Do you believe that some owners mistreat their dolls?

I find this interessting.

I think the word "abuse" should be replaced with " mishandel".

First thing is first, people can what they wan't with their doll.

Second: I don't think putting your doll on the floor is "abuse" I place mine there all the time. (But I am all ways keepingban eye on them. And if they are not there then I put them on a tabel or in my arms.)

I think misstreating them is like, letting them sit in the sun, smoke exposer, (Though some people may not smoke but live with people who do. So its not there falt all the time.) breacking them on your own willing, and that stuff.....

 

Firstly, so many indignant responses from people who don't understand what the word "Abuse" means?!? To misuse, treat badly or treat cruelly or inhumanely.When someone yells insults at you, they are abusing you. It has many different meanings and was used correctly by the person posting the debate subject!

So yeah, some people definitely do abuse their dolls as in they misuse them. They were not designed for or intended to be left out in the sun, handled roughly, etc... but that's the right of the owner. Pay your money do as you like because it's just a piece of plastic. It may be upsetting to others and certainly makes me roll my eyes in despair, but what can you do?

The only time I am made angry by it is when that person then tires of their plaything and puts the badly mistreated dolly on the secondary market fully expecting to get the full price for it! You see badly yellowed and chipped dolls on ebay all the time, the person writing the listing gives hardly any description because by that time the folly of their abusive behaviour has hit home and they realise they could lose big bucks.

 

I know a girl from London Expo who dropped one of her dolls on the concrete floor outside the centre. She seems very uninterested that her doll had just faceplanted the concrete. At the time I had just discovered how much BJDs cost so it shocked and hurt me a little to see her acting so casual about what happened.

I'll admit that once you've bought a doll, it's your own choice what you do with it but at the same time it hurts to see a doll that's not being treated the way it should be.
Personally, I would have thought that if your going to cough out £500 - £1000+ for a doll, you'd treat it a bit more delicately and with some more TLC than you would a normal doll. It hurts me to see dolls which get dropped out of carelessness or get lugged around unprotected in someone's bag with other stuff that can damage it. I'm not saying dropping a doll is mistreating it, after all accidents do happen and such.

I have tons of porcaline dolls in my loft. Bless them all, they wouldn't be there if I had somewhere to put them but for now I have no space for any of them which to me is sad. I don't like them being locked away in the loft not getting the care and attention that I wish I could give them. Despite this, when I go to charity shops or down to the tip and I see a badly damaged doll, I find it hurts. I would never think of doing some of those things to my dolls. I've gone down to the tip to find dolls drawn on with markers and ripped at. Some even had broken faces, fingers missing etc. I used to know a girl when I was younger who had a porcaline doll she used like a barbie.
I've had most of my Porcaline dolls since I was about 6 or 7 and I wouldn't have dreamed of doing that to them. I'd take them off my dresser and I'd brush their hair or clean up their clothes but never would I drag them around like this girl did.

I guess what I'm trying to say is; we will always look at the way others treat their dolls with slightly different views. That girl I used to know probably felt she was taking care of her porcaline doll by dragging it around everywhere and that girl at London Expo might be used to her dolls falling so it no longer bothers her. But from my point of view, it hurts to see them treated that way.
Some of the other kids might have thought I wasn't treating my Porcaline dolls right when I was younger because I kept mine on my dresser and my friends weren't allowed to touch them.

Basically, most of us (i would hope!) do not intentionally 'harm' our dolls, but others might see it as we do. Some people will always think it's not right to keep a doll shut away in the dark while your not using it, while others will thing that it's not right to keep them out, possibly exposed to some sun during the day. It will always vary.

Mistreating a doll just depends on the person who looks at the situation. End of the day, it's their money wasted if they mistreat their doll and you just have to learn to deal with the way that they treat them. Just don't lend your doll to them if you don't like it.

 

What frustrates me is when people do unrepairable things to there dolls, simply because they don't want to spend the time to find out at least a few Dos and Dont's... (the right way to paint/sand/some cases-dremel use-etc.)

Like Tekaru said above-at the end of the day it's the doll owner's doll, but to anyone that is a fellow collector/doll fan- Doesn't it hurt your heart a little to a doll neglected/not treated properly?

If I was a bjd artist/sculptor and saw one of my dolls dirty and carelessly flung around it may turn my stomach a bit. There's nothing wrong with handling your dolls/posing them a lot, but causing the doll unnecessary harm is also disrespectful to the original creator in an indirect way. >_>

 

In my home, I have a long-haired Persian cat who tends to throw up in random areas, at random moments. She's a tiny thing because she's a silver Persian, which tend to be very small, and her average weigh is around 5lbs - this is why she's mistaken as our youngest. We have two, much younger cats, and they'd probably just sniff her, or brush up against them. My little dolls are kept near a window, but the shade's always down (out of habit on my part), so the sun never sees them. One cat likes to scratch my furniture, so neither he, nor out Persian is allowed inside my room. Only our 2-yr-old cat is allowed in my room, because she won't destroy brand new furniture, or puke frequently. (Can you tell I like talking about my cats?

In my home 'abuse' would be to leave a doll next to a cat that has a tendency to randomly throw up. If I know my cat may puke, I move my dolls because that's just being careless. Even when she moves around where the dolls and I are in our living room, I'll pick up, and hold my dolls so that there's no chance she'll stop near them and start to throw up.

 

^^;; Reading this makes me feel kind of bad... I suspect I'm one of those owners that people hate... My boy gets a lot of fuss and love... and he's always being carried around and handled... I am always watchful because I would hate it if he were to break... but I don't mind children playing with him so long as they know to be very careful... I don't have an OCD about not letting the sun get to him (although I wouldn't leave him in direct sunlight without a reason for him being there)... I suppose a lot of this may stem from his being second hand... he was not perfect when I got him so I guess I'm not too paranoid about yellowing and such...

I suppose some people might think I'm a little rough with him but I got him to enjoy and to play with and I'd much rather deal with the consequences of that than have him sit on a shelf giving me the play-with-me-or-I'll-eat-your-soul look...

To be honest, I don't think there is such a think as dolly abuse... just a lack of decent research before trying modding or faceups and things... Every owner keeps dolls for their own reasons.... Who am I to judge?

 

I believe in carelessness, and destruction of property. Abuse I guess can fall under that.

To each their own really when treating a doll. I can't say I would look too keenly upon a person who would use a Hilti on their doll. Actually I'd be appalled cause that's a complete ignorant waste of money, and time for the guys that manufacture them. But then again, what right do I have knowing that it is their property? I have no say, other than to be a self-righteous, and seemingly overly-compassionate person, freaking out of an inanimate object that does not belong to me.

All I know is that at the end of the day, I treat my dolls with respect, and view it as that specific proverb: "Do unto others as you would have done unto you." Not that my dolls could beat the living crap out of me... ever. But still.

 

Well said. People enjoy their dolls in different ways. Modding a doll is a form of play as is carrying your doll around in a bag or letting kids hold them. etc...I really think you should enjoy your doll in your own way.

 

I think that people can be a bit over the top...
I'd rather keep my doll in a case until I'm doing a photo shoot or want to take her somewhere rather than dropping her or leaving her laying about...
Of course some people mistreat their dolls, but usually not on purpose. Most people don't throw around an expensive piece of resin for the heck of it.
Sometimes people do stupid things because they're careless or absent minded, but if it were me, I'd be really attentive to my dolls.
Something I paid a lot of money for should be kept a close eye on and cherished rather than dropped or kept hidden for all eternity.
:I

 

Personally... I think "abuse" or "mistreatment" would be throwing them about, leaving them lying out around the house for extended periods of time or without reason, leaving them in the sun for a long time without reason, setting them down in dirty places, taking them in public and not watching them, letting wreckless people handle them etc...
But just letting a doll stand in a high place for a while or letting them get in the sun just a little bit isn't wrong at all. It isn't the absolute best treatment, but it isn't treating them badly. I don't handle my doll with white gloves like she's made of glass, but I'm certainly not careless with her. So she gets a little smudge on the back of her leg or her wig has a few stray hairs or her faceup chips a bit. It happens. Small, easily fixable things like that don't bother me at all, and I'd never consider someone a poor owner if their dolls had those problems.
And in the end, it is the owner's doll... While it's frowned upon and considered disrespectful to "abuse" such an expensive and high-quality item, it's the owner's choice what they do with their doll.

 

I don't think you can abuse a doll, but I know what you mean. I know people who mistreat their dolls to the extent that I wonder why they have them. I can understand doing with your possesion what you wish to do, but sometimes, it seems kinda crazy to have something so expensive, only to leave it out where it can get ruined, or damaged enough you have to spend even more just to fix it when you could have left it somewhere safe and saved yourself a hundred bucks? Ya know?

 

People who do not take care of the other material things they have, will not take care of their dolls either. Its not like abusing a child or animal. I was raised to take care of things I spend my hard earned money on. Its ok as long as they don't try to sell me the doll they abused.

 

I don't like the extreme ends of this topic. I don't like people that hide away their dolls, hide them behind glass, or of the such. I believe that they should be loved and played with (in a sense of going on photo shoots and what not. Not playing barbie). But I don't like it when the dolls are just being left around not being taken care of. Sadly I know of one that is... and I am half tempted to steal him from my friends room and see if he even notices. He's being left nude, in a knitting basket... with his bum getting stained red from one of the yarns.

Though I don't like either of the extremes I'm not going to go crazy over it. People can spend their money how they want and take care of what they buy the way they want. Just it's a bit disappointing, especially when some people have to save for weeks on end and just watches as a whim buy is collecting dust.

 

Well, it would only really bother me if it's something like a limited; there are many people who would genuinely want that particular doll and you're just destroying it.

These dolls are art, hard work and serious detail put into every corner and you're treating it like a child treats a barbie. From an artist's point of view, I would be enraged. But, in general, I can't and wouldn't do anything about it. Of course, I'm talking about serious neglect; Tossing it around, dropping it, damaging it.

I'm not saying treat it like diamond, certainly, take it outside with you if you like, (Just don't leave it out there!), remake it's faceup (With the right tools) play with it even! But just serious carelessness would just be annoying. I would just want to tell them, ' You know, since you obviously don't care about this beautiful piece of art, why not let someone else have it who DOES before you rip it apart?'

But... Whatever. It isn't mine, so I guess it's not my problem...

 

If I decided to line up all of my dolls in the midday sun and drive a Hilux over them, it still wouldn't be abuse. They're dolls. Would you describe someone who left their coffee cups full of stagnant beverages as "abusing" them? No, they're just not looking after their posessions. Fair enough, these are very expensive posessions, but if price was the variable which changed an action from being morally-neutral absentmindedness to being abuse and worthy of community sanction, then it would be fine and dandy to buy a £3 hamster at the pet shop and starve it to death.

I'm also hearing a lot of sour grapes in this thread along the lines of "But if I had that expensive doll, I'd love it more because I'm poor and had to earn it". I'm sorry, but there's no correlation between material wealth and worthiness. I know plenty of people who could buy two dozen dolls a year, and would still "deserve" all of them.

Also: Kandi_Slave - These aren't "art", they're reproductions of art. It's more like drawing a moustache on a print of the Mona Lisa than destroying an original.

 

Mistreating them is basically doing things that may hurt/destroy (whatever you call em*) them intentionally...
Also, being too careless I think is considered maltreatment, I mean they are not only expensive dolls but they are thing worth of tender, love and care... (just think of the movie Toy Story, reflect how your dolls/toys feel)
Generally, whatever I buy, expensive or not, dolls or clothes, I try my best to take care of them...
The money I used to buy for such things, is from tears, blood and sweat, so destroying, being careless, insensitive towards my possession is like a big slap on my face...

If you think your dolls are "just" plain old dolls/resin play thingy, then it is up to you
but for me I think BJD dolls, are precious things, they gave meaning to my life
I love them, and I believe they love me too...

 

I figure that as long as you aren't like the kid next door in Toy Story you aren't "abusing" or mistreating your dolls. No intentional exploding dolls with fireworks, or throwing them around to destroy them. The only exception is if you are doing things like that to make the doll look a certain way. I understand harming your possessions to give it a certain look. It's like cutting a t-shirt or stressing jeans to make yourself look like a zombie, or give yourself a different style in your clothes. As long as your willful destruction of your doll serves some purpose other than destroying it for no good reason, there is no "abuse" going on.

 

@ Ratty:

I will admit, I see alot of "oh, my parents bought me this" or "I made my husband buy me this" (Which admittedly upsets me. Don't make someone buy you something, husband or not. Earn it yourself, or ask for it. Don't MAKE. ><), and it leaves me with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, as I have to work very hard to earn my dolls. The only reason I ordered so many at once (four) is because I managed to get that many commissions at once, and I JUST finished working on them. I still have another 10 or so to do to pay off the doll I am buying for my best friend.

I mean, if someone buys you a gift out of the goodness of their heart, whether its a parent or a significant other, then AWESOME! But for these people who claim to beg and beg and beg, or force a person to buy something for you- shame on you. You should just work hard to earn the money to pay for it yourself, rather than annoying another person for something you want, and they probably work very hard to afford for you, and I do hope you show a LOT of gratitude to that person!!

That said, sometimes I wonder if I appreciate my dolls more than others at first, because I waited since I was 16, and worked my butt off for them, and I certainly treat them all with respect, but that doesn't really mean that the way others feel about/treat their dolls is wrong... but more so than anything, I hope those people who get them as gifts or through begging someone to buy it for them REALLY respects the item and makes sure it's well taken care of, because that's someone's hard earned money given to you out of kindness!!

 

Saving and scrimping definitely gives you a different view of your dolls. It doesn't matter how you get your doll, you should love it with all your heart. Saving for it just really helps its monetary worth set in more, the sentimental worth can be the same either way. If it is a gift, it may still be your most prized possession, but you don't get the same feeling of accomplishment when you finally save that last dollar you needed.

 

Thank you for saying this. I actually have not saved up for my dolls. I have been working for many years and I have a savings that I used to buy them. I never had to scrimp and save but I know I treat my dolls very very well. Better I think than just about any other possessions with the exception of cherished memorabilia from dead relatives. Sorry folks, you don't automatically adore and deserve your dolls more because you lacked funds. I appreciate my dolls deeply but it comes more from all the customizing I try to do myself rather than the act of acquiring.