Pediophobia

It's the eyes. The unblinking, super life-like eyes. Humans connect via the eyes but since dolls are rather placid some people find the "connection" disturbing.

A friend of mine had a lot of dolls (her mother collected them and often handed them off to her) and she went through a period where she had to turn them around before she went to sleep, as if she couldn't sleep with them watching her! And when I was in her room (she had 20+ dolls) I did feel creeped out by all the eyes, and that was before she told me about turning them toward the wall).

 

I think people have a certain mindset about the way things are "supposed to be." I think everyone is like that to a certain degree about specific things. Because dolls are in the human form (for the most part) people asign human characteristics to it, and when they don't live up to those expectations (whether they be ridiculous, or unconcious), it freaks them out. Humans are supposed to move, dolls don't. Humans breath and speak and blink, dolls don't, and so on. I think thats where the "the doll looks dead" and "does the doll come alive at night and try to kill you" thing comes from. People don't realize they are creeped out by their own silly notions their brains force them to subscribe to.

 

i think this is comes from the way they're incredibly perfect at the point of being unnerving, and how they just stare... and stare... and stare...
this is for both abjds and regular porcelain dolls.
i laugh at people who find my dolls creepy, because i find them scary too.

 

Most of the people whom I showed pictures of the dolls were like "why are they so scary?" "why do they look like they are sick?" "euww, its creepy"
And I dont really understand such reaction myself.
Might be some weird image of dolls crated by media, or just their looks. *shrug*

 

Almost every single guy I've met hates dolls and thinks they're creepy. Some girls, too. I've never had a comment on how my dolls look "too real." I've actually had a comment on them looking like "deranged" or "disfigured" humans. I think when they look at the doll, they think "supposed to be human but something is wrong so it is not a human." So I guess they are real enough for them to imagine a soul inside the dolls but they are too stiff, emotionless, unblinking, etc.

These guys also always say they think the dolls are going to come to life and kill them. Obvious horror movie influence there.

 

The majority of my friends find BJDs creepy. Most of them when asked why, replied that they looked like they would kill you when you were asleep. One of them actually elaborated and said that they were creepy because they were so realistic.

Personally, I don't see it. I think they're pretty. :<

 

I have to say that up until about a year ago, I HATE HATE HATE HATED most dolls. I thought they were like the creepiest things on the planet because it seems like they're staring at you.

There were some exceptions, of course, I played with barbies a lot as a kid and had an American Girl doll--but then there were also those creepy porcelain and ragdolls that I just couldn't stand because they looked so creepy. My mom used to have one propped up on my wall as a kid and it would keep me up at night, sometimes.

In fact, when I first got my BJD, It took me a long while before I could go to sleep without putting something over his eyes.

As for WHY I used to be scared of them... I've heard people say a lot that they find dolls creepy because they look like they're alive when they aren't, and I think there's a lot of truth in that. Lots of dolls look like they're staring you down, which they shouldn't be because they are not capable of voluntary actions. xD;

 

Honestly, I don't find most BJDs realistic at all. They're not remotely life-like at all, they don't look human. Not in my eyes, anyway. They're stylized, idealized versions of human beings with inhuman proportions. No real life human being has "big eyes, small mouth" anime-ish facial features, something often found on BJDs, for one.

For that reason, I don't understand at all why anyone would consider BJDs creepy, much less "life-like," because they're not.

Reborn baby dolls, on the other hand, since they're deliberately designed with hyperrealism in mind seriously give me the willies. I understand that some have had motors and such in them to give them the semblence of life, which is kind of ick. The ones that don't move at all give me "OMFG DEAD BABY!" vibes, which is why I can't stand them.

 

In my mind it's the same deal as why children all 'hate' broccoli. Somebody cool said dolls were creepy once in a film or on the idiot box.... and now its a popularly acknowledged fact.

Yes, dolls analogue humans. Yes, they are still and they stare.... but in my mind that does not auto-jump to an interpretation of dead. Death is simply the body empty of the person.... I very rarely read dolls as empty (even broken or derelict dolls). Dolls gain personality, eminence and aura through contact with humans over time. They are nothing like real dead people. Nothing at all, believe me.

And even if they DO represent dead humans, I do not in any way find that offensive or even frightening. Perhaps I have seen and been involved with far too much death in my young life to have a 'normal' fear or discomfort reaction to it. But personally, I don't actually think it's 'normal' to turn your eyes away from something that happens to everything and everyone. *shrug*


PS: Reborns are creepy for an entirely different reason than resembling dead babies. They were created to be surrogate children, unlike our BJDs. Just Youtube search Reborn and you will see some unbelieveable levels of squick regarding the people Reborns are marketed to and collected by. *shudder*

PPS: I will qualify that by reminding myself that there are squick-worthy people in EVERY hobby.... not just dolls. There's even a few squicks on DoA if you look hard enough.

 

I actually watched an episode of Oprah a while ago, which featured a woman who had a unexplainable fear of dolls. It was later revealed that the fear of dolls was linked to a past life and that the dolls "served as a metaphor for children." Which suggests that there many and often unexplainable reasons as to why people may fear dolls.

"Dr. Weiss explained that phobias and fears in this life are connected to experiences in past lives. Jodi has had a phobia - extreme irrational fear of dolls since she was a child. To find out the cause of her fear, she was hypnotized by Dr. Weiss and taken back to a past life. Jodi spoke during her session that she was welcomed to the light by her grandfather and that he told her that it would be ok.On the show Jodi described the experience as intense and that though she was skeptical going in, she was willing to give it a try. Dr. Weiss concluded that dolls in this case served as a metaphor for children to Jodi."

http://oprah.about.com/od/oprahshowrecaps/p/pastlifereg2.htm

 

I'm creeped out by my own dolls sometimes...which is why they are in a bag far away from my bed :B

I hated most dolls as a child...it wasn't due to any horror movies or a fear of children it's just...some of them are just plain creepy. I think the deer in the headlights look [the way the eyes are positioned] makes it look more 'dead' and then there are dolls [usually baby dolls] that are making faces and just...ugh...I wouldn't want that staring at me even though I know it's just a doll.

 

For me it's the result of watching too much horror movies.

 

I've found that most people who say my dolls are creepy, when asked why, say it's the eyes. Others have responded with "They're so realistic". (And "I don't know but just get it away from me!") Personally I'm not normally creeped out by my dolls, only when I notice that one of them happens to be looking in my direction. 'Course, if it was a real person I'd be creeped out just the same, if not more.

It might just be that they are frightened by the surrealism of the dolls. That because they are to life-like, and yet not quite human, they are uncanny. There is also the dead aspect, that they are life-like, but not living, in much the same way that a corpse is at a wake. And the eyes can add to the illusion of a corpse, with the glass eyes.

 

i think its ironic that i do have a fear of small children, in a way. i hate being around real ones, they creep me out yet i love more childish dolls. I think part of the reason i dislike children is because you never know what their thinking. While with a doll you assign them a personality-to an extant.

My sister when she first saw BJDs she was scared of them because they were so life like. Now that i own one she even says that they're cute.

 

I've had a few experiences of people staring at me, whispering behind their hands, when I walk around with my kids.
Granted, I'm not exactly a "model" citizen when I go out. Typically, I dress kind of punk-gothy, while my kids are usually a, more or less, opposite of me.

However, when I go out "normal" with one of my kids, I'm usually stopped often and asked about them. Some say my kids are "beautiful, where did you get them? how much did they cost? You're so talented to have painted their faces!"

Then I get some people that freak out.
"Oh my god, it's voodoo! An unholy idol! You're the devil!"
Okay, that last one was an exaggeration, but I have gotten the "voodoo" comment way too often to be amused by it anymore.

 

I have 14% pediophobia...i dunno why but those baby dolls that closes their eyes when you tilt them or those life sized dolls that smiles just creeps me out...Those realistic baby dolls kills me
BUT
when i saw BJD's they didn't scare me at all...they're like..normal to me..i have no idea why but it just so happens... O.o

@Yimmit: Oh my gosh!, haha..i know right..even though i don't have a doll yet, i've been to meets and they never freak me out, but when i came to my friends house, they have this porcelain doll and i feel like it's staring at me the whole time like if i let my guard down it would jump me and eat me alive... [not exaggerating]

 

I really don't know what it is, but I can get really afraid of other dolls, but my BJDs are just so perfectly normal to me. I can easily fall asleep even with my doll's bright, pupil-less eyes staring at me. BJDs are just... not scary to me! It seems like they're my own creations, and that all the time and effort I put into them makes them more like my cute little kiddos (not children!) than creepy, scary dolls.

My mom is really freaked out by my pupil-less doll though, and thinks that it's weird how most are very pale compared to humans. My dad understand that it's an Asian aesthetics thing though xD

EDIT: Kyomi19, that's exactly how I feel!

 

I totally understand heehee my mom thinks they are weird, in fact she doesn't know that I bought one. He's in my room, but she doesn't go in there often so she doesn't know he exists. Anyway, She thinks they are creepy. But most of the people I have come in contact with that know about them or let me explain about them seem to really either like them or at least not openly mean about them. My supervisor at my internship lets me bring my doll so that the seniors can talk to him. They kinda like him, like a mascot so I guess it really depends on what makes people afraid.

 

My friend said it's the eyes. -shurgs- She said it looked like a Cat's eye.

But my relatives say because the doll looked possed. Like she'll come alive any min

 

Movies like Dead Silence, and Doll Master (especially) don't help people's fear of dolls. I think it's something that is culturally based. There are many stories of dolls coming to "life" and killing, but behind all those stories is a real life person controlling them. That freaks me out more than the doll.

But really, just the thought of a doll coming to life is pretty freaky.