Bell Hooks reflection

In reading Bell Hook’s piece “Memories of my Girlhood” I was immediately taken back to my childhood and the memories I have of playing with my dolls, all of which happened to be white. I don’t believe my parents chose purposely to only buy white dolls over black dolls, I just think that my parents never even thought that buying an ethnic looking doll would maybe be a good idea to help teach their child that all babies, and people, are different. Our society’s history isn’t a pretty one, and because of the racist notions instilled by our ancestors, many people are simply ignorant to the subject altogether. Aside from racism, however, there is also a good amount of sexism embedded in children’s’ play as well. For centuries little girls have been given dolls and tea sets to play with while little boys are given trucks and action figures, but why? Don’t these little boys have the potential to grow up and be fathers? Why does the concept of learning how to take care of a baby fall to females while boys that may play with a baby doll tend to be looked down upon? I must admit that times have changed over the most recent decades and there is more versatility within toy options, and more parents are encouraging their children to play with whatever they want (within reason) instead of instilling gender roles at an early age. I also recently saw that the creators of Barbie starting making dolls that have more reasonable and realistic size proportions. Maybe if companies continue on this path then the different “isms” can begin to be eliminated in children’s’ lives, where they don't belong anyway.