Racist .....or not??

Carol Thatcher, Margaret Thatcher's daughter and winner of the television reality show "Im a Celebrity....Get Me Out of Here" 2005, has been axed by the BBC, following a private conversation she had in a hospitality suite, in which she likened a particular tennis player to a Gollywog.

After reading the definitions for racism, my opinion is that the BBC have not only taken the issue too far but got it completely wrong.

If Carol Thatcher had said the tennis player was a gollywog, and used the word as a way of generalising black people, then I would completely agree with the BBC's decision. However this was reported not to be the case, as Carol Thatcher said the tennis player reminded her of a gollywog.

So....is it racist to say that someone reminds us of a doll, that was, in our childhood, a much loved toy and emblem for a sweet preserve? Having loved the gollywog I owned as a child, I fail to see the difference between this and someone being compared to a barbie doll or a teddy bear.

Both of these comments may offend someone, depending on how the individual thinks, however, many TV presenters have made comparisons like this on Live TV, let alone in a private conversation, and they have not been axed for being sexist or personally offensive.

A woman may be offended by being compared to a barbie doll by a man, as she may think this is a sexist comment about her body, however some women are happy with the comparison as they think barbie dolls are beautiful, one woman in particular has spent a fortune on plastic surgery to transform herself into a living barbie doll.

A man, however, may be offended that he reminds someone of a teddy bear as, he may think the person sees him as weak, but some men may think that they come across as warm and friendly and like the comparison.

So, is this racism? or a case of the old saying, "its not the mouth it came out of..... but the mind it goes into".