Gift-giving: Attempt 2

After spending time in Thailand and Mexico this past year, something has become really obvious and troubling to us. Almost all the ads we've seen in both countries feature models (mostly women) who look nothing like the majority of those populations. Even companies that are Mexican-owned and produce their own advertisements use fair-skinned, light-haired, blue-eyed people. While in the U.S. the trend is ambiguous ethnicity, there is nothing ambiguous  here.

It was a lot more fun to buy these shoes than the last pair.

I hope Jarod likes the shoes more than the soap...

Randy and I sponsored a couple of kids from a local shelter for Christmas http://www.hijosdelaluna.org/.  Both kids wanted tennis shoes (and it was cathartic for us to return to the "scene of the crime," the zapatería where we bought Aracely's shoes). Jarod also requested dish soap (somehow I don't think this was his idea) and Lolita wanted a doll. The soap was easy; the doll...not so much. Not because there is any shortage of dolls here, but because we refused to buy this little Mexican girl a doll that looked like it was from Sweden. At the first store I had a chat with the saleswoman, asking if there weren't any dolls that were more representative of the country we were in. She suggested we go to the big market and buy a "regional" doll - the kind tourists collect, not the kind a kid plays with. After talking a bit more, she became more animated and told me that because they are all "bombardeado" on TV, in ads, etc., with images of "white" women, this is the ideal, this is what the kids want, this is what the dolls look like. "Frozen" was the only word she said in English.

Perfect! 

Determined, we pressed on. The doll situation was about the same everywhere, with Barbie the ubiquitous favorite. And let's face it; skin tone and hair color are only the tip of the I-can't-relate-to-this iceberg with Barbie. Some dolls had brown hair (none black) and eyes went as far as hazel, but their plastic skin was all about the same - a pasty white. Which is really ironic, because in real-life it is not a flattering skin tone, as evidenced by the popularity of tanning booths.

We finally found one - ONE - doll that met our criteria: Dora the Explorer. Luckily, one was all we needed. We considered it a bonus that she was the image of a brave, adventuresome girl - and was not sporting a thigh gap (but that's another matter).

 A friend in Minneapolis, Leslie Rapp, recently wrote about taking her "Little Sister" to see Cinderella at the Childrens' Theater. Leslie told the girl, who is African American, that in this play Cinderella was going to be black. The little girl argued with Leslie, because everyone knows that Cinderella has blond hair, etc., etc. The curtain opened and there was Cinderella. And she was black. And Leslie's "little sister" just about melted with happiness.

Thank God for Bart, making everyone feel good about themselves!

Oh, and by the way, when we paid for the shoes at the store we used a credit card. We were asked for ID and we didn't have any with us. Guess what happened? Not only can we buy plenty of dolls that look like us here, we can buy things without showing the asked-for identification.

Now we just hope Lolita isn't disappointed she didn't get a Frozen doll...

   

The kids at Hijos de la Luna will open these
presents on Three Kings' Day, Jan. 6.