Do you believe that some owners mistreat their dolls?

If we mean abuse as in in "to use wrongly or improperly" then I think that BJDs are meant to be enjoyed and if the person is enjoying themselves then they arent doing anything wrong in my opinion.

But if you mean abuse by breaking the doll then I am not sure what to say. I dont know anyone that intentionally breaks their dolls and most damage to dolls stems from an owners ignorance.

So I dont know if I can anwser the question of "do you think people abuse their dolls?"
becuase when I think of abuse I think of someone intentionally trying to cuase somthing pain.

 

I love dolls, I truly do, but... They're inanimate objects, not living, thinking beings. Sure, you can neglect or damge your doll, but it's not abuse in the end because dolls are not living creatures. The way I view it, if something that may be categorized as abuse toward a living creature were to be exhibited toward a doll, that same act would no longer be categorized as abuse--simply as an act of mistreating your doll. However, you shouldn't mistreat someone else's doll, as that is rude and inconsiderate, but the way I see it: if people want to mistreat their dolls, that is entirely their decision. If their doll happens to break as a result of their choice--hey, it's their money.

 

In the beginning I was very careful about how I took care of my dolls, leaving them out of reach of sunlight and the world... but then one of them fell anyway and I realized there's no real point in hiding them away from the world when they could still get damaged. Although some people this wont happen to, for me, its still possible.

I have let my nieces dress my dolls. I was watching them both carefully and they are old enough to understand that they are 'expensive' and to be careful with them. But they're still young enough to be fascinated with dolls, so I let them dress them up.

I don't think its neglect to not treat your dolls like they're breakable. Some nights I'll leave mine on the sewing table or on the sofa. I'm not about to go around throwing them on the floor for my dog to chew on, but it wont kill them to spend one night not hidden away.

Besides, in the end... if something goes wrong, I'll learn my lesson, right?

 

The only time I can imagine someone intentionally damaging/mistreating a doll is out of revenge. You know, Friend A gets Friend B angry, Friend B grabs Friend A's doll and chucks it across the room/out the window/in the toilet/etc. Dolls are outrageously expensive, and people tend to take half-decent care of their pricier possessions.

That doesn't mean they can't be careless. I only have one doll and so far I haven't been the greatest owner. I basically had to 'manhandle' her just to get her dressed. And she's fallen TWICE. Still in great condition, though. What a trooper!

 

No. Some owners might not treat their dolls with as much care as others, but some people are just rough. Like there are people who pound on the computer keyboards, not because they're abusing the keyboard, but because they are heavy-handed.

 

Broken fingers, leaving your doll to bake in a windowsill until it's lemon yellow, sharpie faceups, botched half-finished epoxy mods...yeah I'd call that stuff abuse. (and yes "abuse" can be used in that context; it doesn't just mean spousal, animal, or child abuse. Otherwise you couldn't abuse power or the word "like.") Though some people may see me as abusing my dolls since I don't talk to them, don't believe they have souls, and don't bother to redress them or pay attention to them if I don't want to.

 

I can't help but feeling that like everything which has 'followers' there will always be those who will preach to how something should be done. I agree that dolls should be treated with care, they are expensive and on a practicle level it becomes more so when you have to start replacing dolls. However at the end of the day it is a hobby, or passion which is private to the person who owns the doll. people are right when they say it is not in the same vein as animal or child or even spousal abuse as there is no one else involved in the incident. At the end of the day it is a persons own choice as to how they treat their doll. So why bother trying to change people's minds.

I treat my doll as I do all my things. If she can't be left in direct sunlight then i wont leave her in direct sunlight. If she cant be dropped from a height I wont drop her from any great height, however i didn't by her to treat her like the most precious object I own, because she isn't. I still love her, but there are more important things then her, and also I don't want to spend my whole time with her worrying about her getting damaged.

When Peter-Pan Syndrome said (Sorry I don't know how to quote):

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.

This upset me, I have a doll, which isn't an expensive sculpt, she was my first and she was a gift from a friend, and although I was aware of dolls, I didn't really know what I was getting in to. But just because I was a novice, didn't mean that the mistakes I made were abuse. I tried my best and I have learnt things, and luckily there was no permanent damage, although my heart did stop a few times. Just because I enjoy playing with my doll, does not make me abusive.

I neglect my doll much less then many of my friends simply because they are too scared to play with theirs, however it doesn't mean I love her less then they do, and they enjoy playing with my doll, and have never caused her any harm.

But at the end of the day she is an inanimate object as bunny dots said and if (god forbid) anything were to happen to her, then she wouldn't need to go to hospital or spend long periods of recovery in physiotherapy, all I would have to do is spend what would probably be a significant mount of money on replacing or repairing body parts, which would serve me right! And it still doesn't mean I have any right as to judge how other treat their dolls. I mean we have our dolls, do we really have the right to judge others if they have paid for their doll? And also why does it upset people so much? Occasionally I cringe if I see a doll that has been damaged but what should make me care if another owner ruins their doll, doesn't it serve them right? I'm not talking about selling a damaged doll under false pretence or damaging someone else doll, but still...

 

Sorry, but I feel that if you break someone else's possessions then it is your fault, did you make her buy a replacement for your doll's hand?

 

A sharpie? Are you serious? What did the dolls end up looking like?

 

Oh yes, it's more common than you think. For some reason people tend to ignore the "permanent" part of permanent marker. Here's one example: http://www.denofangels.com/forums/s...amage-to-your-dolls...&highlight=irreversible

 

What bunnydots said. And Molly381 made me LOL

When I got my LUTS DELF, pictured, my friend and I had to pry her head open with a letter opener so I could switch out her eyes. After reading some of these responses, I guess that would've made some people scream in horror. My three-year-old niece likes to pick out eyes, hair and clothes for my Bobobie Mei and sometimes she looks like a hot mess after that "makeover." I guess I see mine as Very Expensive Dolls that bring me joy. I think we all have different ideas of what mistreating a doll would be, depending on our perspective of them.

But at the end of the day, I agree -- it's an object and I guess whoever bought it can pretty much treat it any way she/he wants. However, it's an expensive object -- anyone who would not take special care of a $800 doll is either pretty dense or has too much money to throw around.

 

Do you believe that some owners mistreat their dolls?

Of course there are owners that mistreat their dolls. Does that bother me? Not in the least. Treat *your* stuff however *you* want to; after all *you* paid for it. Just don't expect to come over to *my* house and treat *my* stuff the same way.

 

Hmm... I have a hardy vinyl boy and another that always falls apart to spite me...
I have learned their capabilities and I had to take one apart to get his arms to work properly. I have even taken him to pieces at a meet. I shocked fellow meet members after i slapped his knees to flatten his legs, i dropped my bag down etcetc

But i know they aren't fragile and i am the only one that uses them. I pick my biggest up by his arms sometimes, like i might a real child (both arms at the same time! xD) and then cradle him so to speak...

I would be far more careful with Fleance at first, then i would learn bit by bit how to move him and his capabilities. They all have their own space in my room, its a bed big enough for them all. And they sit on other things provided they can sit upright etcetc.

I keep my curtains shut out of habit... but... i like outdoor shoots... so... some may say i abuse mine because I am rough with my boys... But that is because i know them. A friend of mine can testify that i am incredibly gentle when i want to be, and incredibly guilty if i do say.. drop anything from a height of more than two inches off a surface.

But... to mistreat a doll...

(using the general you)

Unless it is a doll you have leant to someone, it cannot be mistreating it.
You buy dolls for yourself and the pleasure of ownership. Do what you want with them, they are yours, it's your money.

I once saw a group photo on here and everyone was replying and crowing that it was so horrible to see a girl so yellowed. I kept looking at the photos and trying to make sense of the outrage people had for someone owning a doll which looked the same as anyone elses... if anything a far more natural colour.
Yet to many that was 'doll abuse' and a great shame.

For me the greater shame goes to those that cry that other people destroy their own dolls. When something goes wrong and the owner says it has, then fine. But other than that, I really can't stand hearing about it.

 

While people buy objects for the purpose of enjoying them, I think it's a bit silly to ruin something that costs a great sum of money. Then again Money for me is hard to come by, being in college so I am super paranoid about anything happening to my dollies. I think the only way to ensure that dolls don't get destroyed is by education and doing your homework It's a fine line between carelessness and people who intentionally do things to their dollies. Either way, everyone has the right to do whatever they want to their dolls while sometimes it makes me sad to see a broken dolly

 

This. I think it really becomes abuse/mistreatment when the harm your doing is to someone else's possession(s). You're being disrespectful to the person and unworthy of their trust.

 

I am a klutz. I have a horrid tendency to drop things. Ironically, the more I paid for the item, the less often I'm clumsy with it. My iPod, netbook and digital camera have not once been dropped, and my $100 phone has only been dropped twice. Something like a doll, which I paid as much as my netbook (or more!) for? Chances are, I'm going to be very careful in handling it for a while. I will pay close attention to where it's being put, if I have a loose grip on it, of if it can fall out of something.

I treat other people's items as if they were pricey ones of my own. This goes double if the person's item that I'm handling actually IS pricey. However, this is only my personal policy on handling expensive items - some people have a very different idea of how they should treat their dolls.

My only stipulation is that if you're handling MY expensive items, you treat it the way I do. Otherwise, expect me to be hounding you to replace broken stuff.

 

I'm pretty much in agreement with previous posters in that I don't think you can mistreat your own dolls, but you should always be very, very careful about handling someone else's dolls.

When I saw the title of this topic I have to confess the term "doll spanking" came to mind...XD

 

hmm...i think it depends on the owner's way of thinking...
since dollies are inanimate, private properties lol...
so owners can treat them as toys...

For me, I treat my dolls very carefully since I love them very much^^

 

Nefla, you are correct. I apologize, as I wasn't exactly being open-minded with my Post. ._.

 

People probably don't mistreat on purpose, per say, since they already spent such a large amount of money for their doll. I'd say that some owners are more accidentally careless than others, and some do treat them as toys, not as a collector's item. An owner can do whatever they want with a doll since they paid for it, and even if it makes me cringe, I can't truly justify myself if I called them out on abusing their dolls - they simply view the doll's purpose differently.