Check out, for example, Dela:

She has a really cute face:

And here’s Latasha:

Connor is advertised as a boy, but I like that s/he has kind of a lesbian vibe:

And then there’s Lycia:

Check out all the Groovy Girls, and let me know which one is your favorite.

i can’t believe this but i’ve been searching for a asian rag dog for [my son] and i came across a site called the multicultural toybox. when i clicked on the about tab, guess whose name is there?? you’re awesome!! now help me find an asian rag doll for [him] that doesn’t have slanty eyes and wear oriental clothing!!

My response (which I’ve expanded a bit for this blog entry):

This is indeed a frustrating search. You have my sympathies!

Your best place to look might be Etsy, though of course there are a ton of stereotypical Asian dolls there, too. You’re going to pay a bit more than in a chain store, but if you see a doll you like there–of any ethnicity–you might be able to get the creator to make a custom doll for you with the characteristics you want. It’s very common for Etsy sellers to make custom items. Definitely do a search for “Waldorf dolls” because I’ve seen those in all kinds of skin tones, hair types, and clothing styles. They tend to have this general shape:

photo by Céline, and used under a Creative Commons license

I also like this Etsy shop a lot — – though of course you’re going to want to be sure to get a doll w/o any detachable parts like buttons.  If you like her style, but you’re crafty yourself, you definitely need to check out Hillary Lang’s Wee Wonderfuls: 24 Dolls to Sew and Love. Lang also offers relatively easy-to-sew–and very cute–doll patterns on her website.

If you’re looking for a baby rag doll, Amazon offers this Rosy Cheeks Baby:

Amazon also sells a girl version of the same doll:

Multicultural Toybox readers, what would you recommend to my friend or to others looking for similar dolls?

It ties in nicely with my most recent post: why can’t we more easily reimagine characters in other ethnicities?

If she’s still available, you can purchase her for $45.

My complaint about Toy Story 3 doesn’t stem just from a desire to see more diverse characters represented in a box office winner (and quality movie).  Rather, my dissatisfaction has another dimension: merchandising.  We all know how poorly represented people of color are in the mainstream toy market, and Pixar has missed a significant opportunity to address that gap in representation.

Critics of this idea might argue that including a toy of color in the film–and then creating an actual toy from the character–would be a losing proposition for Pixar, as toys of color are less popular than white character toys, even sometimes among children of color.  I argue that Pixar has a large enough media platform and merchandising empire to influence the attitudes of all kinds of children toward multicultural play.

In this age, why must Jessie be a redhead?  Or solely a redhead?  Why can’t she be, say, Latina?  Couldn’t Pixar’s merchandising division offer variations on characters so that children can see themselves represented in their everyday play, if not in the movie?

What are your thoughts?

Quiz!

You must take–and encourage others to take–this eye-opening quiz from EdChange. To get a sense of it, check out the first three questions:

1. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, what is the percentage of U.S. schools with no teachers of color on staff?

2. Compared with White women, how likely are African American women in the U.S. to die during childbirth due to a lack of access to prenatal care, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality?

3. According to a study by the American Association of Physicians for Human Rights, what percentage of physicians report witnessing a colleague giving reduced care or refusing care to lesbian, gay, or bisexual patients?

If the answers don’t get you energized to work toward social justice and a better world for your children or students, I don’t know what will.

Photos!

If you’re into Barbie dolls or multicultural dolls, you definitely want to visit Sage’s photos of her multicultural Barbie doll collection.

I’m not usually a huge Barbie fan, but I must say I’m quite taken with distinctive face and hair of the Incan Barbie:

Event!

The National Association for Multicultural Education is promoting a week of awareness of the discrimination underlying, and the harm caused by, name-calling.  No Name-Calling Week runs from January 25-29, 2010.  On a personal note, I was the kid in my elementary and junior high school classes who bore the brunt of many assumptions, catty remarks, and flat-out name calling, and I can attest to the long-term psychic damage of such taunts.

Social justice!

There’s a terrific story circulating through the media this week about Arkansas fifth-grader Will Phillips, who is refusing to say, or even stand up for, the Pledge of Allegiance until that part about “liberty and justice for all” is actually, you know, true.  Specifically, Will is advocating for civil rights for gays and lesbians, and as you can imagine, he’s taking a lot of flak from his fellow students.  From an article in the Arkansas Times:

Though many of his friends at school have told him they support his decision, those who don’t have been unkind, and louder.

“They [the kids who don't support him] are much more crazy, and out of control and vocal about it than supporters are.”

Given that his protest is over the rights of gays and lesbians, the taunts have taken a predictable bent. “In the lunchroom and in the hallway, they’ve been making comments and doing pranks, and calling me gay,” he said. “It’s always the same people, walking up and calling me a gaywad.”

Even so, Will said that he can’t foresee anything in the near future that will make him stand for the pledge. To help him deal with the peer pressure, his parents have printed off posts in his support on blogs and websites. “We’ve told him that people here might not support you, but we’ve shown him there are people all over that support you,” Phillips said. “It’s really frustrating to him that people are being so immature.”

Check out this fabulous and very funny video about Will’s stance from The Daily Show:

What were your favorite things this week? Share them in the comments!

Dawn Friedman of the Anti-Racist Parent explains why having a multicultural doll ghetto is not enough.

Over at BlogHer, Super Jive asked, Modern Dolls: Slut-Trainers or Empowerment Tools? Is There a Middle Ground?

Also at BlogHer, lmilbrand touches on one of my personal concerns: that American Girl dolls represent only “white-girl history”, even if their manufacturer does offer “ethnic” versions of the dolls as supporting characters.

[Link in this paragraph and blogger's name removed due to blogger's request for privacy on 1/30/2009] Another blogger compared Asian ethnic dolls and recommended the Karito Kids Chinese doll Ling over American Girl’s Chinese American Ivy.

The [now anonymous blogger's] post brings up an interesting question in my mind: Can the American Girl “ethnic” dolls with their European features be useful to multiracial kids who are of European extraction? Please delurk and share your thoughts!

• List of black superheroes at Wikipedia
• The Museum of Black Superheroes
• Comic Books Enrich Their Character Mix
• Glyphs blog at PopCultureShock
• East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention
• Africomics
• Paradigm: Ethnic superheroes and their creators
• The Ormes Society: “an organization dedicated to supporting black female comic creators and promoting the inclusion of black women in the comics industry as creators, characters and consumers”
• The Carl Brandon Society: “dedicated to addressing the representation of people of color in the fantastical genres such as science fiction, fantasy and horror. We aim to foster dialogue about issues of race, ethnicity and culture, raise awareness both inside and outside the fantastical fiction communities, promote inclusivity in publication/production, and celebrate the accomplishments of people of color in science fiction, fantasy and horror.”
• Pioneering cartoonists of color

Want to buy superhero of color figures for your kids or your favorite comic book geek action figure collector? Here are some available online:

• Deluxe Kendra Action Figure from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Slayer Kendra from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Palisades Toys)
• Niobe from The Matrix
• Morpheus from The Matrix:

• Limited-Edition Storm from the X-Men
• X-Men Classics Storm Action Figure
• Set including Green Lantern III
• Green Lantern Action Figure
• Green Lantern Resin Figurine:

• Green Lantern III
• Green Lantern Mini Maquette Statue
• Justice Lord Green Lantern Action Figure
• X-Men Deluxe Edition Bishop
• X-Men Missile Flyers Future Bishop Action Figure
• Marvel Legends Sentinel Series Black Panther Figure
• Marvel Legends Mojo Series Luke Cage Action Figure
  Star Wars Mace Windu action figure, featuring Samuel L. Jackson:

• Star Wars Mace Windu action figure (small)
• Frozone from The Incredibles
• Marvel Legends Series 5 Blade Action Figure

Because I’ve always been uncomfortable with homogeneity, and I want my son to feel the same way. Even as young children, my sister and I would shift uncomfortably and point out when we were among only white people. For example, at age 10 as my sister scanned the crowd at a local church’s holiday craft fair, she announced, “It’s going to be a very white Christmas.”

When it comes time to open presents, I don’t want all my son’s Christmases to be white. I want him to have a variety of playthings that are fun and educational and sustainable. And I want people of color to be represented on and among these toys because as a Californian that’s the world he lives in.

The Multicultural Toybox also represents my commitment to human and civil rights. I grew up in a household that, while not explicitly antiracist, embraced progressive values. I remember asking my mother in first grade: “What’s a fag?” After ascertaining I had heard this word on the playground, she explained that “fag” is a derogatory term for gays, and that I shouldn’t use it. And I asked her about gays, and she said “It’s when a man loves a man or a woman loves a woman. And that’s okay.”

My interest in cultural differences, in whiteness, and in gender led me to pursue (and finish!) a Ph.D. in cultural studies. Much of what you read on this site is informed by the lessons I learned in graduate school, both in class and, much more informally, as the only white person in my cohort of students. I do not write The Multicultural Toybox to “represent” or to show, in the phrase of one of my classmates, that I am “down with the brown.” Rather, The Multicultural Toybox represents a genuine search for a better world that begins with children’s playthings.

Truth be told, I care as much about ethical toys as I do about multicultural toys. We can’t always afford to keep to the most stringent standards for ethical toys, and friends and family give my son mass-produced toys that are made of plastic (and, as we learned recently from the toy recalls, lead paint) and come only with white dolls and figurines. These days, it’s expensive to have a conscience. But I try anyway, and I invite you to join me on the journey.

If you have any questions or suggestions for improving the site, or if you just want to share with me a link to a relevant toy you’ve found or created, you can always direct them to me at leslie AT multiculturaltoybox DOT com.  If you own a toy store or market a line of toys or dolls, I’d be happy to discuss advertising options with you.

Many thanks for your readership.

Links: doll above, doll below. Each costs $65.

This post, and yesterday’s on dolls with disabilities, were inspired by Merlene Davis’s column There’s more to diversity than color, in which she notes

But what about children with Down syndrome? What about children who can’t walk or are blind?

Why can’t they have dolls that reflect their image?

Well, truth be known, they can.

With just a few clicks of a mouse, I found dolls in wheelchairs, dolls with walkers and dolls with Down syndrome features.

Why shouldn’t those types of dolls be incorporated into this new diversity splash?

One of the big deals with the generic Kmart dolls is that they will be on the shelves everywhere, not just in neighborhoods with large minority populations.

And why do we think it is only one segment of our society that wants special dolls?

If my daughter, whose only social limitation was her heritage, could ask for a doll with special needs, why couldn’t some Hispanic child ask for an Asian doll?

Camp Venture offers soft Dolly and Danny Downs in African American, Latino, and white. Camp Venture also offers a curriculum kit to accompany the dolls.

The Pattycake Doll Company offers special needs dolls and ethnic dolls with Down syndrome.  Updated 11/2009: When I first wrote this post a couple years ago, I didn’t find this doll either attractive or representative of children with Down syndrome, but I wanted to make parents aware of as many options as possible.  I have seen criticism of this doll on other websites, but I have also heard the defense that young children–special needs or no–tend to see only a doll to play with.  I also want to note that there are very few soft-form dolls with Down syndrome, and I’d love to see such dolls manufactured with features that might be more palatable to parents and to older children.

The doll pictured above, like all the Down syndrome dolls available from Pattycake, costs $27.50. Special needs dolls are $19.95, with guide dogs and wheelchairs also available. (Speaking of ethnic dolls with disabilities, such dolls and accessories appear to be on sale at bindependent.

The website DownSyndromeDolls.com offers a small but detailed selection of dolls with Down syndrome for $50 per doll.

Downi Creations talks up the authenticity of its dolls, which exhibit the 13 characteristics of Down syndrome, including pinky fingers that curve inward, slightly protruding tongues, a gap between the first and second toes, and even a (stylized) incision on the chest to indicate open heart surgery. They have a line of eight baby/toddler dolls with Down syndrome, but at $175, they’re priced more for the collector’s market than for play. Additional outfits are available for $15-$18.

If you feel your child is not interested in dolls with Down syndrome, why not ask if the local public school, hospital, crisis nursery, or community center would be interested in such dolls? Many schools and nonprofit organizations would appreciate the donations of such dolls because their higher-than-average prices don’t fit into these institutions’ budgets. Go ahead. . . Do your good deed for the month and purchase some ethnic dolls, dolls with special needs, and/or dolls with disabilities and donate them to a good cause.