The Doll at the End

When I was a little girl, my sister begged and pleaded for the "doll at the end." No one knew what the doll on the end was. We asked her what the doll at the end looked like. We asked her what her name was. But we couldn't figure it out. Until ONE DAY . . . we were shopping and my sister rushed to the "doll at the end." It was the African-American doll. The ONE African-American doll the store carried. And yes, she got the doll at the end.

Fast forward to two days ago. The pool opened and Baby Girl was standing in my office being greased from head to toe with sunscreen. She is blue eyed and has adorable freckles and is as Irish looking as they come. Only she is not Irish (maybe a little bit on my mom's side). I commented that we had to make sure we always applied sunscreen, and how fair and beautifully freckled she is. And then I said, "You are the most Irish-looking Hispanic I've ever seen." Followed by a comment how both her brothers look more Hispanic and have darker skin--and she is so fair--and must watch those sunrays even more. This was all in my drive NOT to have her learn to tan--which is so bad for you. And to have her embrace her freckles, which I think are beautiful but she does not. But she got very, VERY upset. "But I want to be HISPANIC! I want to look like my brothers. Why do I have to have freckles? I want to be Hispanic-looking, too."

Well, we launched into a "you're perfect just the way you are" speech that we mothers always tell our kids--because it's true. And then I thought about it. And writing.

You see, to me, it's refreshing that when I go to the bookstore, there are Hispanic imprints and African-American imprints. I like seeing heroines who are Indian, or mixed race. I love that books like that aren't "on the end." I love that LGTB is represented. Do I think we still have a very long way to go? Sure, I do. But I love that my daughter is not growing up in a world without writers like Mary Castillo.

Do I think that the only reason my daughter wants so very much to "look" Hispanic is because of the media or books? No, of course not. She is growing up in a house where she sees a rainbow and meets people of all races and sexuality and religions. With a mother who wants her to be proud of being Hispanic. But I also know the fact that there have been in-roads in less marginalizing of other races and religions in the media helps. It's nice to see women of color and Hispanic women as the "face" of Revlon or other makeup brands. Again, do we have a long way to go? Of course we do.

To that end, don't forget to visit Ellen Oh's blog on Wednesday as she discusses young girls and media images. Specifically, what the media does WRONG in sexualizing young girls.

But there are some things I am happy about. I'd love to live in a world where people just pick up a book without regard to the race of the person it's about. Maybe we'll get there someday. But in the meantime, my freckle-faced beautiful little girl embraces being Mexican-American. And that's a good thing, in my book.

Thoughts?