A viral “Natasha” stress relief doll trending on Chinese social media has been deemed “absolutely diabolical” by members of Hong Kong’s black community.
Resembling a small child, the most popular version is dark-skinned and features exaggerated racial features. Buyers have filmed themselves beating, stretching, boiling and stomping on the toy.
“No design is created, marketed and sold in isolation from thought and purpose. The design, manufacture and sale of a black baby doll to be abused at one’s will is at the core of the existence of movements like black lives matter,” said Monique Franz, a writer and founder of Kinsman Avenue Publishing – a non-profit voice for which KF is advertised.
“By inviting people to take their stress out on a black body, we invite populations to abuse our black bodies at will, robbing us of our actual humanity. While this is a game for others, black people are experiencing widespread global abuse that is the result of portraying us in such degrading ways,” added Franz, who is African-American.
Made from slow-growing memory foam or soft thermoplastic rubber, the dolls remain freely available on e-commerce sites like Taobao and have been trending on social media platforms like RedNote and Douyin.
Jayne Jeje, an African-American entrepreneur, lawyer and long-term Hong Kong resident, told HKFP that such trends do not come out of nowhere. “There seems to be an endless fascination with black hair, black skin, black lips, black bodies and black culture, yet people are shocked when we talk about it,” she said.
“Some of the viral videos are absolutely diabolical. I would find them offensive regardless of who was being portrayed, but this is deeply personal because I am proud of my beautiful dark skin. I refuse to accept the idea that it is something to be squeezed, slapped, mocked or turned into entertainment for the masses,” she added.
Known in Hong Kong
Londiwe Ngubeni – a South African actress and vocalist who lives in Lantau – told HKFP that she saw a child with a Natasha doll in a Mui Wo supermarket. “At first, I thought she just liked the toy. Then she started reaching, squeezing, batting her eyes, and hitting the doll. When I asked her why, she said it was a ‘stress reliever.’ How is it acceptable to relieve stress by hurting a brown doll?”
Ngubeni said she was angry and disappointed. The child “said her friend gave it to her. What message are we teaching children when the dehumanization of a black child becomes a toy?”
She called on manufacturers and retailers to be held accountable for “products that reinforce racist attitudes”.
Innocent Mutanga of the NGO Africa Center Hong Kong said the trend “risks normalizing the dehumanisation of black bodies… This is particularly worrying as this dehumanisation is directed at black children, demonstrating a lack of empathy for black people, regardless of age”.
He said the China Consumers Association and the State Administration for Market Regulation had intervened to remove the violent videos, with schools in mainland China banning the doll.
Although Mutanga said the guidelines had been issued for e-commerce sites in mainland China, the product was still available on Taobao when HKFP checked on Thursday.
Mutanga urged teachers, parents and community leaders across the Greater Bay Area to connect with the Africa Center to increase education as people may lack “exposure to African cultures and histories”.
Chinese social media has previously played up similar abusive trends involving black children.
In 2022, a BBC inquiry found that children in sub-Saharan Africa were being paid to perform in Chinese online videos that often included degrading or abusive content.
