Making Boy Dolls....Boys! [~Small Edit~]

A few times, people here will realize Kiril and Hiroshi are boys without me needing to say it (people that aren't "doll people," btw lol)
But you're right, more than half the time, I get "She's so pretty!" "Look at how nicely she sits!" even when they're in boy-cut wigs with boy clothes on. ._.
I don't want to have to change his overall look or mold to acheive the "oh, he's cute!" comment.
So I'd really like to hear this, too.

 

I've done it with my Tae and my Bernard (Bernard's are pretty manly though)

I think it was his short hair and neutral faceup, really. Plus, he had pretty casual clothes on; pants and a black shirt, not overly girly like a lot of boy dolls are.

If you want your doll to be recognized as a boy, don't dress him in girly clothes, or give him long hair (Let's face it, in the real world, most boys don't have long hair, so the automatic assumption is that your doll is a girl) and keep his faceup neutral. That's all I can really say

Although, sometimes a sculpt is so girly it's hard to make them look manly. It can be done, though

 

Well so far, I only have a girl so I can't speak much on this topic.

But, I know that a lot of people who don't collect dolls always assume that something with frills on it or long hair is female. (My Mother collects and makes dolls that look like real life babies) Anyway, she gets that all the time even if she does something as tiny as curl the doll's hair up into a baby curl.

Maybe we should all dress our boys up in a tuxedo and stick a sign on his tux that says "Before you comment, I'm a boy!."

 

Personally, I've only seen a -few- dolls that made me go: "er... gender?" But even then, I didn't automatically assume they were girls. XD
However, I think a background with anime is really sort of training for gender recognition--I learned to differentiate pretty men from women pretty early in the game, and I didn't really have a huge problem with it to begin with.
My mom has lots of problems telling girls and boys apart, though! I show her lots of pictures and there are many times that she goes: "Awww, what a cute little girl!" and I have to correct her by letting her know that she is, in fact, referring to a boy. O.o Sometimes it seems blatantly obvious to me, but she couldn't tell to save her life.

As for keeping your doll recognizable as a boy, I would assume the easiest way would be to just work "boy" or "male" in to his introduction! Like so: "This is my wonderful boy, ____!" XD Get a head start on them before they can make the assumption. You'll get a surprised look perhaps, but it'll stop the initial problems at least.

 

Oh, gosh everyone and I mean everyone that has seen my boy (I have had him for only a month and a half) thinks he's a girl. I could see if he was wearing a dress or had long hair or something but he's not and he doesn't. I guess its just something you have to learn to deal with... although I am really tempted to make a 'I am not a girl' shirt. Although some people would still probably mistake him for a girl.... poor boy.

 

My guys are recognized as guys most of the time I suppose, haha.

Short hair or not, the style matters. That's kind of why I like fur over fiber, way easier to do that with. The right kind of accessories too.

 

Beach girl nikita does a shirt that says "anatomically correct" that I am getting for my boy (just because I think its funny more than anything) Hopefully that will sort a few things out!
I don't really have the gender confusion issue except with my Mum, who now knows to ask first! I agree with introducing them first so it sets it straight from the word go.
Really though, these are dolls, and they do have faceups (make up to the non bjd'er) so people are always automatically going to say she in most cases, no mater how boyish they look to us.

 

Collared shirts x3 Along with the short hair I think they really help since collared shirts are a bit more worn by boys than girls most of the time. When in his default outfit my Kirill has never been mistaken as a girl, and the short hair probably helps too x3 Though I won't say short hair counts for all since yes, I'm pretty sure any male doll wearing frills of some sort are automatically girls to the rest of the world.

 

I've had a few "Girly" comments about Lakai, but most people in my area call items "it" until they know. It's considered sort of rude in Northern Nevada's small towns and small cities to automatically refer to something as one gender or another. I've noticed it a lot with dogs, babies, and the like. It's kind of weird because I never noticed that until I made my doll public. I found that I do it too. . . the more you know, I guess. XD.

 

I have yet to have anyone mistake my boys for girls. Mostly because one had a beard and the other... well, actually, I'm kind of surprised he hasn't been mistaken for a girl yet, what with the long hair and all. I suppose it's because I refer to them as my 'boys' and the girls are the 'little kids'.

 

I dunno... I think I've sort-of given up. It seems like no matter how male a sculpt looks to us, no matter how its dressed or what its wig looks like, these guys will never look like boys to people who aren't familiar with the sculptural style of Asian dolls.

After Hideo (my Amakusa-) was mistaken for a girl not once but *twice*... the second time by someone who absolutely insisted that he was a girl and refused to believe me when I told her otherwise... I just don't think it's going to happen.

Amakusa isn't a 'girly-boy' sculpt and Hideo doesn't have a girly face-up. I had his hair tied back and he was dressed in a very traditionally male way (He was in a suit and tie-). And yet, here these people were, calling him a "pretty little girl"...

If he can't even convince people he's a dude, what chance does the average El or Camine or F16 have?

 

I'd say half the time. >.>; then again, most of the people I show Alexander to I'd already talked deaf about my doll. I guess "Alexander" is a dead giveaway for gender, huh? But still, adult reactions to him aren't half as bad as I expected. Not half as bad as my family. =( some thought he/I was weird, but a lot were accepting. Why my parents can't be like that, I haven't the faintest...

But, I've had the boy/girl QUESTION asked before. And about half the people that've seen him that didn't hear about him previously and aren't into the hobby (that's about four) have mistaken him for a girl. The rest knew..somehow. o.o; But I'm happy in any case. I like him, and as long as people get the picture after I say "Boy" or "alexander", I'm good.

 

It really is the long/fibre hair, more often than not. I've done a little "test" of sorts on a not-so-dollie friend of mine - showed her the same exact sculpt and similar dressing style, except one had a short fur wig, and the other a long fibre one. She refused to believe the one with the long hair is a boy.

I guess it's also because dolls are, in most people's eyes, always girls. Therefore, they may look at your obviously boy doll, recognize the outfit as masculine, but still call the boy a girl (at the same time wondering about your taste in clothing for girls), just to be safe.

As for me.... My family refuses to believe my Russel is a boy. And to be honest, I don't really care...? There's nothing wrong with being of either gender. As long as they say's he's pretty and whatever, I'm cool.

 

Look, tell you what, if I find a way to keep people from saying "Voodoo Dolls" to my dolls that I make (see avatar), then I can work on the problem of gender confusion of bjds. But it's been close to 30 years, and no progress.

People tend to have one response, and they stick with it. Ask any librarian, chemist, college student, lawyer--there is a stock response that nearly everyone gives, and it gets really tiresome. :p

For bjds, if it is a positive response, you may well get "she's pretty". Better than some of the things I've seen reported on the board.


Ann in CT

 

Having a big arse 70 with man hands works. Even with his long wig on no one calls Jareth a girl.

A short wig, or no wig, and pants. When my mini Xavier has his short wig on people can pretty much tell he's a boy. When he's got his long wig on people think he's a girl so he doesn't wear it out any more. The Orientdoll goes out bald or with a little hat. My other guy, who has a Beatle hair cut, is called "she" all the time so I tell people they got his name right. It's Shi Shi, kanji for death poem.

 

Hjalmar has been pretty safe from being mistaken for a girl. I guess the facial scar has to do with it and his leather coat and brown boots. So even with long hair he looks pretty manly. I'm sure the other 3 will have even less confusion seeing as they all have short hair, Kauko and Trygve have the muscular body sculpts and Trygve also has facial scars.

 

I have yet to meet someone out of the hobby who believes my boy is actually a boy. I get lots of "oh, she's such an unusual doll!" type comments when I take Quinn out. The initial mistake doesn't bother me, but I do get irritated when people keep gushing over 'her' and how pretty 'she' is even after I've said very clearly that he is a boy. He goes out wearing obviously male clothes, a boyish cut (although admittedly shoulder length) wig and a neutral face up. I'm waiting for a short fur wig to be delivered, so it'll be interesting to see if that makes a difference.

 

Interestingly, clothing is not so defining as one might think. The couple times I've had Gamrut in to work with me I've had people ask "Why is he wearing a dress?" My response, "That's not a dress, it's a tunic."

While on the other side of the coin, I've had Tanal out wearing a collared shirt with no fastenings (so it hangs open) and people won't believe he's a boy.

I think hair is definitely the biggest factor, when Christopher had the old brown craft fur wig people kept saying "She looks just like you." With his new short blond fur wig almost everybody realizes he's a guy, and I didn't change anything else about him.

 

LOL iSparrow you crack me up! Thanks you for posting this - I think with my black wig, rather than blond, he looks more boyish?

And I have shown people Jasper little nub because they dont believe me otherwise!