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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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Shorbe - despite the fact that they are frequently conflated in this forum, "race" and "culture" are quite distinct concepts.

Mind you, I think the entire notion of human 'races' is itself a cultural construct. As indeed are the values attached to 'whiteness' and 'blackness'. For example, while black is the colour associated with death and mourning in Western cultures, in some Eastern cultures white is the colour of death - i.e. the exact opposite, thus demonstrating the culturally arbitrary nature of colour symbolism.

Further, since there's more genetic variation within the so-called races than between them, when many people - including some of the most prolific racial ranters here - talk about 'race', they invariably describe it in 'cultural' terms.

This is, of course, racism - albeit in a fairly benign form. However, the tacit acceptance of this kind of racism creates the cultural space for the emergence and sustenance of more sociopathic racist ideologies.

Which is also why racism needs to be exposed whenever it raises its ugly head, and I'm grateful to Stephen Hagan for contributing another article that provokes thought and comment about some of the ingrained racisms inherent in Australian culture and society.
Posted by CJ Morgan, Tuesday, 3 April 2007 10:33:36 PM
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C J Morgan: I agree about the genetic arguments against a notion of race. When people talk about race, they're usually talking about culture these days. That still doesn't explain how someone born now can take any credit or pride in something done by someone else, especially if that other person was born four hundred or forty thousand years ago.

"Which is also why racism needs to be exposed whenever it raises its ugly head, and I'm grateful to Stephen Hagan for contributing another article that provokes thought and comment about some of the ingrained racisms inherent in Australian culture and society."

I hope you also mean, as has already been pointed out, the ingrained racisms that make it okay for someone to take pride in being virtually anything other than of (northern) European descent, yet see anyone who has pride in being Anglo as some sort of redneck (which is, ironically, a racist term also). Or, how anyone who lauds the "inherent" onesness with nature of Aboriginal people is a visionary, yet anyone who dares to suggest the "inherent" problems of alcohol and substance abuse, paedophilia, and so on is automatically sent to the sin bin.

There is no real debate on race in this country. What we have is a complete non-debate moonlighting as a debate, with both sides firmly entrenched behind barbed-wire, and anyone daring to step into no man's land getting shot to pieces by either or both sides. There probably won't ever be a serious debate either as there are too many vested interests (on both sides) to frame this as anything other than a black and white (pardon the pun) discussion.
Posted by shorbe, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 12:20:52 AM
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Defining race - depends on which method one uses. Since the 1940's evolutionary scientist speak of race in terms of custom and self identity and understand race as a social construct. Culture being a very large part of that social identity.

Other scientist include self-identified race/ethnicity or biogeographic ancestry, but that they correspond to multilocus genetic data.

White and black are not races but, one small aspect of the total complexity of genetic, custom, culture, socialization, geography, and history of a given people as defined by themselves as a group.
There are many white races, many black races and many yellow races. The skin hue of humankind is, along with features, very noticeable differentiation between races. That one should be mocked for that different hue or feature is maybe the most blatant use of racism. However there are many other forms of racism that go unchallenged and used by all races.

That only white people can be racist or are racist is nonsensical and a racist statement in itself.
Posted by aqvarivs, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 6:22:21 AM
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Yes, but colour blindness theory does not explain how the world has been organised by whiteness and white privilege.

And all this anthropological theorising is a wank.

Anthropology was born out of racist theory - It always gives me a giggle to see posters here trying to theorise and explain away its historical roots here on OLO.
Posted by Rainier, Wednesday, 4 April 2007 10:05:00 PM
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First of all, let me say I love corporate America! I don't understand how the word "corporation" has become this dirty word that describes some evil, conspiring entity. A corporation is made up of people like you and I. They market things based on what they know people like. Anyhow, that being said:

EUROPEAN (White) People are the most attractive people in the world!

People like to look at attractive people. Everybody wants to look at them and be like them in appearance. They are beautiful! It's that simple.

Don't believe me? Ask yourself, why do spanish language channels use the most light-skinned hispanics. Why do blacks and hispanics like to straighten their hair, color it blonde, and/or lighten their skin appearance with makeup? Look at Hugh Heffner's live-in playmates, notice any commonalities? Just saying the truth.
Posted by Rick0, Thursday, 5 April 2007 3:35:00 PM
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Rick0: I think it depends. From my time in Europe, I can personally say that there's not one hot woman in the whole of the British Isles, yet eastern Europe is overflowing with them. Likewise, the U.S. can be a bit hit and miss -- some very good looking, some not at all.

As far as non-white people, I actually think that mixed races tend (on average) to turn out quite attractive. The only problem is that because Caucasian genes tend to be recessive, the mix is very far in the direction of the non-Caucasian. That's not to say they can't be attractive, but that 3/4 Caucasian is a bit more balanced. I've never seen (or met) someone who is 1/4 black, Hispanic or Asian who isn't absolutely gorgeous.

I'm not sure why that might be (other than my own subjectivity), but it might be to do with a broader, more balanced gene pool. I had an Irish friend who hypothesised that the Irish were so much uglier than the Hungarians because the Irish had such a small gene pool, and so everyone tended to look the same (ie. all snaggle-toothed and funny), whereas everyone had been through Hungary and left their genes behind. Maybe it's just because everyone in the British Isles just eats fish and chips and doesn't get any exercise.
Posted by shorbe, Thursday, 5 April 2007 6:05:44 PM
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