Do you believe that some owners mistreat their dolls?

I think that if you're in the hobby and you understand it fully and care about it alot, you'll treat your dolls very carefully, but I think also you sometimes just get tired and let them be wherever they may land - if you understand my meaning.

I do believe that some maybe just get a doll, becuase they were fancied by it, but after a while they really start caring less and less about it - of course this doesn't mean you mistreat it, since a doll costs as much as it does it isn't something "you just go out and buy"

I think that dolly-abuse would be someone buying a, maybe, less expensive doll and gives it to someone that just have expressed a small fancy, but nothing in particular. I think people like that are more likely to mistreat there doll.

It's a little hard to explain where I'm going with this, I hope people'll understand ^^;;

 

People abuse animals and children. That I don't understand at all. Some people will abuse anything.

 

Their are people that drop their brand new iPhone just after getting it, people that throw their brand new clothes on the floor and never pick them up, people that just don't in general take care of their possessions and end up suffering the consequences. I don't consider someone that doesn't take care of their doll as abusive, just careless and irresponsible with their things. I certainly wouldn't put it anywhere near the same category as hurting an actual living thing.

 

I'm sorry, but it is a doll - an inanimate object, not a living being. I understand that people on this board generally care a lot about their dolls, but "dollie abuse" is nowhere in the same ballpark with child abuse, elder abuse, animal abuse or abuse of any living, feeling, sentient being. I personally wouldn't even use the term "abuse" to refer to what someone does to a doll unless it was jokingly in fun.

As far as I'm concerned, if someone buys a doll they can do what they want to it, including throwing it across the room, cutting it in little tiny pieces or putting it out with the garbage. I probably wouldn't think too highly of someone who did that to a 600 dollar possession, but they have every right to do it.

 

I probably would classify as an "abuser" to those who handle their dolls with kid gloves. My dolls are left in a hot, sunny room, I haven't sealed them nor do I ever properly clean them, I am not that careful when doing face ups and when my friends come over I let them hold them and play roughly with them (within limits, but still). But all that doesn't mean I don't love them; just because I don't keep them carefully locked away never to see the light of day doesn't mean I don't care for them.

They are my dolls and I can do as I wish with them. It isn't like my dolls "deserve" to be with someone who will take better care of them, since I was the one who spent my money on them.

So yes, some owners do mistreat their dolls, but there is nothing any of us can do about it...

 

I believe there are difference between things that you buy to use every day, and things you buy to admire. For me, my iphone is something I use everyday, it has seen its share of asphalt. On the other hand, my dolls are something I hold more preciously.

Which means, some people are in this hobby to PLAY with the dolls. Just because they play with them less gently and makes me cringe(haha) doesn't mean that they have every right to do so. To some people the value of material equals to what his/her intended use is for. They just shouldn't apply same logic to other people's dolls and possessions, that's all.

 

Well put. You saved me from writing a similar reply.

Teddy

 

I know someone who has broken the hands of both of the dolls she owns. One more than once. And has broken the hand of one of MY dolls.
So yes. Yes, I do believe it. Hers is through negligence (okay, when I point out that the doll is right there, do NOT walk over and step on his hand, and don't leave your other dolls on the edge of things when warned it's a bad idea).

Of course, like most people who 'abuse' or 'neglect' things, she believes firmly that every single instance wasn't her fault.
She's a nice person, she really is. But do I believe that she should get any more dolls, due to the fact that they surely will suffer the same fate?
Well, as everyone points out, she can do as she likes (and then complain about it later to me).....

 

Dolls are inanimate objects. There is no child protective service for dolls because... they're not real cognitive beings. Sure BJDs are expensive but going so far as to call people who mess up their dolls abusive is really weird.

 

Not taking good care of your possessions isn't abuse, just stupid. If you spend hundreds of dollars on something, you should take care of it. Not to do so is just dumb.

 

There is an arguement, however, in the fact that people buy dolls in order to *enjoy* them and exactly how they enjoy their dolls will dictate how well kept their dolls are.

Some people can only enjoy their dolls if they handle them with kid golves, so to speak. Never put them in strong light, or handle them around anything dirty. Son;e don't *play* with them, but treat them more as ornaments than dolls.

From that, there's a sliding scale down to the people who don't take good care of their dolls because part of their enjoyment of their dolls treating them like anything else they have to use. If they were to give their dolls the kid-glove treatment, it would spoil their enjoyment of them as a plaything....

Basically, it takes all sorts to make a world and the decision of how delicately (or not) to treat a doll falls to the person why owns it, not to anyone else and their beliefs of how it should be treated.


Teddy

 

If people want to throw their dolls around, leave them in the sun, that's their business, they paid for them.. I grew up taking pretty good care of my possessions, but things did get broke..that happens...but I try to take good care of my dolls because I want them to look good, not yellow faster than normal etc for me..not anyone else.

I wouldn't call it abuse, just irresponsibility toward their possessions..and again that's their business.

 

A point of argument though would be that there's not much enjoyment in a doll that's in pieces or has been damaged beyond repair.


Personally, I have made jokes along the lines of, "Oh, don't abuse my books!" But I wouldn't seriously consider anything anyone does to inanimate objects as mistreatment or abuse. Inanimate objects don't have rights.

 

Exactly. I know I've made other doll owners cringe, but I bought my dolls as toys. Expensive toys yes, but I enjoy playing with my dolls. I like taking them on photo shoots outdoors, which makes some people shudder that I would expose them to sunlight. I also touch the faces of my dolls pretty often, because I'll just re-do a faceup if it gets damaged. *shrug* For me, if I were worrying about my dolls or fretting over whether they'll break/yellow, I wouldn't enjoy them. And enjoyment is the reason I bought them.

However, there is a certain amount of care that should be taken if one wants to keep the doll from breaking. I mean, just slinging the doll across the room is kind of pushing the envelope (and a bit pointless, I think). But in the end, I'll never criticize or look down on someone for the way they treat their doll. If they enjoy it, then it's all good... whether that enjoyment is from keeping the doll in mint condition and admiring its beauty, or from playing with it and worrying less about keeping the doll pristine.

 

I 100% believe that some people mistreat/abuse their dolls. You wouldn't believe some of the pictures I've come across! Some people don't understand that you can't use a sharpie to do a face up ;_;

 

I don't believe some people abuse their dolls, but I have seen many cases of carelessness. Like when people let their dolls yellow to extremes, or they botch a mod of face up just because they were to lazy/careless to research first. Some people will drop their dolls or knock them and just let it happen and the doll can break. Others let inapropriate children play with their dolls with sad consequences.

I consider all the above and similar things careless and thoughtless, but I would never consider it abuse.

 

I don't think you can abuse a doll any more than you can abuse a toaster.

 

Word.

Personally, though, seeing what some owners do to and with their dolls (The case of one owner trying to color the tattoo of a Dragon Narin with poster-paint comes to mind-) does bother me, at least on an artistic level.

It's still in no way comparable to the abuse of a living being... I just don't like seeing pretty things destroyed for no good reason.

 

I agree.

Define abuse of a doll....Opening it's open eyes with a dremel?...cutting part of it's ears off and adding elf ears?...taking it apart then dipping it in hot boiling dye?...leaving it where the cat can steal it's wig?...not buying that perfect pair of shoes?

If the last is abuse then mine are livin' large.

But I have done all of the other things...am I abusing my dolls? Are the dolly protective services coming to take them away?

No...because they are my possessions not my children.