Pediophobia

I'm not afraid of dolls, though I have never been very interested in them before I discovered bjds.

 

I'm not afraid of dolls.

I am afraid of *specific* dolls... such as the porcalain doll that used to be in my grandmother's house, and one particular barbie I used to own when I was a kid. That barbie was evil, I swear it.....

Girl BJDs creep me out a little- but guess that's 'cos real girls do, too....

 

i could be creeped out by any doll depending on the state of my imagination at any given time. but seriously i have had an actual evil doll though. when i was a small child. i just knew it was wrong and so asked my mom to get rid of it. she didnt even know where it had come from.

 

I don't recall ever being afraid of dolls as a child, but I never wanted anything to do with them. Give me plastic monsters or furry animals instead! I think it was probably to do with the types of dolls available to children - for the most part, you either have baby dolls or barbie-types. I've never had any interest in babies or in playing a 'mothering' type role, so the former didn't appeal to me at all, and barbie always felt somewhat hollow to me, for some reason or another. She could never hold my interest for an extended period of time. With BJDs, as people have already said in this thread, our relationship with them is different than with many other types of dolls, and by nature of what type of doll they are - their customisation possibilities, their more adult feel etc - they open up far wider vistas than other, more limited types, I think.

 

Hm. I've never been afraid of dolls myself, but I had a distinct dislike for them. I was a tomboy growing up, being both a "daddy's girl" and a veritable shadow of my elder brother wherever he went around the farm. So, as a result, I disliked Barbie and anything related to her and more preferred Transformers and G.I. Joes.

Recently, a friend of mine introduced me to ABJDs and I was hooked. I don't even really know why, as I have no logical explaination for it.

As for the fear of dolls that other people show, though... well, it's been said in this thread a couple of times, but popular culture really has a lot to do with it. In some of my animations classes, we go over why certain things work well and why others create senses of fear, dislike, or distrust... dolls, in popular culture and in the way people see them in general (thanks to things like Chuckie), seem to feel soulless and want to take your life to make it their own.

Unless you've seen the movie "Marrionerer" (spelling notwithstanding on that one). I haven't seen it, but the doll on the cover looks like an ABJD and it's creepy. I will never watch it. Ever.

 

hehe i was a tomboy too i had tons of gi joes and such, but never dolls, im still scared of dolls except bjd

i dont really know why, but barbies and those big baby dolls always scare the hell outta me x_x

 

I'm not afraid of any dolls..but I can understand why people would be, though.

 

I'm never afraid of the Dolls for the fact they're dolls...

But dolls that arent properly dressed, dirty, or thrown down with their limbs all out of wack drive me NUTS.

I was a plushie person growing up, but my mom always made cloth dolls, or doll clothes for the plastic dolls you get at the craft store.

I dont like most vintage dolls because they're been damaged or deterioated, but if I see a pretty, new doll I stare at it and analize it's facial characteristics.

Kewpie dolls or ones like that poog me out though x.x ...I stare back at them like "...What do you want?"

For me a doll has to be treated like a proper person, I guess. ^^; I cry when I see broken dolls, like on that epsoide of CSI or in Rosen Maiden.

...well... I cry on the inside.

 

Maybe a lot of the stereotypical showing of dolls as homicidal maniacs in certain movies (not just chuckie, I'm sure more) don't help. We also can't forget some porcelin dolls look mad freaky sometimes.

I don't mind, to each their own.

 

I'm not afraid of dolls, though there are some kinds of dolls that can make me feel uncomfortable or anxious.

BJDs don't bother me for a couple reasons, I think. First, their scale is comfortable for me. Realistic, life-sized baby dolls make me uncomfortable. In particular, the OOAK "reborn" Bereunger babies on ebay. They're extremely realistic and life sized, but will never move. So they're sort of seem like dead humans to me. (No offense intended to those who like Bereunger reborns.) Since BJDs are very different in scale from reality, they don't bother me. They don't seem "human," even though they're human shaped. Also, most BJD have less "slack" facial features than a lot of the "non-play" display dolls. Because of the style they're sculpted in, they don't necessarily look alive, but they don't have a "dead" look to them either. I guess my main issue is that I don't like when things look dead - that weirds me out. Also, BJD are relatively new to me... so they don't have any of the "creepy" feelings attached to them. Whereas I might have some lingering discomfort from certain types of dolls that I would have been creeped out by as a little kid!

BJD with their eyes out don't bother me, though realistic dolls with their eyes out are very creepy to me. Especially if it's one in and one out! I think it's to do with realism + deadness again.

 

Eh, I was a very imressionable 11 year old.

But thinking about it more, perhaps one of the things that causes a doll to be "creepy" are eyes that are very round and forward facing, like a stare. A lot of porcelain dolls have these and so do some others like "gollywogs" (Which are freaky for other reasons... No offense ment to anyone who actually likes them!)

 

Yes, but probably not in the way you mean =)

I've never been afraid of dolls in and of themselves, but I've hated dolls for a long time. I guess mostly it's the association - I hate being a girl, I hate everything to do with girls, and dolls are so strongly associated with girls that I've just avoided them as strenuously as I could.

Then I found bjds... and I figured that I could either care about what people thought of me and said about me (and oh, have I copped shit from family and friends about my sudden "girlish tendancies" -.-) or I could get the dolls I wanted because I wanted them. So I went with the second option, and said screw the rest of the world ^_^

So, I guess my fear wasn't of dolls directly, it was off the implications of owning a doll - and bjds inspired me to overcome it, in a way ^_-

Cyph

 

I sometimes think some people are 'afraid' of dolls because that's the 'cool' thing to be afraid of, like 'clowns'. It's kind of cliche. But I do believe some people do have a real phobia of dolls, I haven't met anyone like that yet though.

 

Strange, I DO despise ALL other dolls besides most BJDs.

 

Yes that makes sense. Have you ever seen a Frozen Charlotte doll? Feel free anyone to correct me if I get this wrong, but as I recall they were renditions of a little girl with long brown curls who died by freezing to death. Gruesome no?

but really folks, afraid of dolls? I'm so much more afraid of people!

 

I am nearly 17 now, and i am not afraid to say.... i am totally scared sh*tless of porceline dolls. I don't know why i think it was the stories that were going around when i was younger. I never told anyone either, so every christmas and birthday i would have a new one. i am even to scared to throw them away!! i've kept them looked in the closet with a belt around the handle.

 

I feel like the resident oddball, now. ^^; I adore dolls, including antique porcelain dolls (though I understand the creepy vibe a lot of people get off them). I was pretty much a tomboy, but I was very comfortable playing with dolls too. I still have most of my childhood dolls, and still avidly seek out new dolls beyond BJDs.

As to why I find BJDs so enrapturing, I think it's because they really are like nothing else on the market, doll-wise. They are large, high-quality materials (generally) that are *designed* for owner customization. The owner is able to explore their own artistic values with these dolls, much more easily than with any other doll. BJDs are not as static as other dolls, either in their looks or posability. If a look is undesirable, it is a very easy matter to change wigs and eyes, and a whole new doll is born. They can physically express a mood to a far greater extent than most other dolls, and that mood can be changed just by shifting their pose. In this, I think that the dolls seem much more natural, and not as "eerie" as other dolls.

 

I sat through Child's Play when I was a little kid too, mainly because my brother loved it. Moving on though, when I did see that movie at a young age... I believe I was 3 when it happened... when the mother found out the doll had no batteries and then it talked. Creeped me out to the point where I'd just get behind the couch and wait for that scene to end. I calmed down after that, but that scene was just scary to me! I've gone into a doll store with porcelain dolls, they don't scare me, but like everyone else I do get that feeling that they may be out to kill. ABJD however, have a very expressionable face, and the fact that they need a lot of love and care from the owner, and not be shelf sitters leaves you with someone to love when you're feeling down. ^^

 

I can now officially never get a BJD with sleepy eyes O_O

 

Great topic! I've actually avoided dolls all my life until this point because they creeped me out. My fear was based on the image in my head of dolls getting up and coming after me when I'm not looking. So I guess I'm not afraid of them because they look dead at all, but because they look alive. It's mostly the eyes. The more life-like the eyes, the more frightening they are. Sleeping dolls are more scary to me. It's as if they are trying to conceal their intelligent eyes so I don't suspect anything.

Late in high school, my worst nightmare came true when my mother bought three department store manequins and set them about the house in their various poses. Not only were they doll-like, but they were almost a foot taller than me! Thankfully, their eyes were painted, not glass. I still had a hard time ascending the stairs with my back to them. All the lights had to be on as I made my way through the house at night. I would actually look over my shoulder to make sure they weren't creeping up behind me on those long, insect-like legs.

Old dolls are much worse. My grandmother has the scariest baby doll ever, a Bilo baby that's extremely old. She keeps having the glass eyes reset, but they refuse to stay, so it always has open, black eye sockets. It now reminds me of the Little Apple dolls, only I don't think it was meant to be creepy. She keeps it in a very old, tattered, Victorian-looking doll pram. I don't care how valuable it is. It would never be in my home.

BJDs don't scare me too much. I'm more facinated with them. Well, most of them. I'm sure there are some molds that would not agree with me. I know it sounds silly, but I still keep my eye on my DD. I don't like to turn my back on her in the dark. It's a very mysterious relationship of attraction and repulsion. I would love to study more about the psychology of doll fear and doll love.