Pediophobia

Whao. It's alot about the eyes isn't it? Most people seem to be afraid because of the eyes.

 

I have no real fear for dolls. Never have. My sister had a bunch of those little halequin masks, and we both had an extensive collection of porceline and Barbie dolls. Dolls, however, were never really my thing.

I've only watched bits a pieces of Child's Play, and even as a kid, I found it more hilarious than scary, especially when the sequals happened.

I only ever find a doll creepy or frightening when I see a detailed gore mod on it. Disfiguring and scarring bothers me greatly in real life, far more than it should, so that's simply tranfered to dolls. One particular modded doll turned my off of a sculpt completely becuase of how grotesque I found it.

I've noticed though that I have zero desire to own any larger dolls becuase of the fact that people have a tendency to percieve them as like a baby, thanks to their size. I guess I have pediophobia in the way that I don't like babies. I honestly get very nervous when I have to hold one, and the thought that people often mistake SDs for babies (even if out of sheer stupidity) is one factor that makes me want to steer away from them a look at other, smaller dolls instead, others being price, size, and aesthetic, of course.

Does that even make any sense?

 

hate ALL KINDS OF DOLLS. But because of BJDs I learned that there IS life in these motionless objects.

I guess the reason why people "like" BJDs is that they look soo lifelike to the point the one who views them sees life in them.

It also helped me to like them more when I first read the background story about T.Shall that DOD created for her. It seem like she's so real and alive. It's as if when I get one, I'll be actually adopting not owning the doll.

It's all about how you convince your mind that that thing is or not scary. Because of the horror movies it gave a bad impression to the dolls because of the story behind it. But because the companies' stories they made for BJDs plus their full of life (not only lifelike) appearances makes them not scary.

That's how I think of it. I'm afraid of dolls, clowns and specially puppets. But I came to like them now because of BJDs. Some dolls gross me out sometimes. I puke when I see them. I feel my tummy twisted when I see dolls trying to look desperately like humans.

 

Ellaine- that makes total sense. And I'm wondering if that's why I'm not attracted to anything bigger than an msd.

 

I never thought a doll looked like a dead child...but now i can sort of see where they are coming from...I mean bjds are very beautiful. but most of the time there skin is very light and there faces sorta have a "dead" look to them....And for the child part, maybe because a child usually has a flawless face, in terms of acne and such. but otherwise i can't really guess where the "child" part comes in.

 

I've spoken with a few friends about this sort of thing, most them that have fears of dolls. But their fears are very specific in china dolls, or abjd's because they are or can be so very lifelike. One friend told me she's not afriad of barbies because they look so foolish. But porcelein dolls look like little girls. And thus they are scary

I completely understand the whole 'dead children' aspect to the fear. Not that most ABJD's look dead, but its just artist creating these dolls strive so hard to make them look lifelike, and often suceed but no matter how lifelike the doll it will never have that Spark of life. They can look Empty. And I think that's what often scares people.

 

Depends on what kind of doll I suppose.
The porcelean dolls I don't really like because they have no personailty to their faces. They are repeats of one another and they have a hollow gaze; There is nothing behind them. There may be some beautiful pocelean dolls out there but they are still just dolls when it comes down to it.

I think maybe people are afraid of BJDs because they are life-like. They have a different expression depending on the angle that the face is at. They look more human than other dolls and there is a light to their eyes. They look like miniature people. The things that make some people want to buy a BJD are what scares others.

 

It's been really enlightening to me to learn from this forum that so many people either have some fear of dolls or understand other people having such a thing. I never feared a doll in my life, and could only imagine such a thing if it was a really ugly scowling witch or horror-gore-mod or monster doll - something that would be scary in any form, doll or not. Just being afraid of ordinary old harmless nice-looking dolls, I never understood and I never will get it.

 

very interesting topic!!

I'm also one of those who fear dolls. Or i did, don't know. when it comes to bjd i have never been scared or something.
I don't understand when people said "dead children"...well, i never thought of bjd as children, maybe because of their sizes, or even the appearance, yeah they resemble kids but not as close as some people say...maybe just my thoughts about it, but i also have a friend who REALLY fears children, but she never feared dolls....

 

You know what's really scary? A baby doll that is just slightly LARGER than a regular human baby of that age. I saw a Victorian porcelain baby like that in a museum once, and it still haunts me. It was a giant newborn, truly monstrous.

 

I can admit that I'm afraid of porcelain dolls and don't want any in my house. I think it's because I grew up with one in my grandma's place and it always gave me the creeps. I just couldn't stand looking at it or rather... it looking at me. I don't find them attractive at all. Plus, you really can't do much with them.

Five years ago, I visited the puppenhausmuseum in Basel, Switzerland and I was there to view the teddy collection but they also had a massive collection of porcelain dolls dating back to the early 19th century. The museum stored them in glass cabinets and I thought I was adult enough to view them without any problems but I was really creeped out just walking past them. ><; I literally made a beeline past the display cases featuring the dolls. I couldn't stand to look at them. I really don't know why I get that feeling. But yeah, I'll never put a porcelain doll in my home. Ever.

 

bunnydots I'm with you. my mom collected antique pre-1950s dolls and i love them, they are just beautiful, unless they are broken or mistreated, any doll that is mistreated just makes me sad. i know alot of people that are frightened of them. i have a certain friend that comes over regularly tnhat is terrified for a while my roomate would sneak and make my dolls look riaght at her, they thought it was funny, she got twitchy and paranoid. i told them not to but i put my foot down when she started throwing things

 

I have to say, browsing far back in the forums I couldn't help but want to bring this thread back up again, simply because the discussions that it holds.

My own opinion on the matter however, is I think the fear of most dolls lays with the fact that they resemble humanoid figured for the most part. The idea of a tiny person moving around in the same threshold as them can easily freak people out. Not to mention if they believe in different cultural aspects, like spirits going into items you care for deeply.

There is also the aspect of a doll looking like a 'baby', or watching too many horror movies with evil dolls. I personally never liked dolls as a child, the poor being I loved playing 'barbie graveyard' with my friends. We were tomboys, and baby like toys, or human-like ones scared us in general.

That being said, I understand the feeling of being afraid of dolls, but for some reason I accept BJDs; perhaps for the reason I met them through a more comfortable situation rather then walking into a room with them staring me down to get revenge for their barbie friends.

 

well since all my dolls are faeries, except Sarah, though she looks more anime-like then realistic so, I donno
but I never got a death thing from dolls, or a fear of children
I fear nothing!! :P

 

I'm way more freaked out by people than dolls. People are far scarier.

 

I don't think I've ever really been afraid of dolls to be honest. When I was a child I had a few dolls, a couple were just stuffed ones, but I know I had one porcelain doll and I remember being at a relative's house who had a couple porcelain ones as well. They never bothered me much, although I do recall noting that I thought the porcelain ones in particular were slightly creepy.

I did, however, have a Pee Wee Herman doll that scared me so badly when I was a kid that I used to have nightmares every night about it coming to life and chasing me around. I didn't want my mom to find out, since she had bought it for me, so I waited till she wasn't around and threw the doll in the trash. But you probably would have too honestly, if any of you have ever seen the old Pee Wee Herman dolls... it was one of the scariest looking dolls I've ever seen. No BJD could ever match this doll in creepiness to me. O_o

That said, that was really the only instance of doll fear for me. When I got older, in my teens I'd say, I was never really "into dolls", but I remember distinctly liking Living Dead Dolls. There were certain types of dolls that could peak my interest, but I never turned it into a hobby until the last couple years. My best friend showed me BJD's in an issue of Haute magazine years ago, but they never caught my interest until randomly one day about two years ago and decided to research them after thinking of them. Who could ever guess it would lead to all this!

I don't know, I get the question a lot, "How are you not totally freaked out by those dolls? How can you be in a house with all of them always around? How can you sleep with them in a room?". I don't think I could be afraid of one of my dolls if I tried, and I'm pretty sure I HAVE tried before. Pretty sure I sat one on a night stand looking at me when I fell asleep, then woke up and felt absolutely no fear whatsoever. It wasn't even startling. I have to think it's because I know my dolls so intimately. I change their clothes and wigs, I paint their faces, I restring them and suede their joints. I know there's nothing to fear behind those little eyes of theirs, no matter how realistic they are, because I'm the one who opens the headcap and takes them out or puts them in. Some would say that the realism and detail of these dolls is what makes them scary, but to me that's the exact reason they AREN'T scary. All of that detail makes them seem to have so much character, and that in turn makes me feel like I know each of them a bit like a person. They don't feel like strangers, or like some kind of weird dead thing/inanimate object that looks vaguely human and is kind of creepy because it isn't moving. When I walk in a room and see one of my dolls, I feel a sense of familiarity immediately. I think "Oh, there's (insert doll name)", and I know I could never mistake that doll for any other.

Something tells me though, that if someone else in the hobby gave me their doll for the night and told me I had to sleep with it in my room with me at night for one night, I might be a bit creeped out then. MIGHT being the keyword. But even then it's hard to say.

Amen to this. At the end of the day, I know that no matter how detailed my doll's face is painted, it will never come to life magically and kill my whole family. People, on the other hand, can be very unpredictable.

 

I think it has something to do with them looking ~almost~ real. If they were less realistic then it wouldn't bother people as much, probably. Just like I heard somewhere that Pixar discovered people didn't like it when they used maximum detail for computer generated characters; Pixar had to tone down the realism to make the visuals appealing to audiences.

Also, scary movies! O.O

 

Oh, but as for being afraid of children? Some phobias are so hard to explain, and some really have no explanation in the conscious mind.

 

Hahaha I can tell you've never had a phobia of such things then. ^^ I am severely terrified of clowns, and even BJDs with closed eyes. My grandmother gave me a little toy clown with a wind up. The first night I had it in my room where I could see it, but it didn't help and I cried all night and finally took the thing, at three AM, out of my room and threw it down the freakin stairs. I don't think I slept that night at all XD

And of course, I can totally relate to the 'dead children' thing with closed-eye BJDs, I have nightmares of dead children a lot and the more I get into BJD culture, the more the bodies' faces resemble closed eye BJDs. Agh!

Regular BJDs and even porcelain dolls don't scare me. Although, oddly, I'm also scared of cartoon costumes, like at Disney World and Six flags. O_o But 60cms also start to disturb me after awhile... I stick with 43cm or less, lol.

 

Clowns legitimately bother me. It's not a severe terror but i'll be damned before I end up alone with one.