I used to consider myself what author Barry Schwartz of "The Paradox of Choice" would call a maximizer. I was the person who would set out to buy the "perfect" sweater (for example) for the ultimate price and spend all winter doing so. I'd end up putting more time and resources into the dang sweater than necessary and, ultimately, not end up any happier with the eventual purchase than if I had simply settled for the so-so sweater found in October. I gleaned a lot from Schwartz's message of simplification of choices, and so I have tried to generalize this knowledge to toy purchases for Noemi.But our plight to find a babydoll for Noemi? Bloody ridiculous. I wanted a small babydoll who is Black, has a soft body but a plastic face and has eyes that open and close. What I didn't want? The complete commercialization or cheese-factor of most hot-pink and purple packaged girls' toys. No biggie, right? meh.
I set off for local establishments, frustrated to find that in a city comprised of over 80% racial minorities, I could not find one non-White baby doll. Next up: Etsy. Not so much. I found countless adorable rag dollies that I loved, but Noemi already has her lovely ragdoll, Yenet, named after a beloved nanny at her former orphanage. If you want your own Yenet, check out her Etsy site of a+dorable racially diverse dollies.
I considered giving up and just buying one of the spray-tan colored, polyester-clad dolls on the shelf at Toys R Us, but I decided to fight the good fight. And so I continued...
As I kicked my on-line search into high gear I was shocked to discover that many dolls of minority races are significantly higher in price. Go take a look on Amazon.com yourself. Same doll, same manufacturer, different color on that plastic skin=$20 more. Easily. I also found it interesting that most of the Black dolls had lighter skin than me, a direct descendant of the flippin' Mayflower itself. Half of those Anglo dollies looked like they had lost too much blood. Creepy. Sure the Black dolls had brown eyes and hair, but that was about it.
So this is where my post could turn into a discussion in the subtleties of racism meets supply and demand, but I won't go there. I'm sure that sermon has been preached before.
I just wanted a babydoll.
Sure, I found a number of websites that were helpful, but it just didn't seem like the number of tasteful options were out there for anyone seeking a non-Anglo doll. Eventually I found myself on the site of the well-known French company, Corolle. Hadn't thought to look them up at first because, well, um, they're French. But shame on me for making such assumptions, eh? It was here that I found Naima. The perfect little 12-inch, soft bodied, vanilla smelling, eye closing Naima. Not surprising that she was the only brown dollie in the collection, but at least the advertisement photo was of a cutie-pie brown baby. So I ordered her. We had her home in a few days; and though my intention was to hide her away for Noemi's soon-coming 2nd birthday I just couldn't do it. Noemi is in luv with her little Naima.
I am still a maximizer, apparently. But this time I am quite content with my purchase and happy that I did not settle. God speed, tasteful minority doll seekers--it's a rough ride out there for us maximizers.
