The Golliwog

I had a black doll called Trudy, and white doll called Christine-Jennifer. I don't really think I noticed any difference, apart from the fact that one was bigger than the other.

Not offensive. Loved my golliwog so much I bought DD one when she was born. The bright colours and facial features attract a baby's attention.

I've still got my GW - wearing his red tail coat, but sadly no trousers. I loved him to bits and his name or colour meant absolutely nothing to me, he was just a toy like all my others; I also had a black doll called Susie and my grandaughter has her Mummy's life sized black baby doll (Caroline) which she plays with all the time and kisses to death

What's the betting that the maker of golliwogs has no idea of the offence? Either that or he/ she is doing it deliberately, which is scary.

Bet you can, on ebay, jingl. When I first started browsing ebay years ago, I came across the hymn sheet for Ronnie Kray's funeral.....who on earth would want that!

No you cannot jj ...for obvious reasons

I loved the golliwog brooches you got from Robertsons the jam people.

I wonder if you can still get them.

I think dorsetpennt it isn't how we perceive the word/toy ...it is how the afro-carribean peoples view this that is important ...and therefore it does become a racist term.

But then I can be quite easily shocked by the insensitivity of others ...like seeing a young woman with a push-chair run over and jam an elderly lady's white stick in the wheels of the push-chair and complain that she couldn't move the puch -chair!! On us intervening and explaining ...she was horrified! How can someone in their early twenties not know why someone carries a white stick!!

No, we didn't, Anagram. As you say, we didn't recognise any of our dolls, teddies, gollies as being people. Similarly, collecting the Robertson's Gollies from the jars of jam was simply a way of getting a badge to put on our primary school blazers. There was no realisation of what they stood for. Wrong, perhaps, but we were small and unaware. My mother loved the Black and White Minstrel Show - she thought Dai Francis was a wonderful singer - and I really don't think she considered the fact that the performers dressed as black people to be strange or odd. It was how it was....again, wrong. To remain ignorant of a person's culture or feelings is wrong, of course, but surely not if this is through innocence.

A lot of things happened in ages past that wouldn't happen now. It was a different world. There's no point getting het up about the past. You can't change the past.

We didn't then - this is my point. Not that what we did in all innocence but what we know now and how behaviour, thought and ideas have changed. People used to put butter on burns - we now know that butter literally cooks the burn - we put it under a cold tap - that is education and knowlege. Yet today a lot of people seem to be unaware or dont care, that's what I find incredible

I do think that for women of our generation it's hard to get het-up about golliwogs - we just accepted them as toys and characters in children's books when we were small. I know I never made any connection between a golliwog and a black person.

I'm sure you did and you had no idea of the racial aspects of that doll - but - we are now more aware of the fact that a doll like this or a show like 'The Black and White Minstrels is so offensive to Afro-Caribbean people.

So did I, numberplease. Innocently unaware of how politically incorrect I was being, too.

All I can say is that I loved my golliwog when I was small.

So imjingl you think we're making a fuss about nothing?

The latter.