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dolls and gender [Just a weird thought!]

May 13, 2012

    1. I've been thinking about this at doll meets, but I really don't think it's the case based on all the people I've met. Sure, I can think of examples of people who only or mostly collect the opposite sex. I don't know where I fit into this all honestly, but I have mostly male dolls.
       
    2. I've found myself collecting more female dolls than males and I am a female. I suppose it depends on the person and their personality! I guess for me personally it's easier to design a female character when I'm deciding what kind of doll I want, or that I'm just more drawn to the female dolls.

      Don't get me wrong though, it's really hard to resist some of those boy Iple SIDs! They are GORGEOUS!
       
    3. I'm female and up until recently my collection only consisted of female dolls. I like sewing so the shapes of the female sculpts lends itself well to my experimentation. I have a 65cm male doll on his way to me though and have just placed an order for a male MSD sculpt. It really just depends on sculpt and with males I tend to be very very picky!

      Edited to add, I have owned a male SD in the past and I must admit I ended up preferring him to the female I had at the time, but that being said he was a labour of love in terms of the time I spent deciding on which one to bring home!
       
      #223 beatnik, Apr 28, 2016
      Last edited: Apr 28, 2016
    4. I collect both but I do love sewing dresses and since I am a guy, I can not sew them for myself and my girlfriend never wears dresses, so getting a female doll was my best idea ever. I do plan on getting more male than female dolls though, mostly because I can identify with them more if they are male. So most of my characters are male, too which means more male dolls. But like I said, a mix of both is good and as for me it is mainly because I love sewing fancy dresses
       
    5. I'm a guy, and I like having one of both, Somehow it's nice to have the two different kinds, girls I feel I can be more creative with (The amazing dresses), and I relate to the guys more.
       
    6. In general i've found most people, full stop, regardless of gender, collect female dolls.
      There aren't many of us "98% male dolls only please" collectors heh. I prefer boys because I tend to rp male characters, so my ideas tend to default to male. It's a habit now. I just feel more comfortable playing "the boy", always did as a kid, still do as an adult. It's not that i'm not girly, I mean, I collect dolls for goodness sake lol, but I just have always felt more comfortable around males and interacting with them. I used to get super offended in one of my rp groups because several of the guys insisted people "couldn't play cross gender because they always got it wrong" and I was all -_-
      Utter rubbish. I've had several people who had no idea I was a girl IRL express shock to learn this. So clearly I CAN play male characters convincingly. *eyeroll*

      Anyway, dolls. I collect mostly boys because I like boys but also because boy dolls are kinda.. rarer, I have a fondness for them. they're special. I would have loved boy dolls as a kid but all I had was a one legged Ken doll and he suuuuucked.
       
      • x 1
    7. I have a pretty even spread of girl dolls and boy dolls, but I started out only collecting boys dolls. But then I thought, I want to dress up some of those beautiful dresses too! And while some of my boys may share their sisters underwear that's about as far as they can go for sharing clothes. I actually find now that I have boys and girls it makes it feel more like a great big family to me :)
       
    8. Almost all of my dolls are girls. I have one boy doll and with smart doll I plan to buy two more male dolls. I may buy a DZ Megi someday, but I'm leaning further away from resin dolls.
       
    9. I am a girl and I collect female dolls mostly...I just own one male doll:whee:I only collected male dolls at the first two years, and then I found that female dolls are more lovely...hahaha!
       
    10. I collect male dolls (both BJDs and action figures) because they're based on people I like the look of, or characters from my novels (and the guys are the main characters). I'm also a tomboy. I don't like girly clothes and stuff, it doesn't appeal to me. I like the little boots and jeans and stuff. I prefer boys' clothes on me and on my dolls!
       
    11. The opposite applies for me. I mostly collect dolls which are female as I am a female. I would like to get a boy though, just to change things up a bit.
       
    12. I'm female and I prefer male dolls. Even when I was younger all of my favorite fictional characters, OCs and role models were male, so that preference just extended to my BJD hobby. I don't really understand why I prefer males so much, but that's always been the case for me.
       
    13. I'm not sure how much gender weighs in when it comes to collecting dolls, consciously or unconsciously...

      In my case, I gender identify as androgynous male, and I collect mostly male dolls. Lol, I suppose you could even argue that I collect mostly androgynous male dolls, since I don't care for the more muscular manly men dolls.

      Even my few girl dolls tend to be more androgynous as well.

      I think perhaps people tend to collect not so much what they find sexually attractive, but rather what they find aesthetically attractive and pleasing whether it happens to be a boy doll or a girl doll.

      When I was growing up, there were actually very few boy dolls available. Apparently the prevailing thought was that little girls would naturally only want girl dolls, and little boys of course, had no interest in playing with dolls what so ever, be they girl dolls or boy dolls. Lol, that's why GI Joe and Marx's Johnny West were "action figures" not "dolls".

      So I spent most of my childhood "turning" every one of my dolls that I possibly could into a boy, because even as a child I preferred/identified more with boys than I did girls. Lol, I accomplished this by cutting their long hair into a shorter boyish type styles, dressing them as boyishly as I could, to make them look like a boy, and giving them boys names.

      I still prefer/identify more with boys than I do girls, so I mostly collect boy dolls, androgynously beautiful boy dolls.

      Lol, and not surprisingly, I'm still turning most of my girl dolls into boys. ^_~
       
      • x 1
    14. I mostly collect boys-- aside from the doll I'm waiting on, all my resin dolls are male. My wishlist is a little more even, it just turned out that way (Even with off-topic dolls, I find I have a tendency to jump on getting boys that I like, while not necessarily being so quick to buy the ladies).

      I'm non-binary, though, so... it's not so much that I collect dolls of the opposite gender. But, since I basically have to present as female out in the real world, I do think collecting the boys is one outlet for my masculine side, such as it is. (Then again, my mini boys are a little bit femme most of the time anyway, so... gender really is what you make of it I guess)
       
    15. I'm a boy who so far only has chosen boys. Aesthetically I prefer them but also it pushes me to be more creative in styling, clothes, etc. I like some female sculpted but I find I have a narrower vision for them. No idea why.
       
    16. I would agree with you, I also find it much more enjoyable to dress up girl dolls. They have way more selection and really cute outfits. I would really love to own one of each though so I could write some stories for them and just for the variety as well.
       
    17. I'm agender, and like both of them! I do prefer the more soft and feminine aesthetics though. I'm on the hunt for a 1/2 doll that has a gender neutral body
       
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    18. I'm a female who likes female dolls! I like their softer sculpts and the wider variety of wigs and dresses available. I don't like the hypermasculine boy dolls, but the more gender neutral boys are cute to me too.
       
    19. I'm a girl, and my first 5 BJDs are girls. I now have 17 dolls, 9 are girls and 7 are boys. Technically two of each are non-gendered as they're Fairyland Pukis. So I've got a pretty even mix of boys and girls. The girls have way more clothes and all of them have a wig. 4 of my boys still don't have decent hair.:doh A couple of them will probably have girl's hair styles.
       
    20. I think it's pretty difficult outside of BJD collecting to find 'good' male dolls (good face sculpt, detailed high quality realistic clothes, realistic but well formed body...)

      And actually within BJD I'm not happy with the available boy dolls - as in, they look wonderful but don't fit my aesthetic preferences.

      So I think this is why collectors might appear to prioritise female dolls- a lot more choice, a lot more outfits available etc.
       
      #240 DollUnited, Oct 26, 2016
      Last edited: Sep 8, 2019