Do you hide your hobby from certain people?

I was initially very open about it until my sister saw one of my dolls and freaked out. Before that, it hadn't really occurred to me that anyone might be weirded out by it. For a few years after that I was very closed off about it and hid them from almost everyone.

I've relaxed a bit since then and all of my close friends know about my dolls. Almost all of them have at least seen pictures. It's not something I really talk about with co-workers or family, but I don't go out of my way to hide it either.

 

At first I was happy to show it to people who aren't in the hobby. I used to bring it events. But now I don't talk about it to people who don't know about them. People in my country tend to be indifferent to things they don't understand, especially once they knew about the price. Only my family knows about it. My friends do love my doll lol.

 

My family likes it a lot more than they like EGL, cosplay (ONLY at cons or events, and in the case of my sister,she thinks it is ALL a waste of time and immature. Then again, she hates that I wear odango buns/knots when the weather is hot or I just FEEL like it. Then again, she wants me to look cookie cutter Ann Taylor allll the tine like her GOP/criminal justice mind set. Dad doesn't "get it", but he's an engineer and does have "fiddly" hobbies, and respects precision.

Mom really liked them, loved my first BJD, didn't laugh when I told her Amélie Leona's name (named after the movie, as I am a dreamer, and mother, "Leona". (It was a very fashionable name in 1914.) and thought the attention to detail was amazing. She noted that Violette, my Blue Fairy Jasmine both have very similar face ups and BELONG together... that and she loved rabbits. Her mother, at 85 had admired a porcelain doll at a discount department store. Mom bought it for her, since, "Why not?"

Mom would have loved my new Pipos editions. But she was so "out of it" when my boyfriend gave them to me SUPER early because the last two months of my mother's life were just horrific.

So TLR - The people who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

 

My friends really got used that I'm crazy. Some of them tried to be rude about my interests, but I never bothered and they got over it.
But I still hide my hobby from my colleagues. When they find out about dolls and their cost they act agressive and even think I'm too rich and must have a smaller salary.
So...yes, I do hide my hobby.

 

Ha-ha, I also hide my hobby from my colleagues.
Well, only one who knew was director of the company where I worked before, and only because... he paid for my IH Bianka, as I had my credit card on re-issue at that moment xDDDD
He was a bit surprised that I buy a doll, but not much, and he didn't say anything like "You're mad" or "We pay you too much"
But normally people do not understand buying dolls which cost >1000 dollars, so I prefer my colleagues not to know about it

 

I do not hide this hobby. I such a big part of my life and if someone ask I usually tell them.
I don't really care if someone doesn't like them it's not a hobby for everyone but often the people I meet are very open minded and curious. (sometimes way too curious xD)
I do hide how much I spend on them especially for people without expensive hobbies

 

I definitely do this. I don't think there's anything wrong with keeping it a secret from my family and some of my friends. I believe there are just some things they don't need to know about, and do no one any harm by keeping it so (I don't buy new ones that often so it's not even a major financial burden). If my family found out that I, especially as a straight guy have BJDs they'd no doubt think less of me and give me a hard time, which is something neither party should have to bother with. Things are simpler and more pleasant for everyone with them not knowing.

 

There are definitely people that I chose not to tell for the simple reason that I don't want them to judge me or think I'm weird. I bought a non-bjd doll a few years back and someone made fun of me for it. So, I only tell people that I am really close to.

 

My immediate family and my husband know about my dolls--he is very supportive of them as long as I'm not using our rent/bill money to pay for the hobby. We acknowledge that we have expensive hobbies, and are rational enough to finance these hobbies appropriately. Outside of home, there has never been a reason for me to bring up my bjds in every day conversation. I suspect this may change as I intend to photograph my yo-sd out in public often, but with age, I'm growing to be less concerned with what other people think as far as personal hobbies go.

 

It used to be a secret of mine, but I've slowly gotten over that fear of embarassment due to some really positive doll experiences from people I care about (and a couple of non-positive). Right before I bought my first, my brother in law made some rude comments, but my sister thought they seemed neat. And after my 1st bjd arrived I took her to my belly dance class, and they loved her! Now I just don't talk about their price, and relish "creepy" comments.

 

I don't talk about my dolls around anyone because no one around me really understands they think I am wasting money and they keep saying why do you have that doll what is it good for what are you going to do with a stupid doll forever? So I keep to myself and not talk much to anyone around me.

 

I only talk about dolls around best friends. I somewhat will avoid people who is careless about things and who are afraid of dolls.

 

I'm new to the hobby, so I've actually been trying to find people I can talk about it with. Not much luck yet, so I'm kind of lonely...

My best friend doesn't really like them at all, which made me really sad (she wasn't rude or anything, but she clearly has zero interest, so I don't push it). One co-worker actually collects other kinds of dolls, so she at least appreciates them even though she doesn't have any experience/knowledge with BJDs specifically; another co-worker finds them mildly interesting so I show her when I find a picture of a really exceptional faceup or photoshoot or something, but I try not to overload her. My fiance has been a really good sport about wanting to support me and my interests, but he finds them a little unsettling, so he doesn't enjoy them very much.

Unless there were very particular, unusual circumstances, I don't think I would ever hide my BJD hobby from anyone, but I don't go broadcasting it, especially to people I think/know wouldn't enjoy or understand it. After all, this is a niche hobby, and I don't feel like I need to open myself up to negativity from narrow-minded people.

 

My mom knows and I've learned the hard way not to let her know how much these dolls cost. lol My dad will probably be the same way. As for my friends, I guess because I'm just in the process of ordering my first, it hasn't come up in conversation. I told a girl I used to be friends with that I'm interested in these dolls and she thinks they're creepy but didn't make fun of me for it or anything.

 

I sort of hide it from my siblings, in that we all live far away from each other (all adults over 30) and don't see each other often, so they've just never come up. (I imagine my sister would probably give me some crap about them, and my brother would probably just shrug it off.) I'm mostly in contact with them via Facebook, which I'm notoriously bad at actually properly using, so since I've never posted anything about any of my dolls there, they just aren't aware of the hobby and I haven't gone out of my way to let them know about it.

 

I don't have any dolls yet but I'm saving up for an Angell-Studio doll ^.^ But when I first started looking at the dolls I was super nervous to tell anyone about them. I first ended up telling a close friend that I've known since my freshman year of high school. She was first a little leery about it but has slowly gotten on board with all of it and has even talked about getting a doll herself.

I was really scared to tell my mom and step-dad since I live with them and there would be no way of hiding them, but they turned out to be cool about it and ended up being really interested in them. My dad thought they were weird, but cool that I'm into them. He said he will support any hobby I'm in as long as it isn't drug related.

I still haven't told my best friend about it though. I probably will when I actually get the dolls and I can show him.

I'm really worried about taking them out in public though and what people outside my friends and family will think

 

I usually don't talk about my hobby with people I don't know very well, whether it be strangers, acquaintances, or friends I've only known for a while because I don't know how they'll react. I also hide it from people who I think will be very judgmental, even if I know them well because I don't want or need that negativity.
Honestly though, if people know about my dolls, they KNOW about them. I talk/rant all the time!

 

I don't hide the fact that I have this kind of dolls and I'm always eager to talk about it if I feel the person will act normally towards it.
All my family knows I collect dolls and I have no problem playing with them when they are around, but I don't like the children to be near them because children in my family are not very respectful with things.
But in the other hand I have a friend who is afraid of dolls in general, she can't have one near or she will get anxious and scared, so when she comes to my house I hide the dolls in their boxes and I prefer not to talk about them when she is around.

 

I don't see even 1 ounce of evil in this little cutie.

My family and some friends know about this hobby of mine. Their are only a few at work that know of my hobbies. Some think that this hobby is weird and laugh about it, however I sometimes remind them that everybody has something weird in their closet so to speak. I actually have several different hobbies that could be looked at as strange. So far everybody that knows of my hobbies is OK with them. However I am cautious of who I allow to know about my hobbies. In fact this hobby with the BJD's started out with us as kids in the family traveling around the world and collecting different dolls for our mother. So I would pick up a doll for mom and I would also pick up a doll for myself. Then it was easy to hide since I was buying for my mom without any ridicule. Mom also likes Pepsi so their was always a doll and a Pepsi from each country in our bags when we returned home for a visit. So now I have dolls from the tiniest of about 1" tall all the way up to full size dolls that are 5 feet plus tall. The larger one are more difficult to maintain so I am now in the process of downsizing and these BJD's seem to be a nice size.

 

Thank you. Man did those remarks sting. The guy stopped coming around after he got enough of a rise out of me so I think I know what he was really after. Still hasn't stopped me, my avatar is of my latest addition.