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The Forum > Article Comments > Only white girls can be princesses > Comments

Only white girls can be princesses : Comments

By Stephen Hagan, published 29/3/2007

Why do children prefer white dolls to black?

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So Stephen Hagan's daughter is the only one of her classmates to draw a distinction on race - doesnt that imply she has soaked up racist attitudes that her classmates dont have? I would have thought this was a bad thing, not good as the author implies.

Perhaps the children in the study were co-erced into making a decision that reflects badly on attitudes towards blacks - I noticed that the questions (like so many in studies and surveys) were closed. That is, you HAD to choose a good doll and a bad doll. If the question was framed more along the lines of "does either of these dolls look bad to you" then I be much more accepting of the results as showing a bias. Were the dolls dressed identically, and have their hair styled in the same way? If not, then choices could have been made based on fashion/dress preference.
Posted by Country Gal, Thursday, 29 March 2007 1:28:00 PM
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Romany referred to his/her experience with skin colour in China. Maybe one could draw some inferences from the small sample, maybe not.

However there is more evidence that Chinese prefer round, moon faces, which have long been regarded as being beautiful. There is a stack of evidence to support this assertion which would gladden the heart of a certain Australian TV personality. Then again there was the preference for large ears, as evidenced through the centuries in Chinese art.

I wonder if anyone could draw some 'racist' origins for such preferences. It is not surprising how research can support the researcher's bias.
Posted by Cornflower, Thursday, 29 March 2007 2:38:20 PM
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I think that the social standing / skin shade observed by Romany in China is related to how long someone spends in the sun. A peasant will spend hours in the field exposed to the sun, and thus have darker (perhaps subtly darker, but darker none-the-less) skin than the nobility. Thus lighter skin is to be preferred. If you see a woman in sunny Queensland walking along with an umbrella to shade her from the sun there is a very good chance that she will be asian.

The western love of the suntan is a recent phenomenon. Until recently the paler the complexion the better. Lots of songs and poetry from a few hundred years ago have heroines (and often heroes) with "snow white" or "milk white" skin. Snow White herself was intended to be the epitome of beauty. Again it's a class thing; white skin, upper class; tanned skin, peasant.

Quite where Michael Jackson fits into all this I'm not too sure!
Posted by Reynard, Thursday, 29 March 2007 4:00:43 PM
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Stephen Hagan like most of his predominately Anglo Indigenious brothers just love to dwell in victim status,since that just gives them more excuses for not trying harder.

I see a lot of black rappers,models and now actors on our TV screens.He makes no mention of them.

Indians have very dark skin,yet they are becoming the next economic powerhouse of our planet.Bollywood has it's own princesses of dark skin and they don't cry foul.

Beauty and ugliness is not a matter of skin colour,but the unfair dice of our genetic history which determines facial and body proportion.

Life is not fair Stephen,so learn to adapt and make the most of what you have.
Posted by Arjay, Thursday, 29 March 2007 9:42:39 PM
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It seems a tad ironic that white girls buy tanning lotions to make their skin dark and dark people in some countries buy lotions to make their skin look white. It seems we are never content with the way we look.

One point about this article, would my child be allowed to stand up and say "I'm proud of being white." Would that not be considered by the aborigines to be a white supremicist statement.
Posted by sharkfin, Friday, 30 March 2007 12:01:53 AM
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I don't think most men could care less about the colour of a woman's skin. I don't know how the woman feel about it!
Posted by runner, Friday, 30 March 2007 12:42:32 AM
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