Has doll modification altered your view of human modificaton?Vice-Versa?

No, I don't do mods but if there is a need like ear piercing, slight sanding, I will. I used to think cosmetic surgery is ridiculous. But after sometime I thought that if a cosmetic surgery enhances your look by making small alterations, it's fine. Anything that does not completely change your look and nothing to extreme is okay for me, in both the Dollie world and the human world.

 

I say if modification makes you happy do it just as long you're not hurting anyone in the process. We shouldn't discriminate someone based off appearance.

 

Not really, mainly because I don't see doll mods as permanent or severe as some body mods. I'm very open to any kind of body mods, from piercings to boobjobs, but I just can't compare the two.
Giving a doll a piercing requires some glue and it can easily be removed. Giving a human a piercing requires and actual hole in the body and sometimes months of healing, with chance of infection and even chance of tissue dying.
Tattoos in dolls are easily whiped with some acetone free nailpolish remover while with a human you have to go through several incredibly painful laser treatments.
Most things you do to a doll are easily reversable. Not to mention they are dolls, so the emotional aspect of modification/surgery etc is not even present. It doesn't mean anything to our dolls, while some procedures change people's lives.
So no, my view has not changed either positively or negatively because I simply can't compare the two.

 

Before I learned about ABJDs I already had an interest in reconstructive surgery. That's basically plastic surgery for people who look a certain way due to injury, illness or birth defect and want to have it changed. I find "reconstructive" mods on dolls that got "damaged" (which can be subjective as a sanded nose is "fine" to one person and "damage" to another) also very interesting to see. So nothing changed there.

What this hobby did change for me was my knowledge about people who are transgender. Before I got into this hobby I knew nobody personally who is transgender and all I knew were little snippets of information from the media. Perhaps there were transgender people in the hobbies I already had, but I guess the ease with which people switch the genders of their dolls makes it a bit easier for people to talk about the subject regarding humans. I'd say this is a positive change for me.

 

I'm a supporter of both body modification, and extreme modification of dolls, and I think it's like comparing apples to oranges.

One is the permanent or semi-permanent modification of your body, which will take a lot of pain and hard work to reverse, and even if reversed (Tattoo removal, ear/tongue/genital suturing, implant removal) the result might not quite be the same as before you started. It can impact every area of your life - Where you can find employment, the kind of socialisation you're a part of, the sort of partner you end up with and how you manage your finances ("Hmm, I've got my Christmas bonus. Do I buy a new sofa that matches the walls, or go on with the old one and finish work on my backpiece?"). It can signify your membership in one of hundreds of subcultures. It's been policed and regulated by governments for decades (Look up Andrew Niland, for a recent example) and overlaps with any number of causes related to bodily autonomy, rights to sexual expression and rights to gender expression. Intolerance of modified people has resulted in murders (Sophie Lancaster), and recently (in the case of the PIP breast implant debate) the refusal of surgeons who installed faulty implants to replace them for free. (After all, says the mainstream press, it's only cosmetic, and these people are vain idiots who don't deserve to be compensated for the bad work done on them. Ick.)

The other is cutting up a plastic toy, admittedly with aesthetic goals in mind. If you mess it up, you can always re-sell it and buy a new one.

I'm always pleased if modifying a doll can make someone more open-minded about the modifications people have in the real world, and to make them not judge someone else's choices as fake and unnecessary, but they're very, very different propositions.

 

Nope. I still hate both.


Slightly more mature answer: I've never found piercings, tattoos, plastic surgery, implants ect, -ESPECIALLY on the face- attractive. I don't like them on people or on dolls. It's just one of those things that I've accepted that I'll never understand. *waves cane around*

 

I agree with this. When I mod my dolls (which I do quite a bit), I'm not usually doing it to enhance them aesthetically. With the mods I do, I change their gender or make them more posable or make them look more like the character in my head (which isn't necessarily more attractive). I'm not doing it to make them prettier. Whereas humans have plastic surgery to enhance the way they look, whether that's according to conventional aesthetics like boobs jobs, or weirder things such as that guy who tried to turn himself into a cat.
I don't really support plastic surgery that attempts to make perfectly normal people more attractive according to what society deems pretty at that particular moment. Whether that's a smaller nose, bigger breasts, a flatter stomach- I just don't buy into the idea that human bodies are bits of clay (or resin!) to sculpt according to our whims and the whims of people around us. Fashion changes all the time- in the nineties, it was considered sexy to look waifish and heroin-chic like Kate Moss, whereas now it's all healthy tanned skin, white teeth and full breasts. If you were constantly changing your body to the fashions of the day, you'd have to have surgery several times every decade!
Of course, if it's a medical problem then I support surgery. If your breasts are so heavy that standing up gives you backache, then yes, have a reduction as that is a legitimate physical problem. My issue with "prettifying" surgery is that often, the problems behind it are psychological. If you truly believe you are ugly and worthless, no amount of surgery is going to convince you you're pretty (and therefore, in your mind, a worthwhile person). Many people who go for plastic surgery (not all) have body dismorphic disorder, making them see themselves differently to how they are. If you constantly see your breasts as too small, then even if you're rivalling Lolo Ferrari, you're never going to have big enough breasts. That's where things can get dangerous, as all too often surgeons are too willing to take money from mentally ill people.

So that, for me, is the big difference between dolly and human modification. With dolls, you're simply carving a different shape out of resin. With humans, you're messing with their bodies AND their minds.

 

Nope, not at all. Dolls are dolls, people are people. They may look like us, but then, so do mannequins in department stores and the humans who play roles in fantasy movies (ie, they have super powers but I don't think about getting my own or getting little horns/wings/etc like they may have).

Maybe this is the result of having a biologist's categorical brain XD

 

I also think it is hardly possible to compare the two.

Body mods on humans:

1) are often not completely removable (or at least not removable without investing a lot of money);
2) if they go farther than a tatoo or a piercing, can lead to health problems, even be lethal;
3) often involve pain;
4) can lead to serious social disadvantages in some cases;
5) often cost a lot more money than as mod on a doll's body.

Mods on dolls:

1) are often either removable or can at least be reversed with other mods (sanding => epoxy to repair);
2) dolls don't have healing problems or infections;
3) dolls feel no pain;
4) dolls don't need to find a job after having their face tatooed;
5) can be made at home for hardly any cost in many cases.

Simply not comparable.

 

I'm interpreting this as more like: "Let's say you hated tattoos before getting into dolls. After seeing all the beautiful/artistic tattoos people put on their dolls, are you more OK with tattoos on people?" Perhaps I'm interpreting it wrong? Otherwise I agree with everyone else. There are social/physical/mental ramifications of doing mods on people that simply don't exist with dolls.

 

I second Ostrich.

 

I do modify my dolls a bit but that hasn't altered my perception of plastic surgery on humans.
I've always believed people are free to do with their bodies (and their personal possessions
that do not include living beings) what they like. As long as it doesn’t hurt other living beings
it doesn’t bother or affect me one way or another, so it's not my problem. (:

At the same time, I do not believe that modifying a doll has the same superficial aesthetic or existential
impact as a person going under cosmetic surgery.


- Enzyme

 

I have many piercings, scars and used to tight-lace quite a lot with corsetry (even at night!) to the point of altering my bodyshape. But now, as mad as this seems, I do most of my modifications on my dolls and not myself. Having these wonderful "characters" who can be changed and moulded and -dare I say it- used is very therapeutic to me. *shrug* That may sound weird, but it's true.

 

I personally think there is a big difference between something made of resin and something made of flesh. Some of the more major mods I've seen I wouldn't even consider for human beings. But basic plastic surgery is up to the person. I don't think dolls really have much to do with it.

 

It's funny as I was reading through this thread I was holding a bjd head in one hand and a drill in the other

I guess I'm in the minority here, because I will say that modding bjds has changed my view on modding people. I've always been ok with people doing what they want to their bodies, but I used to view it as kind of a monsteriously huge deal and therefore couldn't even think logically about it for myself. I'm reffering more to things like getting a tattoo or peircing, vs surgery (which should be viewed as a huge deal), but now I kind of view it as weighing the pros and cons, exactly the same as I would with a bjd I want to mod.

The price of the doll + resale value + emotion attachment if something goes wrong vs. the joy of having the modded doll + the experience gained from modding.
You just have to figure out which way the greater than sign goes and you know if it's worth it to mod.

It true the stakes are higher, and there are a lot more factors to think of, my bjd doesn't have to worry about finding a job in the future, I do. But it's still the same equation, pros vs cons.

 

I don't think it has for me. I'm a very open-minded person and my characters tend to be as well so when I have doll who's gonna have about twenty piercings, that doesn't bother me and it wouldn't bother me if it were a person. I love tattoos and piercings, I think they're amazing. I'm one who would only do cosmetic surgery if it was health related, like a breast reduction. I don't think people should be plastic. Or resin, as it were.

 

I feel about doll modifications the same way I feel about cosmetic surgery: whatever floats your boat. I haven't done much to my personal dolls, except for opening a few eyes, sanding a few cheeks, and rounding off a few too-pointy noses, but anything is possible in the future, especially as someone gave me a dremel for Christmas. I haven't ruled out cosmetic surgery for myself either, but haven't felt the need or desire as of yet. I don't have any piercings, except for my ears, and I'm not really a tattoo person, although I might put one on a doll. The Enigma used to live in my neighborhood and I saw him quite often in the supermarket with Katzen the Tiger Lady. I always thought they would make interesting dolls.

 

The two do not intersect for me. I think this is probably because I come from a history of modding other toys. I tend to think of it as entirely different, since they are collectibles.

This also comes from the fact that I don't think of the same types of mods for dolls and people. One of my best friends is a professional piercer, so I hear about all sorts of strange things. But, I want to do entirely different things to my dolls, like add robot parts and extra limbs.

Alternatively, for mods that ARE similar to those for humans, like ear piercings, I consider doing them to dolls to be much scarier. Human flesh tends to grow back, doll flesh does not.

 

No. I have liked body modification for over 10 years. But that affects things I do with the dolls.