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

I seem to be succeeding at getting Rupert recognised for the boy that he is With the exception of the custom kimono he is getting, Rupert always wears trousers and shirts. He has a shoulder-length wig that used to belong to one of my girl MSDs, but on him it looks princely and I can make it look more masculine by brushing the lengths away from framing his face, although ultimately I want a shorter, Beatles Mop Top style wig for him.

I might be jinxing it now, but I've never had anyone ask if he's a girl ever.

 

To almost everyone in the Western world, long hair+pretty face= Female. You just can't get around this fact. Traditional gender indicators are a very strong cultural structure and if you have a "boy" with long silky hair, eyeliner and no real jawline to speak of, he's gonna get called SHE, at least in the parts of the globe I've experienced so far. (America & Europe)

 

My Sabik has been called a girl before.

Bald.

In a spandex shirt.

-.- I really don't know how people do it. He was literally in slacks and a black spandex shirt I'd stitched together really quickly, sitting on a counter while I paid for something. And someone started asking questions, reffering to him as 'she'. I was very confused. I can understand a lot of dolls getting mistaken for girls, wearing somewhat feminin clothing, or loose clothing and long wigs or femininely styled wigs. But this just sort of boggled my mind.

 

Thanks all for this thread. It's full of great attitude! My first bjd, a Soom Lupin, is on his way. Rosslyn, even with his five-o'clock shadow, are people going to think he's a girl? Ah well, back to the dress I'm working on for him.

 

The doll i most often have with me, when i'm photographing, is Joby. He's my favorite. My Iplehouse EID Kamau. And let me tell you, that boy has NEVER been mistaken as a girl LOL If anyone ever honestly thought he was a girl, i'd be forced to suggest that they take anatomy lessons, and learn the difference between boys and girls.

 

I was going to say... Iplehouse boys do NOT look anything like girls... throw one of those in a "wifebeater" and I don't care if he has a long wig on its NOT going to happen

...I think...

 

It's interesting seeing what people flag as "reliable" cues--like the post noting that big feet were the marker. Umm, not so much, any more! I do agree that the default for "doll" seems to be "girly". When I've taken my older SD guy to meetups in restaurants, I get more funny looks for the fact I'm carrying a large doll at all. Then I get the boggle expression where the doll's beard kicks in, and the collared shirt, and the suit, and once that actual unmistakable gender cue is noted, then you get the funky expression wondering *why* I have a doll that looks like that. And *that's* where it gets to be all about that person speculating, and no longer about me or my very senior, very authoritative doll.

 

Zetto started out his life with a real genderbender body...literally. He had a 2-piece Obitsu 60cm girl body with the male chest mod. Which meant he had the Obitsu girl abdomen. Waspy waist, junk in the trunk. Then I went to Parabox and, among other things, ordered him a 55cm abdominal vinyl piece. Swapped it in, swapped out the 60cm piece. 100% improvement.

Here he is in just his stain-protection suit:


Zetto is still a skinny, wiry boy, but he looks more boy now. And then my faceup artist Biff did some body blushing on him because the color of the abdomen didn't match the older parts which had already gotten a little aging and yellowing. Once she did that...yeah, he's a guy alright...



OK, he's not a 70cm hunk-a-licious dude with muscles and detachable man-meat, but he's definitely not going to get mistaken for female. Particularly when he's draped himself over a very feminine Dollfie Dream girl in a bikini. Aloha.

 

Dollcumentary- I recognize that Gretel face!!!!!

I, too, have Obitsu Gretel boys. Rarely do people miskate my Rylin for a girl, even though he has longer, heavier eyelashes and a much rounder face with soft features. I think it's his short fluffy hair. His twin brother Lucien who's face I modded to be more angular has long hair and peole call him a girl all the time, even though he wears form-fitting shirt that show his flat chest. Both have heavy eyebrows and boy clothes. I think it's definitely the hair.

 

My sister's Ark got mistaken for a girl, so I'm not sure about the chances of the pretty faced IH boys.

Not all girl dolls have breasts, like baby dolls or dolls representing young girls. No boobs =/= boy in all cases, so it's not that strange when non-doll people see a flat chest and still think it's a girl doll.

 

Sometimes I think that in some people's minds, doll = girl. Yoru and Korin are pretty consistently referred to as girls by my best friend's family. Korin, sure, he was designed to be extremely feminine, but Yoru? ^_^; There's nothing feminine about him at all...

Anyway, I just gave up on correcting them and moved on with my life. ^_^;

 

Someone told me IP Kamau was too feminine to be a boy when I showed them the pictures. And I was shocked the first time my MD Ryu was mistaken for a girl. IMO he's one of my manlier dolls =_=

 

Okay... that made me laugh out loud. How in world could someone look at an Ark of all things and think "Yep. That's a chick."

That's just silliness.

 

It must have been his soft features and gentle, feminine expression I only have one boy and he did get mistaken for a girl sometimes, but it doesn't surprise me. He's a puki pukisha, not exactly very masculine And the cat he was based on also got mistaken for a girl often, so it actually suits him.
Though I really don't get why some people would mistake the Iplehouse EID boys for girls. They are Manly! I mean, just look at that jaw!
I must admit that on a few occasions I have mistaken boys for girls, but that was on pictures and before commenting, I'd scroll back and check

 

one day a friend of mine came to my house and saw a picture of Akando.he thought Akando was a girl~~~~ after i told my friend that Akando was a guy,and even showed pictures of the EID body,he(my friend)was still telling me:it's pretty enough to be a girl though.

 

It mostly has something to do with the mold of the doll already.
Most of the companies go for the 'Bishounen more girly' type, which is appealing to many of the girls that buy the dolls. Since we do have more contact with this oriental culture, we can recognize some dolls gender, but people that are not used to this aesthetic get confused (but let's face it....some 'guys' are girls practically )

My MSD does look like a girl even though he has medium/short size hair, but since I make him a child, it's ok when he is mistaken for a girl :P
My mom recognize him as boy because he wears a traditional male korean outfit. But if I had put a female outfit, he would turn into a girl instantly too XD

But in a general, I think it's because of the simple fact that the doll need a make-up, eyelashes and stuff that you instantly associate with a girl.

 

LOL! Sorry for being a little off-topic....But this comment reminded me of this new Toy Story trailer instantly XD
http://www.erickwithnok.com/post/383935048/toy-story-3

 

Yes I have had that with Draven, even though in respect to most other dolls I have seen he looks pretty manly!

Though I dont think much well ever overcome gender assumptions, when I myself was a baby- and dressed entirely in pink, someone commented to my mother; "Oh hes so cute!"

So... yes. Basically, some people are just bad at gender guessing

Either that or im just really manly LOL

 

Nose bridge and eyebrows.....
To me it helps. RL Human males almost always have narrower eye sockets and a much lower brow ridge, as well as a more angular nose-bridge and forehead. Maybe with blushing and face up you could accentuate that...? I don't know, I don't even own a BJD yet, I just have an education in Stage-Make-up, is where I am drawing this from.
Men can have hair down to their waist and be wispy slender, as soon as i see the eyes and brow-ridge I know...

 

Definitly most the time my Megi gets mistaken for a girl but people normally catch on rather quickly that the dolls a boy. There have been other people who aren't even interested in dolls that ask "Hey, that dolls cool, where'd you get him?" or somthing else along those lines.

I have to admit that it does get annoying somtimes but you also have to understand that most people have never even heard of BJDs before so... you have to give them some credit. But yeah, I agree that it gets annoying.