Dolly androgyny -why do we like it?

I agree that BJD with facial hair often do not look good, but my Mir has a goatee that looks great. I really need to post pics. Androgyny is great, but aside from Iplehouse, I don't think many companies do masculine very well.

 

I love androgiens because they are beautiful))

 

Andrej Pejic, the epitome of real-life androgyny.
He would make a very nice Minimee, I bet. ^.~
(I find something disturbing about him though,
and it’s not the gender-ambiguousness of his looks)


- Enzyme

 

I must say a do like a bit of androgyny, even in the "real world". I don't know why, I just do haha :]

 

I must be the odd one out here as I am not bothered by androgyny, but I don't find it appealing. My first guy is a RS Mu who I made up with a fairly masculine face with accentuation on his big nose My next guy is going to be one of those Oh so beefy Ringdoll 70cm growns that they just launched. I just like manly guys, it's my tastes.

The BJD community seems to have a large hobby crossover with anime fandom and the artist community, both are less likely to follow societal norms. They are also, in general, mostly younger than the general populace, and studies have shown that younger generations are less likely to follow gender stereotypes or be intolerant of things like homosexuality (not that that is related to androgyny, I'm using it as an example of something not previously tolerated in western society but that is becoming more accepted) .

BTW: Is anyone else getting the Crash Test Dummies song: Androgynous, stuck in their head?

 

Its alright because its versatile like I prefer the Soom Dia boy rather than the girl version its a personal preference I mean my first boy coming is a Soom Monzo and he's rather 'manly' so to speak but I still like the more 'feminine' guys as well. Its very much each to their own, as Duskkodesh said above me, the community has a lot of an anime fandom, which a lot anime guys in themselves are rather androgynous and feminine.
Also most BJD's are made by asian companies and I think everyones seen some of the 'idols' and 'singers' there I've seen a lot cross dress or look quite feminine like Gackt and Miyavi.

 

Hmmm... Having just emerged from an unhealthily long stint of watching nothing but Takarazuka (note: doing this will mess with your judgement and make you unable to participate in long conversations or concentrate for mor than two minutes), I would like to post here again.

Maybe androgyny is appealing because they're more openness to it? It is, by nature, something that does not get places neatly into a category (in this case male or female), so onlookers/viewers/dolly owners/what have you are free to fill in that form with their own thoughts or dreams. Sort of like a silent protagonist in video games; the character doesn't speak, so the player can fill in with their own words.

In this case, androgyny can give a certain freedom, since it is not restrained the social conventions places on male and female figures.

And, of course, androgyny just combines beautiful features of both male and female forms.

Jeeze, I wrote a whole paper on why otokoyaku are so attractive (college: the excuse to write a research paper on anything you want), and I still think I'm having trouble getting my idea across here. XD

 

I agree -- he actually looks like some of the more realistic abjd sculpts. He kinda looks like Soom or somebody could've sculpted him.

 

Yeah, that model guy is totally Soom.

What slays me is when you hear androgyny being called "new"...! *snrk* Geez, you'd think La Bowie had never been born.

 

He reminds me specifically of one of SDink's beautiful boys, though I can't recall which off hand. (I've been staring at his face for weeks now and making sighing noises. Well, model AND doll, when it comes right down to it.)

http://www.chilloutpoint.com/images/2010/09/think-these-are-female/think-these-are-female-17.jpg is the image that sealed it for me.

 

This is my take on it, too. A lot of what you see in this hobby is feminine guys, which is something I happen to find quite aesthetically pleasing. I also like the look of masculine women, although my one female doll is quite girly.

I do get very wary of the Asian/Western aesthetic argument, as it's heavily overgeneralized. Pretty much any Western boyband or idol singer that makes it big has somewhat less of a mainstream macho feel, and that extends quite a ways back, I would argue. And the only Asian aesthetic I'm pretty familiar with is the Japanese one. If you look at traditional Japanese male images throughout history, the pretty Harajuku boy's a pretty new thing. A man wearing a kimono properly wears a padded vest to give himself a filled out, almost chubby look; samurai are often portrayed as broad-shouldered, sturdy fellows, and their clothes emphasize this look. There were your Okita Soujis out there, but they were considered effeminate looking.

I'm another one who fell completely out of love with the burly romance cover hero look ages ago, and the fact that a lot of male BJDs have the modern Japanese/Korean love for very svelte boys with pretty faces suits me just fine. However, I'm glad there are also beefy EIDs and Idealians out there these days for variety.

 

I have to be honest here...I'm not a fan of androgynous-looking dolls regardless of their size. I just prefer them to be readily identifiable as male or female. I'm more attracted to that than I am to an androgyny aesthetic. I think it's because there are a heck of a lot of androgynous dolls out there (at least from what I've seen) and I find it kind of refreshing to see dolls that are masculine or feminine instead.

 

Yes, and a lot of people also conflate "effeminate" with "feminine", which are not the same either. "Feminine" means of/pertaining to actual females, which not even the queeniest Soom-boy is. "Effeminate" means in the manner of a female, which is what we're talking about here.

And yes, both of these are different from "androgynous". You can have androgynous men who completely avoid any actual effeminacy, AND as androgynous women who don't look like men. For example I'm thinking again of the fabulous-looking folks in the Matrix, how everybody looked so great wearing the same short hair & tight clothes. ^^ Or, for a dolly example right here at home, the way Shinji can wear a leather catsuit without looking like an actual woman, because that garment clearly shows off evvvverything that makes a doll-body male (flat chest, no hips, noticeable bulge). Effeminate no, androgynous yes.

 

THIS.

More to the point, though. I think that as a whole, feminine beauty in men is becoming more accepted and appealling. Speaking as the girl who has the misfortune of always falling for the gay one (All of my highschool crushes eventually came out, and the trend continued in Uni, except that most of them already were out) I do find the skinny, almost dainty masculine form to be incredibly appealing.

This is also an emerging trend and is reflected in my dolls. My boys are quite waif-like just because I personally find that appealling. Other people might not, so they will show their decision by voting with their wallets.

But that's 'feminine' beauty, not 'androgynous' beauty - the kind that leaves you wondering if it's a boy or a girl. One of my managers at work is stunningly gorgeous, but she often has people ask what gender she is because people simply can't tell. This true androgyny is not really reflected in the dolly world that I can see - until you get into the childlike sculpts.

But most children are androgynous anyway, so I'm not sure if that counts.

 

I think he’s too real to look like any sculpt Soom could come up with,
although they do have some realistic-looking sculpts, Mr. Pejic is actually real and
looks like he’s alive, which is not something I often think when I see Soom’s work.
But he is no doubt one of the best examples of androgyny I’ve seen in recent years,
and has some very nice facial features, so I get what you mean with the “looks like
someone could have sculpted him,” as opposed to just being a human . If anyone
wants to make a Minimee sculpt off of him, I’m in (I’m kidding, as much as I would love the idea,
I find it creepy to own bjd-(minimee)-sculpts based on real-life people)…

And to stay on-topic, there does seem to be a lot of confusion with the term “androgynous,”
some people also seem to think that it has to do with being beautiful, but unfortunately for most
of us that it not the case at all. XB


- Enzyme

 

Personally, I love androgynous dolls. Maybe that stems from the fact that I like androgynous people. Though I can still see beauty in both the very masculine and feminine sides of the spectrum. Whenever I show my mother or sister or someone a doll I like they usually get the gender wrong. Which doesn't bother me, but often when I say a girl is hot I get the "oh is that a girl?" response, so maybe I'm just used to it.

 

I did not like baby dolls when I was younger, and honestly, I prefer dolls with an apparent gender.

However, I do appreciate dolls with an androgynous appearance, and I think that the whole "bishie anime boy" thing may be comparable.

 

As far as human sexuality goes, it makes me wonder why androgyny is so popular. If you look at runway models, they have both feminine and masculine features, regardless of their natural gender. The ability to blur those lines allow the clothes they wear suit them, and not the other way around. In other words, the "androgyny" that models possess allow them to adapt with different looks and themes, more than the average person could. In a way, dolls are like that - able to adapt to how we want to see them. I think that's what attracts a lot of us doll owners/enthusiasts to this hobby. And I think that's why most doll sculpts are able to to transgress between genders, however we want them to.

 

Because they're the prettiest? Who doesn't love pretty?

 

Well, I don't specially like or dislike androginy in dolls. I'm pretty influenced by anime and manga, though, so I see them as characters, and nothing else.

But androginy allows us to see what we want to see in a face (or a body), so we probably prefer that because we can imagine a bit more...