girlfriends and your dolls

Well, I don't know any male collectors personally, so this is pretty theoretic, but I am leaning towards the "cool!" spectrum. Because having someone who shares your hobby is fun, regardless of the gender. Plus, if you're dating someone who shares the hobby, at least you will never have the "zOMG, they are so expensive!" argument because they will already know. Then you can fancouple together? Sounds like a great time to me.

 

Definately a great time! Perpetually poor but fun nonetheless!!

 

Ok, I didn't say that BJD collectors HAD to be one gender or another, all I meant was that I personally wasn't into the idea of a guy who liked and collected dolls. I'm just giving my opinion on the matter.

And by "personality" all I meant was that from what I've seen usually girls who collect BJDs are really fussy about their wigs and makeup and clothes, they sleep with them, carry them around, "bond" with them. And I understand because I'm totally the same way, but a straight guy doing these things does not equal boyfriend material for me it would really repel me from a person.
I don't mean to generalize or offend anyone but thats just what I think.

 

I've heard the 'I think guys who date dolls are repellent and weird' sentiment before (so I'm not just picking on Mimou here; it's a general trend I've noticed), and I find it akin to someone saying, 'I think girls who like cars/sports/video games are repellent and weird'. It smacks of good 'ol sexism.

There's a lot more tolerance these days for girls doing 'guy' things, but not so much for guys who want to do girly things - which is argurably rather misogynistic, as it still plays on the assumption that masculinity is something that everyone should aspire to, whereas anyone who wants to aspire to femininity is weak and stupid. (And now I sound like I'm repeating the opening lines of my favorite Madonna song.) If girls aren't attracted to a guy with 'femme' interests, that's one thing (after all, not everyone is attracted to guys with 'butch' interests), but the 'guys who like dolls are repellent' sentiment is another thing entirely.

Personally, I feel awkward about introducing people to my hobby as it is, and I'm a girl. I can't imagine what it's like for a guy.

 

I was lucky enough to meet a couple of boys who are into BJDs at some meets recently.

I have to say, although it was a little strange at first seeing them there dressing them and playing with them, it was heart-warming to me. Because my partner is so opposed to my 'stupid' and 'expensive' hobby (although he does make an effort bless him) it's wonderful to see other guys who are the opposite. My big brother, for example, (adopted... by me...) has three girls and I love chatting to him about wigs, or clothes or what have you - it's nice to have a guy's input on what looks nice too, same as I would for myself ^_^

However, I'm not sure I'd be interested in a boy who likes BJDs as a partner, although I can't really explain why and I doubt I'll have much of an opportunity to find out It's not something I'll rule out though - don't knock it till you've tried it and all that!

I think it's great it's a hobby that appeals to men of all ages, as well as us girls ^_^

 

Any girl who would expect you to give up a part of yourself and what you love and enjoy is not worth your time.

Would you at least get to know them as a friend?

I know at least 5 men collectors
one of them I found to be the most annoying person on earth, but I have known him for years before either of us were doll collectors and he was just as annoying then, if not more.
another I knew from high school and we didn't like each other, but when we both got into the hobby, we became friends
the others are nice and well rounded people, two I am good friends with, the other I am not as close to but he enjoys his dolls and is a great guy.

Many of my male friends enjoy my dolls, and I would love to meet more men collectors

 

I realize it's your opinion and I wasn't trying to beat you up, I just think it's rather ill thought out--and the way you said it was very harsh. I cringed on behalf of all the guys on the board. What you need to realize is that people play with their dolls in many different ways. Some do all the things you mention, some do some of the things you mentioned, and some don't do any of those things (though I'd hope they'd care enough about their doll to fix their wig and make sure they have a nice faceup!)--you have to get to know the individual person and what hobby related things they like to do as well as what their overall personality is like. The bjd hobby is only one part of a person. Though I find it rather bothersome that you would criticize someone for doing the very things you do--you don't have to date them, but you could at least be fair in your treatment of others.

If you take this idea that guy bjd hobbyists are unpleasent and carry it with you when you interact with others in the hobby, you may end up cutting yourself off from some really great people--not just people who are boyfriend material, but who may just be good friends. Dolls aren't and shouldn't be a girls only hobby--they should be for everyone who wants to participate (which means we should make some attempt to at least respect our fellow hobbyists even if they differ from ourselves). Making vast generalizations about people just isn't cool.

 

my husband thinks it will be cool when i get my first doll. i don't think he will ever get one but you should see the weird looks he gets when both of us are sitting in church and both of us are working on our own cross stitch patterns! he is currently working on a light house one with crashing waves. People's eyebrows usually try to come off their heads when they see my husband doing cross stitch! but he is not apposed to holding or carrying my doll. soo, guy collectors don't bother me one bit. if you love your hobby then that is all that matters.

 

I think it'd be really cool. Though I'm into whatever is different, so shove something different at me and I'm bound to like it. :3

If I met a guy that collected dolls, I would try as hard as I could to be his friend.

 

Since some of the experts on dolls--of all kinds--are men, I don't see why it would be different for BJDs. Glenn Mandeville is a big name in postwar fashion-doll collecting; so is Joe Blitman in the Barbie world. Alan Scott Pate does amazing research on the history of (traditional, non-BJD) dolls in Japan. (Google him, because his website is fabulous!)

And, errrrrr, to the people who have posted in this thread that they think it's "weird" for guys to be interested in dolls . . . have you stopped to think about who's creating the dolls in the first place? There are many, many male sculptors in the BJD world--and they're deliberately choosing dolls as their artistic medium, as opposed to all the other possibilities. Are those men also "weird"?

(I do admit that they're all a little old, by now, to be boyfriend material for the posters who are worried about such things . . . )

 

you pose a very good point, it seems like us ladies play with them as children and men get to playing with them later in life

 

First I would like to say that I know that this thread is aimed towards straight men (& lesbians?), I would like to post anyway. I really do believe that there are more male collectors out there, however, they probably are not on DOA. Because of gender labeling, and for some, having a girlfriend/wife/female friend with an account, there isn't a reason to have one of their own. My husband falls under both situations.

As much as we both respect Volks, I can promise you that we'll never own one. They just don't make mature looking girls and that is the only kind he's interested in. With the way american society has turned pedophilia into a freakin' witch hunt, I don't blame him.

 

In Japanorama (a program that kicked-ass and was about Japanese culture) featured SD's.. a lot of them were male collectors which was cool! I suppose if you find something you love, how can you help? I'm glad men are breaking the stereotypes that are generally put on them!
As for girls, I had a g/f (I'm bi) not too long ago who hated them! I stayed over hers and she wouldn't let me take them out of the bag I suppose eveyone reacts differently!

 

My guy friend who's been into BJDs almost as long as I have told me that he was dating a girl for a while who actually got jealous of his dolls, because he liked dressing them up and taking pictures of them more often than he did her (he makes women's clothes and is a photographer.)

Silly!!

 

I think it would be really cool to date a guy that collects BJDs too! It would be something we could do together, it could be really fun. I haven't dated any guys who collect so far, but sometimes when guys see my dolls they think they are cool - heck, even my dad likes them!

 

Interesting topic XD I think if I had a boyfriend interested in dolls I'd find it a little weird at first, but after adjusting to the idea that a guy actually knows what I'm talking about and doesn't think I'm insane for spending a "fortune" on dolls, I'd probably find it pretty fun if we had similar tastes in the care of our dolls.

Ex. If like taking my dolls out and playing with them and even doing photostories outdoors or in parks and such, and he likes to also, it'd be awesome. But, if he was totally opposite I don't know how that'd work.

As for the thought of dudes being "gay" for having dolls. I think just because a guy collects dolls doesn't mean he's any more gay than a guy who sits on his butt every sunday watching a bunch of sweaty guys tackling one another in tight pants playing a game called "foot ball"

If you're a dude and collect dolls, rock on!

 

I think its no different from a guy collecting anime models tbh, theyre too similar in my book, since both are collected because of their aethetics (may of spelt that wrong)

Personally id love my fiancee to be interested in them enough to buy one of his own although i realise he never will, hes content to help me buy mine instead

I do think there's too much stereotyping when it comes to guys collecting anything outside something to do with sports. Guy gamers have generally suffered the same misconceptions as male bjd collectors before console and pc games became popular, and still continue to do so on some levels, but i dont think being interested in something means that a guys weird or "fruity", it just signals to me that theyre well rounded enough to think outside the whole "manly " guy misconception.

And on that note id love to meet a male collector, since i find men are, at times, easier to talk to

 

As a guy, my female friends are the ones who helped me get into dolls, and convinced me to get my first. My cousins all love them as well. I also met my girlfriend (crybabygirl777) at a doll meet we had for her while she was visiting New Orleans So all in all mostly positive responses

 

I wish my boyfriend liked BJDs.
Then again, that might also be kind of weird, since he's not the artsy-type at all. :/ I have no idea what he'd do with one because of that. The closest thing is that he collects anime/video game figures, but he just uses them as decorations so... hm.