Controversial videos on social media are nothing new. Differences of opinion are as old as humanity, but the advent of the global information system has expanded the playing field for dissent and disagreement beyond national borders.
As such, modern technology has acceler-ated the propensity for eating disorders, illicit substance use, and various other forms of self-harm.
This year, a new consumer product from China was introduced: a variation on the pocket-sized sanctuaries from the rigors of modern life called stress dolls. Dubbed the “Natasha stress doll,” it has been the subject of numerous amateur videos posted online, depicting it being beaten, slapped, squeezed, stretched, and mishandled in various dehu-manizing ways.
Releasing physical aggression on the “Natasha doll”, is meant to allow a person to release stress they’ve suffered during the day.
Be that as it may, concerns about its impact on impressionable youth are growing, build-ing upon a long legacy of intolerance within Chinese society. Behaviorists and child psychologists have long expressed worry about long-term impact on developing minds, well after the initial exposure.
To be sure, this figurine comes in several colors, but the one garnering the most atten-tion, the one disproportionately targeted, the one going viral, is Black.
Concerns were first raised by the Afrocentric digital media platform OkayAfrica, which originates from Brooklyn, N.Y. In short order, the clarion call spread to other news outlets across the globe.
Violence as Stress Relief: Scholarly Exam-inations
Reynaldo Anderson has appeared in past pages of Our Weekly in connection with his academic pursuit of Afro-futurism and Black speculative thought. On the faculty at Temple University as an Africologist, he is the author of several books and is a leader in examining the future alternatives and possibilities for people of African descent.
When asked to comment on the uproar about this rubberized figurine, he said this topic brought him back to the decisions that compelled him to begin his professional journey.
“Out of all the social sciences, it gave me the proper lens to look at Black life,” he recalls.
He cites a famous line from W.E.B. Du Bois’s landmark “The Souls of Black Folk.”
“How does it feel to be a problem?” which he translates as “Why are we treated differently in this country?”
Drawing on his academic background and military service in the Far East, he acknowledges the cultural bias that exists there.
“In the past, I knew that dark skin is a thing over in Asia; I know that Americans think of it as a uniquely American thing, but no, they have a certain kind of animus towards dark skin over there also.”
His initial reaction to the stress doll that is causing such outrage was that it is merely “a continuation of the picaninny archetype that comes out of the West, and commodified that circulates the world depending on what region you’re in.”
Noting that negativity is not exclusive to this part of the world, Anderson pinpoints another region regularly examined in con-temporary media.
“I’ve talked to several friends and col-leagues (who’ve said) that you don’t wanna be an unattached Black woman traveling alone in certain countries within the Middle East.”
Anderson aims to examine the role of the past. “ [The past] is gonna inform our future in terms of what we should be doing to move towards a more emancipated and self-directed future that is geared towards our interests.”
“I think when I see the Black (Natasha) doll, I’m reminded why I didn’t allow my children to have dolls that didn’t look like them.”
Others are not so committed to the manu-facturer’s seemingly ominous intentions.
A current scholar in residence at Occidental College, Alison Rose Jefferson made her name as a historian at various institutions like Pomona College, UC Santa Barbara, and USC, documenting the saga of Black Californians.
“The problem is not the doll itself,” she says, noting it was manufactured in various hues, along with a futuristic variation with fluorescent colors.
Issues lie with the brutalization of the toy being videoed, reflecting the people inflicting the damage, thus promoting the controversy.
“There is a legacy of racial animosity all over the world,” she says, in step with Anderson.
She concludes that there is not enough information available to blanket culpability on the Chinese people as a whole.
The real issue is the use of a humanoid depiction of a person, regardless of color to be used to take out one’s anger on.
“Why would you want to have a doll in general where you’re going to be squeezing and harming a representation of a human? That’s what I’d be more upset about from the standpoint of the totality of this material culture that we’re talking about,” she said.
An Alternative Perspective
Iranian-American artist and educator Ami Motevalli’s scholarship focuses on Afro-Asian grassroots resistance and decolonization. In past exhibits, she has underscored histories such as the violence against Black Americans in the 1964 Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) voter registration campaigns and how they relate to contemporary feminist and queer theory.
That said, she gives her own testimony.
“My initial reaction was multifaceted. I know that this is not new and is ongoing, but I also investigated the layers behind the “Natasha” doll controversy. Not only is it absolutely an act of racism, but it’s also anti-child. In a world where children are less safe than ever, especially Black children, it was seriously disturbing.”
She dismisses the “positive” benefits of it being an anxiety outlet as well.
“Having something that you “beat” has never actually helped with stress as most psychologists and martial arts philosophies have taught us.”
Motevalli stresses the historical context of such implements of tension relief.
“Sadly, there is a deep history of Black dolls made specifically for releasing aggres-sion.”
“Encouraging acts of violence perpetuates more violence, and I am concerned about more violence toward Black bodies. Also, I am concerned about internalized and psy-chological implications.”
Her thoughts about parenting coincide with Anderson’s.
“I think parents should be actively in-volved in what their children consume. Me-dia and advertisement in particular, which is what social media influencing is, are cheap, quick, and thoughtless.”
Contemporary Context
Considering recent history between Asian and African peoples in general, it is essential to view this in a broader context. Locally, Los Angeles residents still remember the tensions resulting in the 1992 Rebellion/Riots. Much of the violence that preceded it arose from differences between Blacks and Asians, specifically Koreans. The shooting death of 15-year-old Latasha Harlins was a catalyst. Many isolated incidents have periodically surfaced since then.
Hostility against Asian communities spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic as President Donald J. Trump dubbed it the
“Chinese virus.” Since then, the Bay Area Stop Asian Hate coalition (https://stopaa-pihate.org) has estimated nearly 13,000 reports of anti-Asian hate incidents. All this indicates the Natasha doll videos may be more than an irritating, isolated episode of pop culture.
Most recently, across the country earli-er this year in June, a South Carolina jury acquitted 61-year-old Asian convenience store owner Chikei Rick Chow in the 2023 fatal shooting of 14-year-old Cyrus Car-mack-Belton. Under circumstances similar to that of the Harlins tragedy, Chow shot the Black teenager in the back after chasing him from his Columbia, South Carolina store. He believed the youth had shoplifted a water bottle.
These and other incidents suggest tensions between the two ethnic groups will continue as international relations between the two continents grow.
