Fighting that Doll stereotype

Hahaha this topic makes me LAWL.

I love how the 'doll stereotype' is that you have to wear all black and sit in the corner of your room while cutting yourself.

Dolls work out for me because I'm immature and childish. I may be 21, but I still love stupid stuff like colouring, ponies, kittens, dressing up and just being girly.

I guess the doll stereotype can go multiple ways... Scary Gothic People, Girls That Need to Grow Up, etc., etc.

 

now see that stereotype would be what's called "Emo" (jk)

had to comment, that gave me a good laugh
honestly though if "being childish" makes us happy, I say rock on

 

Amen! I'd rather be considered childish than a dumb old mid-life crisis housewife who has no fun!

 

I think the videos least the first 2 are cool. I think maybe we should be focusing more than saying oh this is the stereotype. But maybe its saying that all kinds of people can enjoy these dolls even if there gothic or into lolita fashion, that anyone could learn to love them at least thats my take on it ^^

 

There's a doll stereotype?

From what I've seen on this board, the love of BJD's crosses all boundaries. We have men, women, and children on this board - of all ages and sexual persuasions, from all over the globe. They collect dolls for such a wide variety of reasons that we keep having to start new threads and running new polls, to find out why.

I don't think it's possible to stuff us into the small, uncomfortable box labeled 'stereotype.'

 

The stereotype can change from person to person but, I'm sure you can think of a stereotype of something doll related, stereotypes come from something that happens in frequency, so it could be something as minute as age, or even a preference in sexual orientation.

It shouldn't be done but it has, in real life, on the board, even in this debate the talk about Japanese fashion and anime are associated stereotypes within the group and outside of the group that seem to be well known. Just to name a few...
Even if you don't associate with any of these things the fact is a stereotype is based on frequency. So if the majority enjoys it, by default you should too. Not saying it's right, but stereotypes are bad no matter what.

 

I agree that people can make erroneous associations based on the hobby. But I don't think that it should bother you, nor do I think that most of the people I know associate dolls with Goth. They're more likely to think of it as a very immature sort of a thing.

It's funny, my friend, in jest, actually made that comment on the board @ work. (I work @ a restaurant and we often use the white board to communicate.) In response I started writing about how dolls are more than toys and are tools of socialization and therefore are objects used in strengthening hegemonic thinking. Even though he was completely joking when he started, it turned into an interesting conversation.

 

I meant to mention this in my last post. I do think that it has a lot to do with how these dolls in particular are perceived. I know when I saw the news featuring the dolls (don't know anything about them other than what I saw) which were designed to be extremely life-like, going so far as to actually have rising and falling chest, I kinda freaked out and was just like "NO WAY."

 

I usually get asked "why are you still playing with dolls"

I would say that mostly the people who have met Kao have been more inclined to see me as "childish" rather than goth etc.

It's odd with the whole goth stereotyping being mentioned, because I came out of a rather lengthy "goth phase" just about the time I got my first BJD.... go figure

But on the whole I really pay much attention to people who just want to label, and in the same vein I am more than happy to discuss the hobby with non-doll peeps who have a genuine curiosity about the hobby

 

I get that one too. I also get, "I never figured you for a doll person." I don't even know what that means, but people keep saying it to me and I keep ignoring it.

Dolls are my outlet. Making clothes, playing with them, it's my creative relese. I explained to to a co-worker this way: I work in a highly emotional, high-stress field, and everyone has their "escape" to forget about the office. One boss has a Harley, one plays golf, one loves the beach, another has a condo she pours herself into fixing up. This is mine. The people I work with seemed to get it then.

 

That's an excellent way of putting it, weirdnessmagnet.

I guess, in considering it, they're an escape for me as well. So much so, that I never even considered what others might think about my hobby. That's why I was genuinely surprised to see this thread. As far as I'm concerned, doll collecting is as valid a hobby as any other, and deserves as much respect - and if it keeps me sane, all the better.

When I lived in Massachusetts I belonged to a doll group for people who collected antique dolls (of which I had several at the time). There was a huge cross-section of society represented at those meetings. Other than the mutual love of dolls, I really couldn't define a 'stereotypical' doll collector. I can't for this group either. We've been drawn to BJD collecting from many places and for many reasons.

 

"Never figured you for a doll person"... I LOL'd I mean..... what IS that exactly??

I agree with you completely though. To me it is so much more than the dolls. I love having them for company, but it has also made me take up knitting and sewing again, I have started to mess with photography more, and today I even went and bought stuff to try my 1st faceup. Dolls are a fantastic outlet for stress also

 

But I don't think this thread is so much about we or other doll collectors stereotype us but how the "general populace" stereotypes us. And yes 90% of them most likely will, on seeing a BJD owner w/ their doll, have their brains flash first on the more negative (as they see it) of those stereotypes. Just the way things are. Of course I can say that because I've spent my entire life being stereotyped for one reason or another. Some even have more than a hint of truth behind them, yet another reason I say just learn to deal & move on.

Morgan

 

The sort of doll stereotypes I've heard about, or seen portrayed in books or movies or whatever, are of the eccentric middle-aged (or older) women variety. They like to cruise craft fairs for "clever" wooden signs to hang in the kitchen, scrapbook on the weekends, and wear sweatshirts with teddy bears on them (which they probably bought at a craft fair). This mostly refers to Victorian Porcelin dolls, or doll lines made by people like Marie Osmond. You know what I mean?

I admit that I am childlike - they are many adult things I'd never dream of doing (or even want to do). I am happy in my little world of toys and dolls and naiveness. But I don't really "dress" like how people would "expect" of people like me. And I'm not throwing tantrums in the candy aisle. I look like a perfectly normal person. Unless it's brought up specifically, I never discuss my interests, so I don't think anyone would even suspect unless they saw my room.

 

Lol, I bet that has something to do with why people are shocked when I mention I like dolls, because I don't look anything like that ^^

 

... and Easy Spirit shoes. And cinnamon-apple potpourri. And dried-flower wreaths.
Dear god, along with the Clever Wooden Signs, always with the dried-flower wreaths.
And those crocheted toilet-roll covers with a little plastic angel-head sewn on top, bought at church bazaars.
*shudder*

ALL of us! Every goddam ONE of us is exactly like this!!

 

or any sort of applique and 3-d embellishment. this goes double at christmas.

 

I swear to god I nearly spewed my tea all over my keyboard!!!! "And those crocheted toilet-roll covers with a little plastic angel-head sewn on top, bought at church bazaars." I died when I read that!!! As far as "doll people" stereotypes go I also feel that a bad perm is some how part of the equation...

 

Don't forget furniture covered in doilies that we crocheted ourselves (or inherited from our great-great-great grandmother who crocheted them HERSELF and she is the reason we're in the D.A.R. now, rest her soul). Because doilies go with the dried flower wreaths and those cross-stitched-on plastic-grid Kleenex box covers.

But don't diss the Easy Spirit shoes, now. They make some killer cross trainers.

 

Crocheted dolly clothes, and crocheted toilet paper roll cozies with doll heads - shudder - one of the reasons I stopped collecting fashion dolls. Yes, I saw CROCHETED ENSEMBLE ENTRIES at fashion doll convention contest rooms....(no offense intended, ok?)
Alex