Golly! Is this offensive....

This blogpost isn't meant to offend or upset anyone, but in the last few days a debate has been stirring over here at I Knit towers over our friend here (on the left). Recently we started to stock a range of patterns by Sandra Polley, who designs knitted teddy bears, toys and other accoutrements. Amongst them was a pattern for a golliwog. What's interesting is that we didn't question this or have any conversation about gollies, we just put the patterns in the rack. This week Sandra sent us a couple of samples, pictured. Teddy, who is mega cute, with his button arms has been sitting on the table being pawed over all week.....but golly has been in a drawer. And so the debate started.....

For what it's worth, I personally don't find gollies offensive. But then, why would I? I grew up in the North of England in the 1970s an 80s with a golly toy and I had the infamous Enid Blyton book, The Three Golliwogs, too, which I remember fondly and enjoyed reading. Of course, I am not so naive as to not realise that these days gollies have all but disappeared from children's toy boxes, and I realise the connotations and reasons why this is so...but is this just over-sensitive political correctness, or is it blatant racism, or is it simply too much for our 21st century sensibilities?

I am genuinely intrigued at the response from the few people I've spoken to about this in the shop, so please, feel free to comment.....

Here's a couple of links to some articles on the subject for those who, like me, didn't know the background and the history of this much-maligned figure:

Wikipedia

Article by David Pilgrim, Ferris State University

Article by Juliet Savage, The Golliwog Collector's Club

I think there's some interesting points in all three articles, and please note that the article by David Pilgrim does contain some images and words that some may find offensive.

Craig