How open are you with your BJD as a hobby?

I am and I'm not. I dated this one guy years ago and when he found out I liked to sew he shot me this awful look "You're supposed to be a guy right? Why would you want to sew, it's such a girly thing." Needless to say the relationship ended quickly. However, his harsh words stuck with me. So, while I surround myself with loving and open minded people for the most part, I still have this massive fear that I'm gonna be judged for my interests. As such, I tend to gloss over my BJD obsession - "oh its just another way to express creativity, nothing major." Eventually I'll get past this fear of rejection/judgement - but it takes time.

 

Personal/Private hobby for me mostly. My family is aware I collect dolls and have come to accept it. But I wouldn't go screaming it from the rooftops or tell people about it unless they brought it up in conversation.

It' not that I intentionally hide it from others.... I just don't feel the need to do so.

 

My dolls sit out on the mantle for everyone to see.

 

They are sitting all over my house. I have a tendency to bring out my phone & show pics of them to people I've just met LOL So yeah, pretty open LOL

 

I'm not very open about it because most people I know have no idea what BJDs are. The friends that have seen my dolls have had the typical "dolls are creepy" or "you play with dolls?! haha" reaction. Truthfully, I'm not even sure they genuinely feel that way, but the whole doll hobby has a really bad and unfortunate stigma around it. Just like "crazy cat ladies" do. (I'm both, fyi, lol). So I just let it go. I certainly don't need their validation or approval.

My mom however has been so interested in them! She marvels at them! She gets the whole artistic aspect of the hobby. It's kinda sad though that young people who should be with the times can often be so critical. Oh, well!

 

haha, i legit hide mine in a special box under my bed. I've had them there for almost two years now and not even my mum or my partner know that i am apart of this hobby.

 

I am open about it, but I am not going to introduce myself and say, "Hi, I am Jamie and I collect BJDs." If I find out that someone has them, I will start a conversation, or maybe if they seem like they would be interested in them. I don't have mind on display at the moment (mostly for a lack of place for them), but I will as soon as I have a good place for them.

I know that feeling! So many people don't get it. However, I have noticed that anyone who is a collector (of anything and not just dolls) or artistically inclined is drawn to them. They can see the appeal and appreciate them!

My mom "gets" them (she even gave me one as a birthday gift years ago), but she can't justify the cost of them, so if she says anything vaguely negative about them to me, it is all about the cost.

 

It's funny that you should say that, because I'm always very interested in other peoples non-BJD collections (so it shouldn't be surprising that they should feel the same)! It's fun to see what kind of things people collect; moreover, the passion for their hobby.

 

Excuse me but : How dare he ??? Sewing is NOT a "girly thing" ! Boy or girl doesn't mater in this hobby ! You have the right to do what you love !! Do you know the number of male tailor ?? Yves Saint Laurent (a really famous French Tailor) is a guy, duh ! Aaaah anyway sorry for this and for what happened to you
Don't worry, I know it hard to get through this but at least here on DoA we all have the same hobby and we won't judge somebody just because of their sex (would be dumb xD)
As for the IRL well ... Most of my friends think that "playing" (yeah they don't understand the whole think ...) with a doll is "childish" and buying "just" a doll this expensive is not in their understanding xD (Don't misundertand me, I love them though ) But my advice is : Don't listen to them and continue what you like to do ! Maybe someday you will find someone (Friends or even lover ! I really hope for you ! ) that will understand you and guess what ? Maybe come to the "bjd lover" side with us ?!

 

Ethan is my little resin secret. For the most part.

Because I live under their roof still, my parents know about him. But, none of my Facebook friends or colleagues know I have him. Well, I've not told them. If they've somehow happened to stumble upon some reference to him somewhere (somehow), they've not told me. But, I try to be very private with posting. I put his pictures up in a closed group, and I have an Instagram that is not connected to my Facebook account or even my full name.

I have been thinking, though, about posting more publicly about him. The better photos, and little snippets of information. Then, I rethink it and don't bother. I like the idea that he's my little secret. Plus, I am very introverted. It's rare that I strike up a conversation with someone, so the idea of having to explain what a BJD is to the uninitiated and not-so-understanding unnerves me.

 

When new people ask what my interests are I always tell them that I am interested in dolls, but my other interests are arguably weirder so they often don't question it haha

 

I'm fairly open, but I don't bring it up unless I'm asked about my hobbies. Also: I've noticed that if you start such a conversation talking about the technical aspects of the hobby (customization, modding, photography, diorama construction, etc.) rather than your doll's character or something similar, people are more open to accepting it (and your doll having a character behind it, if you give it one). It also makes people less likely to jump directly to the whole tired "cursed doll" thing.

 

Thank you for the kind reply~ I appreciate it

Eventually I'll be getting more open about the things I love too - no point in hiding my hobbies and passions. It ends up just hurting myself in the long run!

 

If anyone asks what I did over the weekend, I might admit that I spent most of it designing dolls clothes... but I don't openly share it. For me as a newbie, the dolls are mostly models for which I can make clothes. But I feel they can be something more.

Either way, usually I don't feel like having my interests questioned by people who are unlikely to understand so I just don't bring it up.

 

I'm fairly private, I won't go out of my way to talk about my dolls. It's not because I'm embarrassed by them or anything like that, but I just don't find it necessary to shove pictures of my dolls in people's faces, especially if I don't know if people are scared of them or not. I don't bother to hide my dolls if people come over, mostly because I forget? lol, it's a lot of effort if you have a decent amount of dolls. If people ask about it then I'm totally fine with telling them about my hobby, but I try to stick with what's important, and not go off subject because I don't want them to be confused with too many details about dolls.

 

I'm "in the closet". The light is off and the door is nailed shut!
This hobby is not well known, so I find comments by non-bjd-ers unhelpful. I wouldn't show gems to non-gem people or coins to non-coin people, etc. Above all, though, I wouldn't discuss how much my hobby costs. That's really risky.

 

I'm pretty open about it, it's pretty obvious that I'm a non-conformist type as soon as people see me, and MEH to what other people think anyway. I do phrase it in a way that I think is more 'socially acceptable' though, like I call them collectible art dolls and I think that's two things that most people can understand : art, and collecting. The only thing I am secretive about is how much they cost. You either already know and understand, or I'm never going to tell you!

 

I'm not open about it at all. Only time I talk about it is if the topic comes up which is never in my daily life. Mostly at conventions and what not where I feel a bit more comfortable. Also, my age seems to make people think I shouldn't be interesting in such a topic, which is quite the shame but I refuse to have myself or my dolls scrutinized and critiqued in that judgmental fashion. So I remain largely closed off about it.

 

I don't openly talk about dolls, but if the conversation steers that way I'm not shy about sharing. I don't like to post doll stuff on my social media, just because I'm not keen on the idea of all my relatives knowing I still play with 'toys'

 

I'm too old and established to care what people think about me. Ok, that's kind of a broad generalization, but I don't really worry about it too much.