I remember the first playground taunt aimed at me. I was in first grade and a group of boys called me "Chinese Eyes" and pulled the corners of their eyes back and laughed. Fortunately I had a pretty quick wit back then and I yelled back "You're so stupid, I don't have Chinese eyes, I'm Korean! I have Korean eyes!" That seemed to stump their little first grade minds and so they didn't pick on me anymore.
I never got picked on or bullied for being Asian, thank goodness! In first grade I had a friend who was in sixth grade who rode the bus with me and she protected me. Sadly I don't remember her name but I'm so glad she saved me a seat every day. I think the kids at my elementary school were just nicer to one another. I was the only Korean at the school. There were some Hmong kids and a Vietnamese girl and then a lot of Latnios and African-Americans.
I am adopted by a Caucasian family, and while that fact didn't bother me, I do remember spending a lot of time looking for other Asian women in the movies and media. I wanted to know that Asian was beautiful too. At the height of the 80s, blonde and blue-eyed was popular and I was pretty much the opposite of that. Even Molly Ringwald, with her gorgeous red hair, was pretty much the opposite of Asian. I'm not belittling any of the discrimination that other nationalities faced because I know others had it far worse. I count myself lucky that I didn't have any outright discrimination. Still, it's hard growing up with no Asian role models in the media. There just weren't that many! I remember Linda Yu and Tamlyn Tomita, who played Kimiko in The Karate Kid Part II.
I also desperately wanted an Asian doll. My parents had found me one (and who even knows where they found it), but all the other dolls were blonde and blue-eyed. I had a Hawaiian Barbie friend and that was it! The only other options were ethnic dolls in a native costume. While the Japanese Kimono, the Korean Hanbok and the Chinese Qipao are beautiful, Asians don't just walk around in the United States wearing them. I wanted an Asian doll that was JUST LIKE ME. One that wore regular girl clothing, but had almond eyes and brown hair. I believe that the dolls and toys that are available to young children sends a message. There was a message being sent in the 80s, and that was that Asian is not beautiful.
Okay, so it's 2014, and I'm just about 40 years old. I just had my first little girl in January. She is the first member of my family who looks like me, with her almond-shaped eyes. Seeing her brought back the feelings from my childhood and I was determined to find her an Asian doll. She doesn't need ALL Asian dolls, I'd like her to have a variety of dolls. I want her to know that Asian is beautiful too.
I never got picked on or bullied for being Asian, thank goodness! In first grade I had a friend who was in sixth grade who rode the bus with me and she protected me. Sadly I don't remember her name but I'm so glad she saved me a seat every day. I think the kids at my elementary school were just nicer to one another. I was the only Korean at the school. There were some Hmong kids and a Vietnamese girl and then a lot of Latnios and African-Americans.
I am adopted by a Caucasian family, and while that fact didn't bother me, I do remember spending a lot of time looking for other Asian women in the movies and media. I wanted to know that Asian was beautiful too. At the height of the 80s, blonde and blue-eyed was popular and I was pretty much the opposite of that. Even Molly Ringwald, with her gorgeous red hair, was pretty much the opposite of Asian. I'm not belittling any of the discrimination that other nationalities faced because I know others had it far worse. I count myself lucky that I didn't have any outright discrimination. Still, it's hard growing up with no Asian role models in the media. There just weren't that many! I remember Linda Yu and Tamlyn Tomita, who played Kimiko in The Karate Kid Part II.
I also desperately wanted an Asian doll. My parents had found me one (and who even knows where they found it), but all the other dolls were blonde and blue-eyed. I had a Hawaiian Barbie friend and that was it! The only other options were ethnic dolls in a native costume. While the Japanese Kimono, the Korean Hanbok and the Chinese Qipao are beautiful, Asians don't just walk around in the United States wearing them. I wanted an Asian doll that was JUST LIKE ME. One that wore regular girl clothing, but had almond eyes and brown hair. I believe that the dolls and toys that are available to young children sends a message. There was a message being sent in the 80s, and that was that Asian is not beautiful.
Okay, so it's 2014, and I'm just about 40 years old. I just had my first little girl in January. She is the first member of my family who looks like me, with her almond-shaped eyes. Seeing her brought back the feelings from my childhood and I was determined to find her an Asian doll. She doesn't need ALL Asian dolls, I'd like her to have a variety of dolls. I want her to know that Asian is beautiful too.
I know that American Girl sells Asian Bitty Babies and they had 2 Asian featured dolls, Jess the Girl of the Year for 2006 who is half Japanese and half Scottish and Ivy who is an Chinese Immigrant and fried to Julie. Jess was only available for one year and Ivy was recently discontinued. They also have some Asian Just Like You dolls, one that was discontinued an one that is available. There are also Asian Bitty Twins. I am a big American Girl doll fan, so my dear friend Cate bought my daughter the Asian bitty baby. I'm sure there are some Bitty Twins in her future, and one day I hope to snag her a Jess.
I really wanted her to have a different kind of Asian doll, so I headed to Target. I never really looked at the doll section of Target, so I was surprised to find that dolls haven't changed much in 35 years. There were NO ASIAN DOLLS in Target.
(Now, I live in the Chicago Suburbs in an area that is pretty diverse. I'm not the only Asian in town!)
Target's Our Generation dolls do NOT include an Asian doll. They have 24 dolls. 19 are Caucasian, and 5 are ethnic. That is TERRIBLE!!! How can that be considered "Our Generation" at all when there is no Asian representation??
I really wanted her to have a different kind of Asian doll, so I headed to Target. I never really looked at the doll section of Target, so I was surprised to find that dolls haven't changed much in 35 years. There were NO ASIAN DOLLS in Target.
(Now, I live in the Chicago Suburbs in an area that is pretty diverse. I'm not the only Asian in town!)
Target's Our Generation dolls do NOT include an Asian doll. They have 24 dolls. 19 are Caucasian, and 5 are ethnic. That is TERRIBLE!!! How can that be considered "Our Generation" at all when there is no Asian representation??
The baby doll aisle was very Caucasian. Mostly your typical light-skinned baby doll with blonde hair and blue eyes.
Barbie just doesn't have Asian dolls, and evidently there isn't a Mulan doll at Target. With all the young girls swooning over Frozen, I guess I understand that. (Anyone want to place bets on how many Elsas and Annas there will be this Halloween?)
Hearts for Hearts Girls does have an Asian doll, Tipi from Laos. Target only had Nahji from India. While I do LOVE these dolls and think they are beautiful (and Elora will definitely have some when she gets older) what I really wanted was an Asian-American doll. One that was just as American as the other dolls, but had almond-shaped eyes. If Target carried Tipi, I would have counted it as an Asian doll, but they only had two Hearts for Hearts dolls total.
This is as Asian as they got at Target. A Lalaloopsy doll in a kimono. And her button eyes aren't even almond shaped LOL!
Toys R Us
Okay, so maybe I needed to go where all the dolls live. A place that SPECIALIZES in toys. Let's see if Elora will be a Toys R Us kid.
Nope, typical doll aisle. They did carry African-American dolls and some that I think are supposed to be Latina. No Asian baby dolls.
Nope, typical doll aisle. They did carry African-American dolls and some that I think are supposed to be Latina. No Asian baby dolls.
According to the back of the package, the "You & Me Friends" dolls are supposed to have an Asian doll, however, Toys R Us didn't have one in stock. On the shelf the lables just said "Caucasian" and "Hispanic."
There wasn't a Mulan doll in the whole Disney Aisle. Evidently Disney does make one, but Toys R Us didn't have it. Mulan isn't even my favorite Disney Movie, that would be The Little Mermaid. I'm just using Mulan because she is the ONLY Asian offered by Disney.
The My First Disney Doll does NOT come in Mulan.
Barbie. Upon looking on the internet, some of the dolls are supposed to be Asian, but they don't really look any different than the regular Barbies. Toys R Us might have carried those, but I didn't recognize them as Asian. This doll on Amazon is supposed to be Asian. She looks caucasian to me.
There is an Asian "I can be President" doll, which is HILARIOUS to me because if you are an Asian immigrant then you most certainly can NOT be president. Of all the things Asian Barbie can be, president is the least likely.
Now, Journey Girls are the Toys R Us 18" dolls. Callie is their Asian doll, which I am very GLAD that they included an Asian in their line. However Callie does NOT have eyes that are different from the other dolls. They look almost exactly the same! The only reason I know Callie is supposed to be Asian is that their real live girl model for Callie is Asian.
There is an Asian "I can be President" doll, which is HILARIOUS to me because if you are an Asian immigrant then you most certainly can NOT be president. Of all the things Asian Barbie can be, president is the least likely.
Now, Journey Girls are the Toys R Us 18" dolls. Callie is their Asian doll, which I am very GLAD that they included an Asian in their line. However Callie does NOT have eyes that are different from the other dolls. They look almost exactly the same! The only reason I know Callie is supposed to be Asian is that their real live girl model for Callie is Asian.
Toys R Us did carry the Callie doll, and she was prominently displayed so they did carry an Asian doll. One.
Upon further investigation, I was able to snag an Asian FAO Schwartz Baby Avery doll on clearance at Toys R Us, so they did carry two Asian dolls (although Baby Avery is no longer available).
I also know there are several Asian dolls available on amazon.com such as
Calin Yang, Lots to Cuddle, and this Miniland Anatomically Correct doll that smells like vanilla and is naked (WTF?). The Little Mommy Sweet As Me dolls also have Asian dolls, but I did not see any of that brand at the stores I went to. I will definitely be adding those to my daughter's wish list.
An Asian doll should not be something that I have to special order over the internet. It makes me sad that I can't walk into a store and purchase an Asian doll. We should be seeing a diverse offering in the doll aisle that represents what America really is.
Now, even if there isn't a market for Asians to buy Asian dolls and that's why the stores don't carry any, it is still important that they be offered. I want my daughter to have dolls of all nationalities to play with because that's what the world is made of. In order to truly cut down on bullying and prejudice we should start with children's toys.
Upon further investigation, I was able to snag an Asian FAO Schwartz Baby Avery doll on clearance at Toys R Us, so they did carry two Asian dolls (although Baby Avery is no longer available).
I also know there are several Asian dolls available on amazon.com such as
Calin Yang, Lots to Cuddle, and this Miniland Anatomically Correct doll that smells like vanilla and is naked (WTF?). The Little Mommy Sweet As Me dolls also have Asian dolls, but I did not see any of that brand at the stores I went to. I will definitely be adding those to my daughter's wish list.
An Asian doll should not be something that I have to special order over the internet. It makes me sad that I can't walk into a store and purchase an Asian doll. We should be seeing a diverse offering in the doll aisle that represents what America really is.
Now, even if there isn't a market for Asians to buy Asian dolls and that's why the stores don't carry any, it is still important that they be offered. I want my daughter to have dolls of all nationalities to play with because that's what the world is made of. In order to truly cut down on bullying and prejudice we should start with children's toys.
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