Fighting that Doll stereotype

Gah, i hate when friends find out I love dolls and get creeped. It's a dent to my feelings, but luckily they come around. Show em enough sculpts, and there's gotta be one they'll appreciate

 

In reference to the OP from 2008: bjds turned me into a lolita! I fought against the interconnectedness of the hobbies for years (whilst labouring under many misconceptions and -ugh- wrong stereotypes), but finally a comment on DoA blew my mind and caused me to fall down the rabbit hole.

As for the stigma attached to dolls-- well, I don't go around broadcasting my subculture interests to anyone. But usually, the people who do find out 'get it' once I explain the hobby as a creative outlet and a way of connecting with other cool, creative people.

 

I can already agree with this statement despite being very new to the hobby. When I first told my family about my interest in buying a BJD, my mother and sister both thought it was very weird/creepy. My father said "You're a grown woman, why on earth do you want to play with dolls? You're too old for that, grow up".
Since receiving two BJDs, my mother and sister love them and think they are beautiful. My dad thinks they're 'cool'. My sister loves playing with my dolls, posing them, dressing them, taking photos. All of their perceptions of the hobby have changed!

I think that the BJD culture and hobby is growing, there are a lot less narrow-minded people out there these days. But it's true, there is definitely a stereotype that comes with it, which often deters me from talking about my hobby with other people. I feel as though I am keeping it secret sometimes, I created a whole different instagram page just so I could share photos of my dolls and communicate with others in the hobby so that my friends and family wouldn't see. I don't want to have to explain myself and try and convince narrow-minded people that BJDs are not strange. I prefer to just share my interests with like-minded people.

It's such a shame, I certainly hope people get over these stereotypes one day!

 

There's a lot of stories and movies and other such media that portrays dolls as creepy things just waiting for you to turn your back so they can kill you. It's not too hard to understand why some people find them creepy. There's also the concept of uncanny valley which imo some dolls really do fall into.

I personally don't mind all that much, associating what they already heard/know with what they see in front of them is a natural reaction. It may not be one we'd want but that's life.

And well...when it comes down to it, strange is just another way of saying "different" and there's nothing wrong with that. It just comes with the connotations that they find it hard to understand. So just give them some time to sort it out and let things go as they may.

 

my friends looked at me oddly when i told them i wanted a doll and truth be told before finding out about bjds. i thought that dolls were creepy too but, more so the creepy porcelain dolls from horror movies. you see i'm not a very brave person when it comes to horror films.

 

personally i wind up running more into the stereotype that people with BJD's are high schooler's that are into anime and manga. Or just generally that they are people who don't have any real responsibilities and thus are able to afford such expensive dolls.
so far i haven't really had to deal with this to much myself in the real world and have only seen a little bit of it online ^-^
But that's mostly just because of the company i keep.
i have to agree with the comments that sadly no matter what they hobby its going to be stereotyped for example I draw using an anime style and i cant begin to describe how often i get asked to draw hentai because "oh yeah its those Japanese porno cartoons with the tentacles right?"
Personally i use this assumption as an opportunity to introduce the person to the other aspects of anime and manga. I explain the how it originated from scrolls that monks used to pass down their religious knowledge and then grew into the art from we know today. How manga is used in everyday life in japan sometimes as memos or instructions for setting things up.
I explain all the different types of stories and ideas that are told using the medium.....i explain that it is more the the stereotype of big boobed women and porn.....aaaand i admit that that stereotype is true so far as that it is one of the ideas and stories that is told using manga and anime.
So personally though i haven't really had to deal with being stereotyped with my dolls if it does happen i plan to do the same thing as i do with my art ^-^ aaaaaaaand if that fails then i know who the jerk is in the room and who to avoid ^-^

 

So far I seem to have avoided any serious stigmas. My family has yet to see the dolls. (Crossing fingers because I'm bringing them on a trip with me tomorrow and they WILL see them by the end of it the journey.) But I'm such a black sheep in the family already that most of my interests completely confuse them. I definitely don't fit the popularized ideas and stereotypes of doll owners, though. I'd had porcelain dolls since I was very young, and loved them dearly. I never liked Barbies, but the art dolls I have always found fascinating and beautiful in their own way. But I never embellished on my interest and never brought it up until recently with people. I'm not hugely into anime, don't really dress gothic, and the last time I dressed as ouji-Lolita was at my wedding. I wanted to get into the Lolita lifestyle a while back but found the idea much too hard to keep up and the clothing unfortunately too pristine and expensive to wear all the time. I'd much rather dress my dolls as dandies than myself.

My in-laws have seen our dolls and definitely think them "creepy and strange." We don't let it get to us. We're going to enjoy our dolls how we like, and continue avoiding the "stigmas" because we don't really seem to fit into any of them. My wife and I are pretty much in a realm of our own as far as interests go, and every time I bring up with my other friends that I collect BJDs now they're usually more delightfully surprised and wanting to know more than they are accusatory about my "weird new hobby."