Calling BJDs "It"

My boyfriend constantly refers to my dolls as 'it' or 'your doll' but he's a bit creeped out by dolls so I think it's because he just wants to make them less human-like rather than be referring to them like he would humans. I constantly correct subtly by replying as I would normally, perhaps accentuate the gender I use instead of 'it' but in one ear and out the other usually.

 

Its either or for me. I don't care what you call your dolls and I won't make a big deal if you call them 'it' or he or she. If you do get a little uppity because someone refers to their doll as 'it', you need to chill out.

 

Like many others, I don't care what pronoun someone uses for their dolls. The doll doesn't care either way so why should I? I use "it" along with she or he when talking about my dolls and no one I know shows any evidence of being weirded out or thinking I'm mad.

 

I seem to switch between it and he/she a lot, because they are inanimate objects, but mine do look decidedly masculine or feminine. It probably confuses the non-doll people (luckily all my friends are weird artsy-people anyway!). :P

 

I don't care if people call their dolls it, I don't care if they call my dolls it. I like to call my dolls by a gender, but I don't expect everyone to. They may look like humans, but they're just sculpted representations of humans of either gender so "it" is completely accurate.

 

... sometimes I use it to call dollies. :S but i don´t think is bad used, is an objetc, a lovely objetc

 

My dolls are "its" :B
I go back and forth though.

If someone calls my doll an "it" I don't care, but when they argue with me that my doll is JUST an "it" and has no gender, then that's a bit annoying. Most of the time it's because it creeps them out because it's like I'm talking about people *shrugs*
As many have said, these dolls have "parts", these dolls thus have genders. I'm going to call my doll by the correct gender.

but even items that don't have gender defining anatomy, I sometimes give a gender.

...My car even has a gender. My car is male and when I lose him large parking lots it's always "aaaaaw, shadooooow [I named my car :B] where'd he go!?"

I tend to assign genders to a lot of things that I hold close to me, ever since I was kid.
even my baby blankets had genders... (The pink one was female, and the green one was male)

but I do understand that to everyone who see's my blankets, car, or dolls it's going to be an it to them.

 

Although I give inanimate objects a gender, it's okay for me too. I mean I'll say she, he, and it myself, so I'm not going to get pissed if others say it either. Technically, "It" is correct in proper English, whether you see it as having a gender or not.

 

He, She or It doesn't really matter to me, as long as people didn't call my doll and my hobby in disgraceful way.

 

A gender is something that is determined either genetically or psychologically; plastic does not have a gender, regardless of the parts that the plastic has been shaped in to. If you choose to assign a gender to your doll, which is due to the presence of visual sexual characteristics, that's fine. It's not the same thing as a doll having a gender, though.

 

I don't necessarily like it when people call my dolls "it". Even if they're just floating heads or headless bodies they still have genders. Although it doesn't bug me too much, not as much as people touching my dolls.

 

ok, so let me rephrase that "these dolls have parts, thus these dolls give the illusion of having genders"
To reproduce a man and woman is needed, based on what the organs connected to the genitalia provide.
So in genetic terms and throughout history, man and woman, or gender, has been determined by the anatomy.
think of "gender reassignment surgery" and what that entails. rebuilding the exterior.

Based on the fact that our dolls have the exterior appearance, they do have a gender.
Now, if you mod your doll free to genitalia or get a /genderless/ body, then yes. Your doll is free of a gender.

 

Not only do I use "her or she" for my BJD, I will frequently refer to her by name.
I think this thread underlines another one of the little insecurities that I sometime see in this hobby.
As a group, we need to be less defensive.

 

While I prefer using "he" or "she", I have no problem with "it."

And yes, "it" comes in handy with dolls that are more ambiguously gendered! I have some tinies that aren't sexed by having genitals... and I've just made them one or the other, but often they are dressed in ways that could be either, so it can be totally confusing...

Anyway, I think people can refer to dolls however they wish. It's not my problem.

 

I only call dolls 'its' when I'm unsure of a gender, or unsure of something like... I imagine if I say, "I don't know what kind of doll I want. I want it to have tan skin, though." If I'm unsure of what gender I want.
I just call them he's and she's. It's just natural.

 

I love my dolls; I sometimes talk to them as if they were pets, and I do sometimes refer to them as 'it'. I don't think it's necessarily an indication of any less of an attachment if a doll owner used 'it'.

 

Well... I would only call a doll "it" if I was talking to a non-doll person, or in situations where "he" or "she" would be confusing for the other person.
These dolls do have genders, so I feel it's necessary to call them by the appropriate pronoun.

 

This is a really interesting question, especially since in my language (which is Finnish) I might use the word 'it' when talking of a real person. Its very common to say when talking of a mutual friend; 'Se sanoi että...' (= it said that...). Using he/she (we only have one word for he/she, so no specific word for the masculine or feminine) when speaking sounds kind of oldfashioned/official, so many use the word 'it' instead. That's why I also use the word 'it' when talking of my dolls.

But if I'm speaking or writing in English, then I use 'he/she' and not 'it'. Complicated?