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Are dolls childish?

Jun 3, 2007

    1. There are people older then I that collect dolls and love every minute of it. I started collecting when I was younger so I have a mix of Barbies, monster high, pop figures, and such so if anything my parents have been around for my collecting for years.
       
    2. If dolls are childish, then I'll forever be a child.
      I love my boys, everyone of them for the most part! I don't care what people think of them. They didn't buy them, so it's of no concern what they think of my dolls...
       
    3. Dolls is a very broad category. Many old ladies collect porcelain dolls, is that childish? Each kind of doll have their own usage. some are for kids to play with, others are for old ladies to look at and BJD's happen to be a kind of doll one can work with. If anything I think dolls is a sort of hobby for all ages
       
    4. Those are not mere "dolls" they costs a lot and my friends know that and noone say it's childish
       
    5. Second that! That's how I see them. People collect paintings for ridiculous amounts of money, stamps, dead rats you name it! It's all subjective. I don't generally "play" with my dolls, but I do love to pose, photograph them and enjoy the beauty.
       
    6. I think if dolls fall under that category, then there are a lot of other "toys" out there that do too. Hobbies are basically playful pastimes and are extremely healthy as long as they aren't the cause of stress.
       
    7. This depends on the definition of what is childish, honestly. Childish means immature, which is the negative stigmatic version of child-like. Children play with dolls, but do we as collectors play with them? Maybe, but that's okay, too. Because we are simply acting child-like.

      People collect dolls for all sorts of reasons. Not just for child-like purposes. Sure, it can bring out the child in us and make us feel young again, but some of us use our dolls for therapy, photography, story-building, art, and all sorts of other unique hobbies and interests. In my opinion that's not childish at all, and is actually quite creative and mature.
       
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    8. Doll collecting is not childish. Being childish is telling others how to live their life.
       
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    9. no. but for some people it may, especially if they don't know anything about the hobby.
       
    10. I have one child doll it's pukifee vanilla. I love her face
       
    11. No. If dolls are childish, then I've been a child for 27 years. :T People just don't appreciate the artistry in a hobby like this, both from a sculptor and owner standpoint.
       
    12. I have always looked at my dolls as art. They are designed by artists after all. I wouldn't worry about anyone calling you childish. If your dolls make you happy that's all that matters anyway.
       
    13. I think when it comes to adults, the word "childish" somehow can have a negative connotation to it because adults need to be able to be responsible etc. And my opinion is that dolls are "childish" no matter what you do with it BUT "childish" in the sense that it is tapping into the "youthful" train of thought.
       
    14. My mom would tell me every year when I asked for a doll for Christmas "By next year you will outgrow them"... When I was 30 and she asked me what I wanted for Christmas, My reply: The Disney Princess and Me Elsa doll from ToysRus....
      She said "I guess at 30 I should just accept that you are not going to outgrow your dolls" and she has left it alone since.

      Of course I heard way less of it when I got my own house and no one else had to see my dolls. I still ask mom for a doll every year!
       
    15. To be grown does not mean don't eat sweets, or go to bed later, or don't buy dolls and something like this. Age is just a number.
      However, BJD is pretty expensive hobby, and our dolls more a piece of art, then a childrens' toys I believe
       
    16. I guess I have a hard time seeing dolls as childish when some of them have removable and interchangeable genitals.

      I kind of wonder if viewing dolls as childlike is more of a [relatively] recent thing, as shipping fashion dolls to adult women in the Americas from Europe was a fairly common thing. I can't help but think that people collected them.

      And I'm not sure that action figures and vinyl figures are seen in the same light. Perhaps the owner might be viewed as irresponsible (due to the price) or immature, but action figures aren't really thought of as childish.

      And they're pretty much dolls. Really the only thing separating them from dolls is the fact that they are primarily collected by men. Makes you wonder.

      There's also the fact that probably everyone you know has a hobby deemed "worthless" or "trivial" to outsiders, whether it's fashion, makeup, scrapbooking, painting, sculpting, sewing, knitting, crochet, cars, stamps, toy boats/planes/automobiles, woodworking, computers, historical reenactment, gaming, going out partying or drinking (which also costs $$), whatever. No one gets to tell you how to spend your money, just like no one spends all of their life saving up and making their money--they do fun stuff too. People can do stuff just for themselves.

      As for me personally, no one's really called my doll collecting childish. I guess when the times that people see you with your dolls are when you're dremeling off dolly junk or mummifying them in saran wrap or dipping them in vats of boiling water people don't like to criticize you (I'm holding hot and/or sharp things, after all XD!).

      I'm going to be dealing with naked dead bodies more and more frequently for school, and my dad's already completed his training in the profession. So naked realistic bodies aren't really perceived as strange at my house.
       
    17. I do it anyways. My parents tell me the same thing. I've just accepted that I'm the odd one in the family as I have tattoos and piercings and nobody else does. I was labeled the trouble maker in my teens and I think I have done will to live up to that standard haha. I just be me and anyone who doesn't like it can shove it where the sun don't shine ;)
       
    18. No. Dolls/doll collecting (and any hobby, really) can be for anyone!
       
    19. From my family's perspective, I've always loved toys, so I think my collecting items geared more toward adults isn't that much of a surprise? Beyond that, dolls of all sorts have been geared toward collectors. Consider how many different lines of Barbie dolls there are, and that some of them can cost upwards of $100. Even Monster High and Ever After High have their Comic-Con exclusives, and those are more likely intended for (and purchased by) adult collectors.

      Like others have said, everyone has their "thing" that they're into, and a lot of times, what we start collecting or caring about as a kid sticks with us as adults! Another really great example is Legos. A lot of adults collect Legos, and you can go on YouTube and find videos of people building their Lego sets; heck, I remember once watching an episode of something on HGTV, and this one guy wanted to make sure he had room for his Lego collection. Some people might find that really childish, but I thought it was sweet! ;u;

      It's important to do what makes you happy! (And besides, how childish can something be when the age on the box says 15+?)