Dolls vs. your Culture/ethnicity

I'm in the UK, and people I know that are not in the hobby just think its childish, a form of not wanting to grow up, 'expressing yourself more in the dolls than yourself' and perceive people that own dolls are weirdos with no social skills and view them as a waste of money Which is completely not true as you all know!

However, people that grew up liking anime, Japanese/Korean stuff tend to find them cool or a little more interested so there is some balance.
I'm just glad to be in a group of friends that put up with/ like/ show a decent amount of interest or understanding in why they are so appealing!

 

Like @Tentacule I'm from France and I want to join her/him on the fact BJDs are seen like childish things... I find this mentality damage because it's not objective. It's rather a story of tastes, a lot of people who like the "asian world" can like BJDs more than people who don't like this universe. In short, I don't know more about this but I hope this has helped you to project an idea of how this hobbi is perceived in France.

 

I'm a Chinese and there're a lot of people collecting dolls (including, but not limited to, BJDs). However, I think people who are outside of this hobby circle still feel that dolls are creepy.

 

I'm an Aussie, and unfortunately I've found that the stereotype rings true! Pretty much everyone I've mentioned my interest in BJD's to, has either called them creepy or told me that 'dolls are for kids' Everyone else just like to express to me that they think it's a ridiculous amount of money to spend on 'just a doll'

 

I live in the US (although I'm not American and have only been here for three years), and from what I've read, doll collecting is the second most common hobby in the country. So I think the idea that it's widely frowned upon here have to be exaggerated (on a social level anyway - I'm sure on an individual level things are more varied).

 

It's worth noting the difference between doll collecting and BJD collecting. Dolls is also a very vague term, but it most likely refers to MH dolls, porcelain dolls and those collector's baby dolls. The people here are speaking specifically about BJDs and what they experience. BJDs aren't as common as the other dolls I've mentioned, and it seems those are the dolls frowned upon.

 

My cultural background is Filipino but I was born and raised in the US and lived in the Midwest my whole life. I find that amongst other Fil-Am people I have met, collecting as a hobby is widely accepted and I have never had a problem or was harassed over doll collecting from people of a similar background. I know growing up in a middle class suburb was hard because dolls are for kids. So as I grew up, I just learned to omit the fact that I still collected dolls. I didn't get more comfortable sharing that fact until college actually. By then, I was less concerned about what people thought and more into what I was collecting.

 

I know it's popular in BJD circles to emphasize the distinction between BJDs and other dolls, but when it comes down to it there are really more similarities than differences (and that's ignoring all the people who do collect BJDs as part of a broader doll or figure collection).

Most of the time I think "Doll Collector" is an overall label covering the spectrum from antique dolls to porcelain to vintage to modern. BJDs might not be as common, but the average person isn't going to see the difference (never mind that some of those antique dolls like Schoenhuts actually are ball-jointed as well). In my experience, the average non-doll person is going to look at my shelf of BJDs, my neighbour's shelf of porcelain dolls, and my co-worker's collection of vintage Ginny dolls and just see a bunch of dolls.

I mean, I had a plumber doing work in my house last year and we ended up having a nice chat about dolls after he saw mine, because his wife makes Waldorf-type plush dolls. Those are about as different from a resin BJD as you can get, but they still made him think "dolls".

 

I'm from small town Ontario, Canada, and I've never seen another bjd in person besides my own. I fell in love with MH dolls first, then graduated to bjds. I've never really liked baby dolls, reborns, porclain dolls... I find them all to be creepy haha. Most people kind of feel the same way about bjds here too. I do get a lot of compliments on mine from friends and coworkers. But most people find out the prices and can't believe we would spend "so much" on "just a doll" and I think that's where the real lack of interest in them comes from. Not necessarily that they're creepy, but they can't see the value and hard work that goes into them compared to like, a fashion doll. So that's a turn off.

 

I respect your view and experiences, I don't disagree either. So I'm confused as to why you seem so determined to get your point across, I suppose it's simple misunderstanding and I'm sorry for that, but regardless this is really diverting from the topic at hand.
I won't be reply after this because this is not the place for debate, especially when the debate would be pointless as I don't really disagree with the what you've written. Dolls are dolls but some people react differently based on the type of doll. People definitely found my MH dolls much more childish than my BJDs.
The people here are discussing the treatment they get from owning BJDs specfically, not from owning well-known collectors' dolls or even children's toys (not talking about collector's edition Barbies, Bratz, etc). You're fortunate a lot of the people you meet don't see a difference, but apparently a lot of other Americans on the forums here don't meet people like that.

 

I'm American, and echoing what other Americans have said, most people still view it as childish and a waste of money despite BJDs being highly detailed. As for what my family thinks, they don't like it very much. I don't mention my love of dolls to relatives or outsiders, though. Only my immediate family knows I collect dolls among other things since I live with them.

 

I'm an American and as others have said, collecting dolls, any type, is considered childish, a waste of money, or something lonely women do. But still, there are lots of doll collectors, doll shows, etc, so all the 'societal judgementalism' isn't diminishing the hobby that I can see. Makes you wonder if those who judge have no rewarding hobby, or have had their dreams squashed, so all they know is how to make others miserable.

 

American from the midwest - my family is totally fine with the dolls because my mother and grandmother collect them. Culturally I get one of three responses:

Most common - Aren't you too old to play with toys? They're cute and all but you should grow up.
Second most common - Wow! Those are beautiful! They're like works of art.
Least common - Those creep me out. What a waste of money.

For some reason it is fine to have dolls is you are <10 years or > 70 years. In between you are just using them to replace children.

 

Another U.S. person here hahaha. I get mixed reactions to my dolls, but I think there is definitely a stigma around them here. There have been many horror movies like Chucky and Anabelle that were really popular here and instilled the "creepy doll" stereotype into a lot of people. However, my family and friends are all very encouraging of them as they see them as a creative outlet. I have had strangers approach me in the hotel lobby at doll cons and ask about my dolls, genuinely really interested, in a positive way. So personally I have mostly positive reactions (some weird/shocked looks though when I take them out in public), but I do think there is an overarching negative sentiment about them in American pop culture and that influences some people to dislike them.

 

USA here, living right in the Bible Belt AND Texas. Redneck, countrified, good old boy territory. XD

The most common reaction do my dolls are smiles, curious looks, and awe with a hand reverently outstretched to touch the hair. I get asked "Did you make that? Do you make these?" a lot.

I can count negative reactions on one hand. Only had 2. One of those changed to an "Ok, your's isn't creepy but THOSE upstairs are." after a closer look, and the other was a case of being weirded out by the visible joints (uncanny valley).

It's less the actual doll and more how the collector acts. Doll collecting is HUGE in the states, it's just not something that is very visible. The people that carry a doll about in public are usually children. Adult collectors do not. I imagine in a large university city or metropolitan area the person might be assumed to be an art student or it would be ignored.

 

America-the land of the--?? I guess it all depends on where one lives. Tucson was very doll friendly, Houston in general has not been. Conventional, conservative, redneck--all anyone can do is compare my doll to Chucky and tell me that dolls creep them out. It's such a canned response too--the sheer boring repetitiveness of this attitude is so irritating. Enough already with the Chucky reference.

On the other hand, when at the BJD convention in Austin, I felt right at home. So many people carrying all kinds of BJD's around--it was fabulous.

 

I am from Canada, a fairly small city, and have yet to come across another bjd owner other than my son. My coworkers definitely look at the hobby as a bit weird and a waste of money, and being middle aged with a grown child, I think they wonder if I use them as a replacement child, kind of a cure for the whole empty nest syndrome thing!

 

I see you are from Bangkok. I'll be there on June. You say that there are doll shops and that the hobby is very popular there, is there any places or shops you could recommend me?

I am from Chile, and here not many people know about BJDs. I have a lot of friends from all kinds of nerdy hobbies (from LARP, medieval reenactment to action figure collectors) and they see it as very particular kind of collecting. My other friends and family have mainly two opinions: or they say my dolls are very beautiful and really like them, or they are like "I'm scared of dolls and I think they are creepy". They do think of me as an extravagant person, but it's not that hard to be labeled like that here.

Chilean pop culture is very western. Our traditions we're almost destroyed during the colony, and in the last century we became very fond to mass media western culture in despite to what you can call South American identity. It's very sad, because anything that is not massive its seen as something weird.