was of darker skin tone and had the beautiful black long hair like I did. I could never relate to the other princess’ so this was why Jasmine was my favorite. It is possible that some younger girls of color cannot relate like I do so that is why they love the white image.
Another big influence on young girls are Barbie’s. Every little girl growing up love playing with Barbie’s and at first the only Barbie’s being made were white ones. I am guilty of the Barbie epidemic as well. As a young girl I had two types of Barbie’s. I had the white doll which was my collector’s item and I never took it out of the box. I would leave it in the box and just look at how beautiful she looked. The Barbie’s I did play with were the slightly darker ones. I played with these as well because they looked the most similar to me. I am not sure why this is how it is or why other children just automatically chose the white doll, but these two factors may play a big part in it. Something that confuses me is why some of the males chose the white doll. Boys do not play with dolls or watch Disney princess movies so I am still confused as to why they would choose the white doll. I guess the only reason for this would be the media. On television most of the models are white, actors are white and even most teachers are white. Depending on who children look up to is who they believe beauty is and it would make sense that this is the reason why beauty may be seen as white.
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I saw this video a while back and just like everyone is saying it was disturbing for me when I saw it. I just don’t really understand the concept and I don’t think I really ever will. It’s a shame that young kids actually thought this about the dolls simply based on the color and thought they were “the bad doll”. I know when I was younger my cousins would always be playing with Barbies and dolls and from what I can remember very seldom in the mix would be a doll that was not white. I think it would be cool to do some research on the production of dolls during the 1990’s and see the comparison of dolls that were sold. When I was younger being white I never really thought about being a superior race or that my skin color was better because I have light skin. When I showed my friend the video he had some mixed thoughts about it. He said that he believes that no person is born with these beliefs and society probably has something to do with their thought that the white doll is the good and nice doll. He said that through television and movies it brainwashes children to believe some of the thoughts that these children shared in the study. Then again my friend is not a psych major and he is white so I think it goes way deeper than just society alone. When we saw the video in class I wanted to see the reactions from the people around me and then I realized that it was disturbing not only to people of color but everyone. It has to be upsetting when you see people of your own race at such a young age portraying these beliefs and speaking about then without any knowledge of why they are being asked the questions and the purpose of the study. I think that definitely has to strike people in a difficult way and people want to change how these children see people of their own race. I thought maybe it could be just the people in the study and that the children that were chosen to do the study were maybe from tough neighborhoods that only knew to think that white people and dolls were better than dolls and people of color. After I checked out some other responses one stood out to me because she said that when her little sisters or family members would play with dolls they would always play with the white ones and the Asian ones would always be left in the corner and never touched. After taking this class it kind of gives you a better understanding and a broader outlook on issues like this. Instead of watching it and having no learning of race equality you may just think wow this is terrible but when you have some knowledge of actual race relations you can better understand maybe why they said what they said and not just think that it is terrible. Just like the video on c-span where the man said that all white people need to be exterminated. Some people are just raised and always taught from a young age that having lighter skin is better or that all white people are bad people. I think a race relations class should be taught in high school so people don’t grow up thinking that they are superior or inferior to other people of a different race.
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I’m a white girl, so take my words with a grain of salt, but I find this video extremely disturbing. The results of the study showed that the majority of black children preferred to play with white dolls versus black dolls. Additionally, when they were asked which was the good doll they chose the black one. Specifically, the last little girl asked about the dolls clearly shows concern over the idea that she looks most like the doll that she labeled bad. The poor little girls from the video’s study are not reinforced for being who they are and embracing their individual beauty, instead they are force fed ridiculous generalizations that suggesting another girl is better because her skin is pigment-challenged.
As a little girl I remember my favorite dolls looked most like me. I’m not the typical Arian girl, so that meant Barbies with brown hair and eyes were my favorite. From this video it seems that my preferences placed me in the minority. The issue my mom had with buying me dolls with dark hair and eyes was that most of them also had darker skin. At one point I remember wanting darker skin; as I look back, I would assume my desire was rooted in the training that dolls were the ideal of beauty. Now, as a young adult, I try to buy my younger cousins and the kids I watch dolls and toys that are more culturally diverse. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s a difficult task, however I feel that every little step helps.
The young adolescent girls interviewed before and after the experiment segment verbalized the perception of beauty that they have had forced upon them by society. During the period of adolescence – with the development of the imaginary audience – adjusting to your changing body is a difficult experience. In this time girls go through some very scary shifts that alter your psychological identity and distort your body image. On top of the inward struggles, peers tend to not be very empathetic and the social pressure mounts to fit into a cookie cutter definition of good looks. Again, these are just some struggles I experienced as a white girl with the huge advantage of being part of the group that defines the American beauty standards.
In my experience, I have met many people that are very pretty on the outside; however once they opened their mouths I got the sense that they were very ugly on the inside. I know it’s difficult to ignore the human tendency to judge based on appearance, but seeing these wonderful little girls distorted conceptions makes my heart ache. From such a young age they are manipulated by the system and brainwashed to believe a particular definition of beauty without ever taking a chance to question and discover their own meaning. If they aren’t giving themselves a chance, who will?
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The doll experiment is very shocking. It is a shame that those children believe that white people are viewed as the good people and black people as viewed as the bad. It is partly society’s fault because it is obvious that there are a lot of examples on the TV and in movies that support that type of theme, but the parents are partly to blame as well. They should be the ones who explain to their children that there is no ideal race that is good or bad, instead it is based on what people do with their life that determines who is good and who is bad.
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I have to say that this video really got to me. I can truly say that I was completely unaware of the sort of self hatred black and brown people had in their youth, and possibly later on in life. Watching the video actually reminded me of a story that my mom always told me about when I was younger. Apparently during the time that cabbage patch kids were all the rage my parents took me to the mall to go get one. Instead of picking the doll that looked like me, (white, very white) I choose a black boy doll. Since I was so young, I do not remember this decision and the process I went though to select this black doll.
It is really astonishing to me that when the observer asked which doll the black and brown kids would like to play with, that they chose the white doll. It was even more disturbing that they said the “nice” doll was the white doll. I had always assumed that kids would pick the doll that looked most like them. I just figured this was human nature, and partly the reason why people became friends with other people who looked and acted like them. I really had no idea that the media and society trained us at such a young age to view white as better than black. Like Sam said, it was really painful to watch them make a decision, and then try to justify the decision when questioned by the researcher. They weren’t sure why they had chosen the white doll and said it was nice while the brown one was bad, but they for sure knew it was the “correct” answer. The children said their answers with such confidence it was frightening. I found myself asking “how the hell do these kids already have such clear bias AGAINST THEMSELVES?”
Are the media and other established institutions really that biased? The answer must be yes. How else would such clear racism come about at such an early age when they have not been influenced by their peers or teachers?
As the week went on after viewing this video, I found myself taking a deeper look at media in all forms. TV, magazines, and movies all became little experiments for me. I wanted to see how such a phenomenon could happen. I found that it really is true, media most of the time does favor whites. In a society where whites are more and more coming the majority, ads and television portray white people as the end all be all race. Then I found myself asking, why is that? May be it be that white people have most of the buying power in the US, so naturally marketers will try and target them? Perhaps. I truly believe that it is the long held institution of white society that has ingrained these children into believing what they do. Hopefully in the coming years these institutions will be knocked down and more self worth will be held in the youth of black and brown people.
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To me beauty is probably one of the most difficult words to define, and only because it takes on so many forms. It saddens me to see that the media, however, makes its definition of beauty so narrow. And why would we be surprised that these black children chose the white doll since the media blindsides us with subliminal messages of what should be socially acceptable? Google’s definition of “beauty” is collectively the same—a white woman. Flipping through channels one can instantly see that t.v. shows and movies are predominantly white.
Growing up, the Disney princesses were all white and the majority of the movies I watched had mostly white characters. I remember having all white Barbies, and that was by choice. There were black Barbies, but to me they weren’t pretty. Not to say that I didn’t feel worthy or pretty, but there was just something about the dolls that were off. If I had been in this study when I was younger I probably would’ve picked the white doll too, just simply based on looks. At 19, I would pick the black doll in a heartbeat, but if I was asked which doll looks better I would probably say the white one and that just because that’s just really how it is. A comment was made in class that the black Barbie was weird looking and the clothes they dress her in are weird. I do agree and I feel if they are going to market them, the black and the white doll should be equal. Maybe optional sets of clothes and accessories should be available, IF desired. I do think the media has a lot of influence on the way that these experiments panned out, but also I feel that the marketing and design do play a significant role as well.
A point on the skin bleaching segment—I have heard of the practice before. I remember watching an episode of Tyra where a woman would scrub herself with bleach in hopes of becoming lighter and would put creams on her two sons so they wouldn’t have to suffer the darkness. The most upsetting part was probably that, she felt she would be more beautiful and her life would be much easier if she was lighter. Another show talked about black women that refused to date black men because they didn’t want their kids to come out with “bad hair.” The issue of beauty in the black community is rooted deeply, and firmly for that matter—it is obvious where these ideas have manifested, but a change in scene from the media probably wouldn’t even surface the problem.
Beauty, should not be defined by one’s skin. “Beauty is only skin deep”—but skin is the problem. I wish that each of those girls could see that they are beautiful just the way they are (also that black isn’t bad), and for the women on Tyra I wish them the same. Every color is beautiful—beauty is only what you make it and in most cases the sources we turn to for insight to beauty is artificial beauty… so why believe it?
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Before Sam started the video when he was just talking about it, I thought he was exaggerating the truth as he sometimes does. I didn’t think it was possible for a video about children choosing between two dolls could be so disturbing. Also I did not fully believe that children actually got the impression that white people were in some way superior to other races, but this video makes it extremely difficult to argue that point. Watching the struggle and pain in the children’s eyes as they picked the baby that looked like it would be the “good” child was excruciating. It is not fair for them to have that picture painted for them at such a young age when they do not even fully understand any race issues. The most important part of the video is the children’s age. I cannot imagine how these children got these ideas but I’m sure they will have a very hard time dealing with these ideas once they start to understand them.
I wondered for some time which doll I would have chosen. Based on the statistics it is almost a certainty that I would pick the white doll, but I wish there was some way I could go back and be a part of the study without knowing the results. Even more interesting and challenging was the question of which doll looks like the bad doll. I thought even more about which one I would choose if any. I would hope that I would look at the two dolls and say they both look nice, but there is no way for me to remember my thoughts when I was that young.
It is really hard for me to wrap my head around the children choosing the black doll as the one that looks bad. They were identical dolls, except for color obviously, but most of the children quickly identified the black doll as the bad one. It’s well known and somewhat accepted that white perceived as a pure color whereas black is perceived as evil but I never really thought about it in terms of skin color. When we see princesses in movies wearing white and the villains wearing black it is easy to expect that connection to be made, but it is troubling that it extends to skin color as well.
I hope this study is done again sometime in the future and the results are dramatically different. It is not crazy to think it would be possible in the near future as children are unbiased. If we can eliminate the things that make children believe black is evil it is possible that in only one generation those results could be completely different.
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This is one of the most emotional videos I have ever seen. I keep myself from crying every time I watch it. It saddens me to see these innocent children look down upon their own skin color because of what society has made them to believe right at such a young age. I think this says a lot about our society if even children notice such a big difference between black and white and which one is good or bad. These children see their own dark skin as a bad quality, when they should love who they are and what they look like. We do not realize these perceptions exist. These views need to change.
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My first reaction to the video was Wow!! Watching the video in class, I felt touched, sad, embarrassed, degraded, and hurt. What killed me the most is when the little black kid said the black Barbie doll was ugly and he also said this it was the one that he looks like— That brought tears to my eyes.
After watching this video, my prospective about parents having the biggest influence on children lives especially socially and cognitively has change. I’ve always thought that parent influence how their kids thinks but I have now realized that society have the biggest influence on children’s lives. I am an African, and when I first came to the United States, I used to get very angry and annoyed every time kids in my elementary and middle school use to make fun of Africa and ask me silly questions about Africa. Because I was a Kid and did not understand the real reasons why those other kids thought that way about Africa, I used to think they was the rude and ignorant. After leaning, and living in the American society for years, I now understand that society is the biggest reason to children ignorant and reactions to racism. Children learned exactly what society teaches them, and because the American society teaches them that the White is the better and “Hero” race, and black is the degrading and always in need for salvation race; therefore, children grow up with these ideas. It is sad that racism especially the “White Messiah” is all over the media. For examples, you see the “White Messiah” in movies, in advertisements, video games and other entertainments. History also focuses on the whites and teaches less about Blacks history. Instead of teaching positive thing about Blacks history, they keep reminding them about slavery and negative things about their heritage. For example, they never show you the nicest things about Africa; instead they show people in salvation. There are so many things they could talk about like the beautiful cities in Africa, the natural resources etc. Because of the negativity and degrading, therefore, Blacks are ashamed of where they came from.
Going back to the video, the Blacks kids saw that Whites are always view as the better race so they rather have a white doll because in society they are the most pretty and accepted race. Also, most of the Whites doll are made with prettier features such as long hair, prettier eyes, and have better clothes and shoes on. If you look at most Blacks Barbie dolls, they are always the less attractive dolls in stores. Also, you see more Whites dolls in stores than black dolls. This is so sad!
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I agree with Sam that this was a very disturbing video. First of all, what the young women had to say about being black is pretty eye opening. Personally, as far as the whole hair topic goes, I believe we should embrace our OWN NATURAL beauty. No one should be ashamed of their own physical features. I think that each one has a different and unique body with different characteristics. After all, the women that are considered "naturally beautiful" in popular culture aren't actually what they depict. They too have had to go through the process of tearing their own self down to disguise who they really are to fit certain agreed upon mold of beauty.
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. I mean really, mostly every model has gone on a dangerous diet, had their hair dyed multiple times, and have changed the way they are in some other way or another. This makes me think about one video I watched in psych class. It was a dove commercial that went through how a natural woman is transformed through makeup, haircuts, and technology to reveal this glamorous woman that is slapped onto every magazine. The truth is, that person doesn't exist. With using a computer, her lips are made bigger, her skin was tanned, her blemishes magically disappeared, and her little belly was instantly erased. I would recommend that everyone takes a chance to look at this Dove commercial. It truly represents the truth about the media.
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Part II:
I also feel that I had a somewhat similar experience to this. Back home in Peru I never really felt ugly. I grew up thinking that I was pretty. I was light skinned compared to the indigenous people of Peru and I guess in a wrong way I felt superior to these people when I was little because I didn’t know better. Moving from South America to the states at the age of nine was a really hard adaptation process for me. First I was teased all the time in school because of my thick accent and my lack of knowledge in English, I guess I was easy to pick on and stood out. I was the one with darker skin, darker eyes and darker hair compared to everyone else and suddenly I began to feel like ugly, really ugly.
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Part III:
Every day after school I would come home crying because I was teased and picked on and because I didn’t have any friends. All I wanted was to just look act and speak like all the other light skinned, and light eyed girls so that I could fit in and make friends. I even began to try to change myself and deny my ethnic identity just so I could be like everyone else without knowing that this was actually harming me. I guess it wasn’t until later in high school and college that I actually began accepting myself and finding beauty in myself. This just proves that your surroundings definitely impact your way of thinking especially at a young age.
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Part IV:
My only hope is that they are not getting these negative messages at home or at school. I feel that what parents and teachers tell kids has such a big impact on them that I think it’s extremely important for them to send them positive messages and whenever they see a student teasing another student that they do something about it and have conversations with children about acceptance. It’s never too early to have these conversations and I actually think that the sooner the better because kids absorb everything very quickly and if all they are receiving from society is negative messages, then this will definitely affect them one way or another when they grow up.
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I thought that this video clip was very disturbing. At first Sam warned the class but I really did not think it would be that bad. It was truly amazing to see how other people view things. After hearing all the different responses from the children the overall consensus was that the white doll was good and the black doll was bad. It was truly eye opening to see how even the children of colored favored the white doll over the black doll.
It is very sad to think that these children have to look in the mirror and think that they are not good enough. They are considered the “bad doll”. What makes them think that way? It boggles my mind that even at such a young age these children are already forming these ideas and thoughts in their head about race and society. It should not be like this, children should be out playing with their dolls and not worrying about which one is nicer looking or prettier looking.
I think that a lot of this has to do with the media and society. When kids are growing up they tend to watch a lot of TV. They probably see all the commercials and ad’s with white models and white families all over them. There really are not many advertisements with people of color on them. The media has portrayed such a terrible image of what beauty really is and it is destroying our world. It is impacting young children all the way to adults. Children should not be faced with this type of pressure at such a young age. They need to realize that they are truly beautiful and not listen to what the media tells them. The “beauty” that they see on TV is fake and typically unattainable. Half the time, these models and celebrities are airbrushed and photo shopped completely. People do not really look like that in real life and the media should not be trying to promote that type of beauty to such young children.
I guess this issue never really affected me growing up because I always had white dolls. I never really preferred any of the black dolls but I think that is because they did not look like me. I always tried to get my dolls to look like me and dress like me. So why would I pick a doll that had a different skin color then me? However, it is really sad to see that even the little black girls are not choosing dolls that look like them. They are choosing dolls based off of what the media and society have told them is acceptable. This is such a terrible issue that really needs to stop.
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When I first saw this video in class, I honestly did not know how to react. At first, I just sat there almost in shock because I had no words. I could not believe what I was seeing and hearing come out of the mouths of these kids. When Sam had us watch the video for a second time, I started to tear up because to know that this is how children really think is very disturbing. Thinking back to my childhood, I guess I was never put in that position because I am white and did not really have to choose between a white doll or an African American doll. I remember seeing the different colors of dolls in the toy stores, but when you are so young, you do not think about things such as the race of the doll you just picked out with your birthday money. I think I kind of understand why these children said that they would choose the white doll over the African American one, but I guess I just thought all along that they would naturally side with the doll that is the same color as they are. To know that the kids did not choose the African American doll because it was the "mean doll" was the part that bothered me the most. Our society has led kids today to believe that people of color are the ones who are "mean" and that white people are the ones you can trust. I do not agree with that way of thinking and I also know that, according to statistics on crime, it is not true that white people are not as "mean" as African American people. White people are just as guilty as any person of any other race or ethnicity to cause harm to someone else. We are all human which means that we are all able to do the same things.
This video clip made me really think about my future and what I will want to teach my children. I want them to be able to understand race and that we are all different, yet still the same; that one person is not more trustworthy than the other just based on the color of their skin. Every viewpoint should be taken into effect, whether you agree with it or not and you should respect every persons viewpoint.
I think this video did speak volumes to our class, just by the simple responses from those kids in the video. The silence in the classroom was just like a "wow" reaction. I think many of us did not know how to react, and even though some people reacted differently than others, I think we all received the same message: That we may not be verbally teaching kids to like or not like certain people or things, and this may sound cliche, but our actions speak louder than words and kids imitate every move adults make.
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Part I:
This video was so sad to watch but so real. I don’t think I will ever be able to erase the image of the little black girl when she is asked to choose the doll who she thinks is the bad doll and she chooses the black doll, and then when she is asked to choose the doll who looks more like her and she is torn when choosing the black doll again. The expression in her face just breaks my heart. It so sad to see that at such a young age, kids are associating themselves with being “the bad and ugly race.” I feel that kids learn these things from what they see every day. I mean if you look at the mass media for example in Disney there was not a single black Disney princess until recently, when the movie the princess and the frog came out and a black Disney princess were featured. (Actually now that I notice there is not a Latina princess so maybe this will bring a problem to Latina girls.)Until then all that little kids would see was predominantly white princesses and princes and they are always the “good people.”
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The point Sam made in class about Disney was very thought provoking. I had always thought that Disney did such a good job incorporating the different races into their movies. They have Jasmie, Pocohontas, Mulan and many others. I thought they were incorporating a variety of different races. However, when Sam said that they all still have the same features as a white person except their skin color and half color was just a little different, that was very eye opening. I had never even noticed this before. But if you think about it normal people of those races look nothing like that, so why would they make them look like something they are not?
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I was appalled, by what I saw in this video. I could not believe my eyes when the majority of these children chose the white doll as the one they would want to play with, it was ridiculous! It made me cringe when they said that the black doll was the evil one and the white one was the good one purely based on their skin color. And how much pain was in their faces as they made that decision. It really makes me sick to see this in the world today. I have a very upsetting and horrible personal story relating to this. Which I am incredibly sorry for and would never dream of doing anything like this now that I am not an ignorant little child.
When I was younger I had barbies, like most children growing up in the 90's, I would play them with my mom. And again like most little girls I wanted to give my barbies a hair cut, so of course I picked out the barbies that I would not mind if I messed up while cutting their hair, which if you know anything about barbies it never really looks good when you cut their hair. I had a black barbie, she was the first one whose hair I cut, when it looked bad, I did not care, I simply made her always be the "mean" barbie. I mean maybe it was just because she did not look like me, but still it was wrong of me to do that, I did not know any better though. I was like three or four when I did it, and there was no one really teaching me about race. I mean I was always very concerned as a child when I saw a lack of Judaism in public places, but it never once crossed my mind about racism. And here was me just being ignorant. Looking back on it I feel horrible about it. I would do anything to take it back. I know that from a very young age I will teach my kids to be kind to everyone, and that skin color does not matter. I am truly sorry for what I did as a child and I would not dream of ever doing it again.
Watching this video made me feel extra horrible about what I did as a child. I just want a world where the color of your skin or your religion etc. does not matter and every one gets along. I wish I could do something on a large scale to make this a reality but I can not think of anything to do.
Again I am 100% truly sorry, and I would take it back in heartbeat if I could. It was nothing personal to anyone of color, it was just ignorance.
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I saw this video and immediately felt saddened by it. The kids all seemed to be struggle with this question, especially the girl that was asked which one looked like her. She had to pick out the nice one, and the one that looked like her. I thought that was an especially troubling question to ask the girl and I felt bad for her. I think that the majority of the answers to the question in class were accurate. I am a male so I didn’t play with too many dolls as a child, but I understand where people were coming from with their comments as to why they would choose the white doll over the black one.
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I totally mentioned this study in one of my blog comments from the beginning of the semester! I saw it for the first time in my Psychology 100 class and I recall seeing it and just being shocked.
But, you know, I have a question about that study. Is it fair to ask the "Which doll is the bad doll?" question? Afterall, in western culture, black and white have always been associated with "Bad" and "Good," respectively. You hardly ever see a villain in a children's story shrouded in anything other than black. Remember the witch in Snow White? Black robes. Voldemort in Harry Potter?
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Continued:
Shrouded in darkness. And white is nearly always associated with good— I know I'm not alone when I say that I have NEVERRRRRRRR seen Jesus wearing anything that WASN'T white. And, you know, if you think about it, God's always depicted wearing white robes.
So when you put a brown doll and a white doll in front of a kid, what other cultural script are they supposed to refer to? I'm sure you could put a brown dog and a white dog in front of them and they'd still pick the white dog as the "good" dog. I don't know exactly how legitimate that question is.
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Watching this segment in class was heartbreaking. I have heard of studies like this before but this was the first time I’ve ever witnessed such a thing. Perhaps most astounding was the fact that not much has changed form decades ago when this same experiment was performed.
It was upsetting to see the children continuously pick the white doll – I think the narrator said the white doll was selected fifteen out of twenty one times – but it was even more disheartening to watch the children make their selections when the girl in the video asked them which doll was the “good” one and which doll was the “bad” one. In a perfect world, we would hope that all of the children would say something along the lines of “neither doll is bad.” How have these children reached these conclusions? Is it because of today’s media? The news? Television? Movies? Video games? How could children have, at such a young age, such a definitive answer for what is good and what is bad based purely on color?
The saddest part of the entire seven minute clip was without a doubt when the woman in the experiment asked a young black girl which doll was the bad doll – she selected the black one – and then asked her which doll looked like her – the black one again.
How is it that at such a young age these girls already have such low self esteem based solely on their color? Do they really believe they are inherently “bad” because of their skin? We discussed this video clip briefly in class and it was interesting to hear the perspective of the black students in my section. I was astonished to see they didn’t seem as outraged as I was over the issue. It’s almost as if they expected this outcome. It made me wonder, if these black students had been asked this question in their youth would they have answered the same way?
It’s heartbreaking that this is accepted in our society. Hopefully if the experiment is performed again in a few decades, the children of that generation will say “I don’t know” when asked who the bad doll is.
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Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students and denying black children equal educational opportunities unconstitutional. The decision overturned earlier rulings going back to Plessey v. Ferguson in 1896. Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Warren Court's unanimous (9–0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." As a result, de jure racial segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This victory paved the way for integration and the civil rights movement.
In 1950th Dr. Kenneth Clark conducted a test to see how black children would react to a well formatted questionnaire. The results were astonishing. As it turned out at very young age the black children already possessed bitter feelings about their heritage and their skin color. Recently there was another study done as we saw on YouTube. Unfortunately, although we might have thought that we came far with race issues, in reality we still have a long way as the young children are a proof of continues segregation among light and dark skin complexion.
It was very hard to watch children hesitate between two dolls. The segment with a black girl first picking a white doll as a good doll and then switching to black doll saying that it was a bad doll…. And then when a question was raised as to what doll she was as it turned out she really wanted to be a white doll….. But since she was black she had to pick a black doll that she previously identified as a bad doll. It is a heart breaking reality to see those children in such young age make such extreme decisions and divisions Moreover, it wasn’t one or two black girls who did there were boys tested as well and as a result 15 out 21 children participating in this survey picked a white doll over a black doll although they themselves were black and were raised in black communities. I personally think that that’s where the whole segregation point of view starts. Parenting and the community where those children grow up are very powerful factors in shaping children’s opinions. Therefore, most of the blame is on the parents of those children. I feel that there is less segregation and hate coming from white people than among the multiracial communities. I feel like the people in black communities are creating more tension between themselves and formulating false statements about whites where in reality I feel as most of the white people would not ever think twice about how dark or light a certain person looks. As we saw in the video not even once did the black girls mentioned that a white individual told them that they are too dark and that’s why they are not pretty, as oppose to that they hear comments and segregation within their community in relation what is pretty and what is not. I honestly think that if the white people thought black was not attractive they would not be in tanning salons every day, even though they know that they might get cancer and other implications to their body. White people lay in the sun all summer just to look darker in the Fall.
Therefore, I think if the black people interacted more with white people they would see that whites through education learned to accept everyone… and only the black people still are in their bobble and think that they are looked at differently because of their skin tone. I personally judge people on how they act. If they are loud and obnoxious and scream each other’s name while they walk, then I would judge them, but it has nothing to do with their race. It all comes done to behaving civil and proper when in public. I hope that someday the people will realize that and stop talking about segregation among themselves or in front of their young children. Children don’t get those idea from their heads… they get them from their parents. So, I hope in a near future those children will not do the same and would not grow with the same ideologies as their parents did. I feel as education is a key in changing the views of those communities. I fell as the black communities were a little bit in disadvantage as to education and learning about white people while the white people are more exposed to race classes and have more opportunities study abroad and travel to countries in Asia, Europe and Africa and even South America.
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Watching this video several times, I am amazed on how every time I do watch it I am always shocked and thrown back on how this video is actually true and it really happened. To put black kids in front of a black doll and a white doll, they would choose to play with the white doll because the white doll is nice and easy to get along with, while the black doll is not nice and you cant get along with, the black doll causes trouble and can get anyone else in trouble. The white doll looks better and acts better, they are prettier. While the black doll is not good looking and very dirty and doesn’t act like a normal person. To me this is very disturbing that kids grow up thinking and acting like this. To be put in this situation growing up, I wouldn’t know how to react, to be told or taught or how to think and act as a child and put under the assumption that blacks are bad and whites are good is just indescribable. We are all different, there are plenty of bad white people and plenty of good black people. Just because people put the stereotype on blacks being bad doesn’t mean its true. So why should these kids grow up thinking the same thing? If we want to change our society and make it more neutral for our kids and young ones who are growing up then we need to take action. The action can be small by telling our kids that picking friends based on color or ethnicity is wrong, choose your friends for the ones you want to be with because you enjoy their similar interests. Don’t choose sides in fights because one is black and other is not or vice versa. Obviously, changing people and their attitudes or this situation is not a over night process. It will take a lot more than just talking to your loved ones. But if enough of us talk to our kids at a young age and get them on the right track of life, you have no idea where the affirmative action can lead to. This something that we as society can look forward to in time especially in the future as we push along for equality in all people. After all, it only takes one person to start a revolutionary movement, one small step at a time.
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Out of all things that I have seen or learned about in this class, this one disturbed me the most. Something about the look in those little girls’ eyes when she acknowledged the fact that the doll that looked the “most like her” was the black one that struck a serious nerve in me. Why is it that these beautiful little kids associate white with goodness? I’m sure that it cannot be innate. It has to be something that they are taught or have observed throughout the short lifetimes.
Thinking back to race relations class that I had my sophomore year, I vaguely remember one of my fellow classmates, who is a black woman, slightly touching upon the subject. Part of the reason she felt as though there was a stigma placed on black skin is there negative connotation associated with all things that are dark. For instance when one thinks about the color white their minds immediately associate the term with cleanliness, purity and innocence. When we think of black our minds tend to associate it with filth or ominous thoughts. It is unfortunate but it something that is ultimately driven into our lives from the time that we are born.
Also thinking back to my childhood (and I know that this was touched upon in class…) my heroes were none other than the Disney princesses. I was convinced that I was Princess Ariel. I even combed my hair with a fork. From a very young age, I associated what was beautiful back to the Disney princesses. Though all there were a few that were apparently from other ethnic backgrounds (Jasemine was Indian, Mulan was Chinese), their skin was still light and their features were entirely Caucasian. With that said, I never remember having a moment of “wow, these girls look like me” (besides mine and Ariel’s ginger association), which is odd because I went to a very diverse preschool and kindergarten. I was not in the minority by any means, but I would definitely say that there were as many white kids as there were black, Asian and an Indian. It confuses me that I never had a racial awakening. Perhaps that due in part to my inherit obliviousness and the fact that I thought being around people that were different looking than me was normal.
Nonetheless, it pains me to see these little girls who do not think that they are on par with the beauty of white girls. It is sickening. Chris Rock recently made a movie about black women’s hair and how often little girls are ashamed of their “kinks.” There has to be further action taken so we change the perception of these young minds into believing that they are just as worthy than the white girls they envy.
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The doll video disturbed even me as a white woman. I was in utter shock seeing all those little children pick the white doll over the black doll because the white doll was seen as “good” and the black doll was seen as “bad.” It is incredible how much information can enter a child’s psyche and influence how they see good and bad. After seeing that video I paid more attention to advertisements and television in general and I never noticed how ordinarily white most of television is. No that being white is a bad thing and the fact that television and media in general is predominantly white never really affected me because I am white. I wonder if people of color even notice the difference at first. Obviously they do subconsciously when they are younger than they must notice it eventually. For example, black girls in my class said that their parents wouldn’t let them have white dolls and they didn’t understand at first. But the reason is clear. These children knew they were black and still picked the white doll and not the black doll because the black doll was supposedly “bad.” Minorities must go through awakening and the anger stage to realize that the whole world was designed with white in mind. Imagine growing up in a world where you don’t look like anyone else and the people you do look like are stereotyped in such a negative manner that you have no choice but to prove the stereotype to be true. I don’t know what that’s like. So when black people say that white people are ignorant to the struggles and problems of people I color I cant really argue with them. I grew up with all white friends in a predominantly white school in an Irish catholic neighborhood. My only real experience with black people my age were the ones that went to the nearest public school down the block from my house and they weren’t the kindest to white girls in catholic school uniforms. Maybe it was the anger or resentment that I didn’t understand but it must be frustrating to live in a world where you are looked at differently just because you fit the negative stereotype of your race. I didn’t understand why they shouted things at us or even would run full force into a group of us to see if we would scatter, and we would. We would look at them with such confusion that it probably fueled more anger. They didn’t understand us we didn’t understand them and it shouldn’t be like that. After taking this class I can see things a little differently. How living in a world designed for someone else in mind must be very hard.
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First of all seeing this video was just so sad to me. My sister was the same when she was a child. She always choose the white dolls in comparison to the black dolls and I am obviously a black girl and so is my sister and me and my parents never really realized why she was always trying to play with the white dolls and would always throw the black dolls away and get mad at my parents if they got her a black doll and would refuse to play with the doll if it were not a white doll. Seeing the thing in class just made me think that it is terrible that young kids only think that white is pretty whether they are white or black and that is sad. The dolls looked exactly the same from their features to there outfit to the style of there hair and everything and the kids only wanted to play with the doll that was white. I couldnt believe that but that is what society does to people and for that to be a kid at such a young age thinking that white is better than black is very depressing. Society puts this thing on people that says lighter skin is beautiful and darker skin is less attractive and it sucks to think that is what young kids believe because that is not true.
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