Do you feel that ABJD's compensate for something you don't have IRL?

I think that to a certain extent, people to tend to compensate and transfer their own inadequacies onto their dolls. But I think there is more to it then simple transference. Many of my female friends who have dolls, tend to lean towards male dolls, they want/have one or two female dolls, but the majority are male. This isn't because the are compensating for their lack of masculinity, or even their desire to have a man in their life, as far as I know, none of them are unhappy with their relationship status, whether that be single or with partner.

I see an hobby as an expression of a side of one's personality. I want a doll, I want it to be pretty, because I like to look at beautiful things. Having a beautiful doll, does not neccissarily mean that someone is dissatisfied with their own appearance, but more that they are expressing a beautiful part of their personality.

Yes there may be a certain level of compensation going on, like the woman who painted customizations, however although she may not have felt as beautiful as the dolls she painted, every doll she did paint was an expression of her own beauty of talent.

 

ayreweth you're total right..
But spend time with him make me little bit "jealous" and have some automastism toward myself.

 

Yes and no, like so many others I suppose. My Renny is a singer, and so am I. The difference is that Ren stuck with it and became a professional. I went for my other passion, working with kids instead. So it's kind of fun to play the ups and downs of a singing career through her. And no lost millions in an accountant fraud scam! Then again, I know that she's just a doll, a character.

 

I'm going to say yes and no like a lot of people here. Yes, because I've always looked for something that could really pull my inspiration out and truly challenge me to be as creative as possible. It's been an increasingly great learning experience having my dolls. They really give me a bit of 'spark' for photography and even writing. They get the gears moving, and plus, they're just beautiful things--who doesn't like beautiful things? I cannot actually think of what they compensate for. I'm a pretty content person.

 

Not at all, just a really great hobby that combines everything I enjoy doing. Sewing, crocheting, knitting, dolls, networking and photography (which I need to learn alot about ). I will admit to wanting a PF Yoko really really badly because she looks like my daughter did when she was a toddler, other than that, just a super hobby.

 

A friend and I were discussing this a little while ago, and she said something that made me think. she told me that she loved her girl becuase she was "the beautiful that she could never be" This truly made me wonder, is the same true for me? Do I fawn, adore, dress up and love my kids becuase they're so beautiful? I do not consider myself a praticularly unattractive person, but of course there are things my girl could wear that I would never dream of putting on. Am I living through my doll? and is that wrong? ...oh dear, I think I've just posed another question -_-

-Lily

 

I have them because I love the art of them. Enjoying changing them, setting up scenes in my doll room and so forth. I don't look at them as filling a lack of something-they just come to me because I love doll collecting.

 

Most of my dolls help me compensate for my lack of elf ears.

 

You have a point there. I only have male dolls -one of who is still out of my house, getting faceups and whatnot- and I sometimes wonder if I'm living through them in terms of what they can wear/what they are versus what I can wear/what I am. I mean, I'm comfortable being a girl, but I think the more masculine part of me- and we all have two gender-defining sides, regardless of how subtle one may be- strives to find some sort of physical identity- which could very well be the existence of my boys.

It's funny- I also realized that I have bjds to sort of supplement the affection that I don't get in my own life- I'm a social person, and I adore being around people, but I'm also so independent that it's often very hard for me to be in synch with both of those qualities, especially since I've grown up in a "family" -barely that- which I never received affection or love from. I'm not used to feeling appreciated in that sense, and therefore am not used to it, even though I crave that sort of intimacy. My bjds are the "people" who can be there when I need to be alone, who don't take the place of real people but at the same time can offer some sort of 'appreciation' and 'companionship' during the time I feel lonely but don't want to be around other actual people.

 

For me its a yes and no. Though I have to agree with Lestat the dolls to me make up for the affection I rarely get. Yes they are just dolls, no they do not make up for a meaningful conversation with a person but when I really have no one to go to in a tough time I can cry on my doll like a little kid. It's mainly because I have a hard time in social enviroments, it is my own fault for isolating myself from people but at the same time since they aren't people they seem to be a way to keep myself sane in some respects when I'm alone. I hate not having someone there for me but I do at the same time hate being around people 24/7 so the dolls for me make up for the friendships I don't have.

As for how they look and compensating on how I look, I don't think of that in the least for me. The dolls are beautiful since they are sculpted in the manner of beauty and you can change them to your liking sometimes something you can't do to yourself but I'm comfortable in my own skin and get beautiful dolls because I like investing on beautiful objects.

 

Do you feel that you are using ABJD's to compensate for something you don't have IRL?

Heck yes- Photomodels and clothes-horses!

 

I haven't had any 1/3 dolls or 1/4 ones yet...but I've set up a budget to buy it within next months...

anyway...i like to have them because...they can wear fashion I couldn't wear in real life (^o^)...
I like fashion designing and so far, my mind is limited to "wearable" type...sometimes, I want more than that...I like anime so much and I wish I can design and make anime-type-outfit...

 

Elf ears

 

Perhaps for me they do...but if so then I think it's something I either never knew I should have or something I lost long ago cause I haven't a clue what it'd be.... Except maybe Kids; But I've been into dolls since looooong before.

 

ha! I couldn't have said it better myself!

for me its that, and i like to act out the stories from my head of my OC's thru my dolls!

 

I agree a bit with ayreweth: I think BJD's highlight parts of our character that are not publicly known and/or not easily expressed. While some may be using the dolls to compensate, I think that these dolls are more like little, dense aspects of ourselves.

 

I feel that at least somewhat, this new hobby of mine compensates for some freedoms and things I didn't have when I was a girl. I come from a middle-class family and didn't really get to have "nice" things like china dolls or trips to Disney World every year. I guess part of me wants to begin to collect these dolls, and in turn other nicer things which I wasn't able to before.

 

Put it this way: I don't have the bod to do Cosplay. Yumiko-tan does. My small army of 1/6 scale dolls do. And they are great photo models and don't complain.

I wasn't a girly-girl kid who played dollies all the time...I would be given dolls as gifts and I would mostly use them like a boy would playing "army men" only I was more into sci-fi and my dolls had their own spacecraft. Exploring strange new worlds and all that. ^_^

 

My Mom thinks it's a hoot that I wouldn't play with dolls when I was a child, but I will now that I'm an adult. I don't think they're making up for anything though; if nothing else, they're an extension of my own personality. I sew them everything from dresses to Halloween costumes. It's fun to have something that's original, and that no one else has.

 

actually, I got my BJD for the reasoning of making up for losses. When my best friend died, my heart completely broke, and I needed something for company. That is why I got my BJD