Ball- jointed Dolls in Arabic Countries

Soapbox all you like, it made powerful, interesting reading!!

 

Oh hey! Didn't know that about you xD I thought KSA was another acronym for a US state xD
Do you live in the city area of Saudi Arabia?

 

Islam is a predominant religion in eastern european countries as well as some regions of China and a lot of countries in Africa (So the muslims in these places are usually white, chinese and black respectively.) the term "Arabic" is a term usually reserved for those who look middle eastern but muslims are a far more visually diverse religious group than the media portrays.

Each country has different censorship laws. So what would be deemed appropriate differs between each. There was a British woman arrested for naming a teddy bear after the prophet in one country and in other countries that would be more acceptable or at least doesn't bring the death penalty.

BJD companies DO ship to these countries, though.

 

Oh I was rereading the threads I remembered about some who mentioned wanting to make dolls that represent the Arabic/Islamic culture, and others promoting it for diversity. It led me to remember how some who has priest dolls gave mini bibles to their dolls as a symbolic item. Even doll companies sell miniature bibles in their accessories page.

I would just like to warn before hand that, while miniature version of the Quran are available somewhere, it may not be a very good idea to get one for your doll for realism sake. The Muslim culture, especially more conservative ones (like in Malaysia) may frown upon it as whimsical mistreatment.

You can read a little more about the Islamic perception towards handling the Quran near the end of the Wikipedia page for the Quran under "Culture" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qur'an

 

Thanks for sharing that...I wasn't planning on doing that anyway...but great for anyone who'd thought of it.

 

hello everyone!! ^_______^
I'm from Kuwait, I've been in this hobby for 2 years now, I'd love to meet more people from arabic countries!! anyone??xD

here's a pic of my breccia :3

 

Hello Diana and welcome to this thread XD~

 

hello lol thanks! it's nice to be here

 

Hi,

Fisrt I want to say "thanks" to dante12 for this topic ^ ^
I am from Arabic countries (Kuwait) & I love BJDs so much.. I'm new in this hobby & starting to make my own family of dolls

It's always nice to see arabic members here

 

Okay, maybe this is a little off topic, but I have a question for those of you living in Arabic speaking countries: what do you call BJDs in Arabic? I mean what is the word or term for them?

 

hey Sozalina it's nice to see you here!!! ^_________^

SilveLining LOOOOOOL actually, I've never really used those terms in real life until recently xD I'm used to only typing them... I don't even know how to pronouce most of the names!!!!!!! x"D
but now (my friend and my cousin have BJD) we use the same words and names in english ^^

 

@Sozalina: welcome to this thread


@SilveLining: I use BJD the or Asian dolls when I refer to them

 

Diana92 - Your Breccia is gorgeous!

I suppose I should also say that I find this thread very interesting.

 

mirren thank you so much!!! I'm glad you think so

 

I do have a question I would like to add. Earlier it was mentioned that some in Arabic and or Muslim countries/cultures might frown upon the dolls because of their realism. And that the doll shouldn't be perfect. Would the same hold true for fantasy type dolls, like the SOOM Gem dolls? Would the addition of animal or fantasy type parts make the dolls less of an issue or more?

 

it's hard coz I'm not knowledgeable about this so I can't answer but in my country they sale dolls and
figures (like ben10 and ninja turtles and I think bratz) in toys and hobbies stores (we have toy's4us here also).

so it's not like there isn't any dolls at all and it's against the law to have one.

 

i'm from KSA -Kingdom of Saudi Arabia- and i live in the capital city , Riyadh

i've read most of the posts in this thread and some views really amazed me, i like to see how people view my culture and religion especially nowadays.

hyschara put it in a very good points, because the same roles in Malaysia applies here as well so thank you so much for that
i don't ,yet, own a doll because of its anatomically correctness, and am not talking about the genitalia or how BJD may resemble "porn". But fear of idolisim and worshiping the doll makes it forbidden "Haram" so my mother, still, won't allow me to buy one because its a huge waste of money at my age she thinks. Nevertheless, i'm still debating on that with her as i'm not very conservative myself i don't see the harm in owning a BJD and hope to get one sooner or later
i'm sorry, i cant be much of help as to the customs and such, as i still didnt buy a BJD yet. but as i see in some posts some owns alot and seems they had no problem


someone mentioned something about how difficult it will be to buy a doll if you dont speak english, korean... (sorry am being lazy as to not go back and look at all the posts to quote x| )
i would like to say as fas as what i know in most middle eastern countries and my own, English is tought as a second language in schools and some Arab countries even have French as a third language. Also, i know some Saudi and Kuwaiti girls who, in addition to English, speak Korean or/ and Japanese very fluently.

in my case, my family frowns 1) because of the price. 2) because of realism. so even in SOOM's MD case they still look at it as a waste of money instead of realism, just like in most cultures/ countries they just dont understand WHY i'm willing to throw a PUNCH of money to buy a CHUNK of plastic at THIS age. and because it's a new thing, its hard to make people tolerate it easily without passing some struggles and frowns from elders especially, which i have to respect their point of view even if i'm against it.

hope i was clear and made sense, because am pretty tired and it passed my bedtime but couldn't help to leave without posting a comment xP
and was nice to see lots of Arabs, and from my own country, as well ;D

 

Thanks so much for your answers so far. They've all been very interesting.

 

I agree with Renam.

I'm a Muslim, and whats worrying about this hobby for us is that it might be seem as we're worshiping them as god. As Quoted below.

If BJDs are not seem like a decorative item but is used with a solid purpose, I believe it is alright? But, I'm not clearly sure.
Another reason, that I was told, is because they are empty inside and is almost human. It is worrying in a sense that, spirits would like to use this as their shell.

Then again, there is many other reasons, but my English is not that good to explain, worried it might be misunderstood.

 

I have no idea whether or not this may be of interest to anyone following this thread, BUT: Yes the Amish do own dolls, and are allowed to own them. I live in an area where there are many Amish communities and have had a chance to see and purchase many of their handmade goods. My aunt owns a pair of handmade Amish dolls. They are very unique because NO Amish doll is allowed to have a face. It is considered vanity/pride and a sin to care about one's appearances in their culture - hence why they don't own mirrors (the Amish way of life is supposed to be "plain"). If you ever come across a well made cloth doll without a face, it is most likely Amish.
So, BJDs would never be accepted by their community even if they did have net access. :P