Pediophobia

I think the Uncanny Valley theory has some merit, tbh. The more stylized and anime/manga-esque a doll looks, the more I seem to be attracted to it, opposed to the more realistic ones.

 

Old Victorian dolls scare me. Also those real life looking baby dolls. My Little Apple Doll can freak me out sometimes. BJDs don't bother me at all.

 

I am very active on Livejournal. I have made an extra Livejournal for my BJD, and post other doll pictures under a cut because people on my friendslist were scared of them. I still sometimes get a remark that people don't like a doll icon I'm using but I expect them to suck that up. It seems fairly common.

Maybe it has something to do with the eyes that seem alive/realistic in an otherwise unreal face?

 

I myself am seriously creeped out by those old plastic baby dolls with eyes that close. Actually, I find baby dolls in general kind of disturbing, and the same goes for ventriloquist type dolls with the strange mouths. Realistic porcelain baby dolls are seriously creepy as well. I was always a big Barbie fan and I think the bjds are gorgeous, though I admit the little ones that look like toddlers or small children creep me out a bit. If they look like an adult, no problem, I think they're cool, look like an infant or a toddler and I immediately find them creepy. We'll see if my husband find my doll creepy when he gets here this week, he keeps telling me he thinks the dolls are seriously creepy.

I'm not sure why I have such strong feelings about the little ones. I've never watched horror movies, not my thing. I've just always steered away from baby dolls. Even as a child, I never owned or asked for a baby doll, I never wanted one. *shrugs* My husband sticks with the uncanny valley theory.

 

Bjd ,don't creep me out nor my others do (barbie,tonner) I have my mother's doll that's very old with open close eyes and she's dressed in my baby dress and she doesn't creep me out. But those re-born type do . I saw some this pass weekend and I think that looked like deceased babies . But to each his own. I see people carry these around like newborns and in natural settings like that they don't look to bad. But I stick to my kind .

 

probably because of chucky xD
but in general, people dont like inanimate things that have eyes ''that stare at them''. it loos kinda human, but its not and have joints.
people also dont like their joints xD
i gotta admit, jointed hands DO look creepy.

 

I was surprised when a friend told that she was not scared of my dolls because they looked creepy or too realistic. She found them pretty, but she was a bit freaked out that they have more or less traumatic backstories.
But I think most people who are scared of them are just scared by something that looks human but is not.

 

I saw the oddest thing at the local skate rink I go to.
Last night, there was a little 5yo speedskating girl from the other rink that was about as tall as a Dolllmore Lusion but skinnier! She was absolutely tiny. At first I was like thinking 'woah she looks like a BJD'.
Now that kinda scared me but I've never been "scared" of dolls. or clowns for that matter

 

Lol a human bjd! XD For some reason that made me laugh. Maybe you should spend more time with people, not dolls, eh? XD (Jk)

 

aside from uncanny valley effect, i sometimes get creeped out when dolls are anatomically smiliar to humans but off. i used to have that trouble when i first saw a BJD actually.

for example i remember when got Ken doll as a kid, i found him extremely repulsive because of hs lack of anatomical details. he looked castrated and it was a very painful sight for me. at first i really though someone cut his dick off. couldn't think of another reason why he doesn't have one.
i find Barbie's overall figure repulsive for the same reason - something is wrong wth her anatomy and she looks like an 'injured' human for me.

i think people may have the same problem with BJDs - while bodies are rather realistic, the heads and eyes are often bigger, if someone isn't used to it he may find it off and repulsive/scary.
well that's my little theory.

 

I actually asked a friend this question, and she plainly said Chucky had scared her as a child. Personally, I think it's the fact that their so human like, and we like to play tricks with ourselves and imagine them doing all sorts of far fetched things that humans would do. Example: Walking to your bed when someone probably put it there, or staring at you while you sleep.

 

ROTFLMAO! So true. >..> <..< But but but; the dorries! They talkz to me! *jk*

Oooo another Texan to annoy! 'Love your State; annoy your neighbors!'

 

I tend to think that although some may truly have this fear, I would say that the majority of cases are feigned and/or exaggerated. The same as people who claim to have claustrophobia, most are not clinically obsessed, they just don't dig being in close spaces, which is not the same as a phobia. Oh, I'm afraid of clowns. Come on, really? Cough, cough (bunch of nonsense), cough.
I do think however that my wallet is in mortal fear of my dolls.

 

I personally think that the Uncanny Valley theory might be at least somewhat correct. Humans seem to instinctively know when a figure is "wrong." It reminds me of those old photographs in the 1800s (I think I'm getting the time right within my 100-year cushion XD). Because photographs were expensive, took so long to take, and required the subject the remain absolutely still while it was being taken, a person usually only had one photo taken of them. After they were dead.

Now, it's odd, but when someone looks at a group of old photographs, and only one of them depicted a corpse (with open eyes, by the way), they can almost always pick out the one of the corpse, and it's usually because they find it "creepy" in some way. Even if the person doesn't know that one of the photos is of a dead person, they will almost always find that photo off-putting.

That's why I find the Uncanny Valley theory believable, anyway. Obviously it doesn't apply to me and Otavi, but it seems to work for other people.

 

My best friend doesn't like Chae-ri's oversized head. She thinks it looks freaky and the acrylic ("glass") eyes really creep her out because they look so realistic. Yet she loves porcelain dolls who also have glass and/or acrylic eyes. Go fig.

 

Very interesting thread. I have visited the Capuchian Monks Crypt in Palermo and it was very interesting. I guess I wasn't really creeped out by the mummified remains as I used to be a goth in my younger days and I have seen all sorts of weird and wonderful things. When I was studying at University we had a store room full of items you could use to set up still life paintings. There was a mummified cat in there which I did a large painting of. So I guess mummies never freaked me out and neither did dolls of any kind. I've always had dolls of one kind or another. I just tried staring at my dolls to see if I could see them as "dead children" - I just can't see it. They look too fake and pretty to me. I've got a few comments from others that they are creepy and the usual reason is that the eyes are so lifelike. People seem to be creeped out that it seems like they are looking at them but they are an inanimate object. I think someone here has said it already but eyes are equated with life and being alive.

Actually the closest thing I can think that is similar that I am creeped out by is seeing eyes in dead fish (like at the fish shop). That does kind of freak me out. So I can sort of understand the eye thing.

 

I have noticed that clothing mannequins in stores these days look more and more stylized and futuristic and less like humans. Remember, older ones amongst us, when they were human imitations? I am certain the reason for the current often eyeless, faceless shapes is that research has shown potential customers feel less threatened by the new version.

I have an ancient coffee table book called "the fascinating world of the imitated human" -- It's full of photograph of all sorts of dolls.
To me, so far in life, all dolls really are fascinating and interesting, have yet to encounter one that scares me. Now my husband.... He can be said to have a mild to moderate case of pediophobia! Only ones that do not bother him are the real- or pukipukis.

Anthropologically, I think humans have made and used crude human figurines, early dolls if you will, to represent deities, power, superstitions and links to the "after world" since time eternal. Having "play dolls" to nurture came much much later. Culturally the notion that "imitated Humans" are, at the same time, "compellingly fascinating" as well as "creepy" has become pretty hardwired into our race perhaps....

 

I grew up hating baby dolls, they seriously freaked me out. I didn't have any issues with barbies, had a few of those, and I don't have an issue with BJDs, but I have to admit I prefer the more mature looking dolls. My issue with baby dolls can be traced back to my family giving me a cabbage patch doll as a little kid and my mother saying "Now you get to be the mommy" which apparently didn't go over well at all and has scarred me for life :P

 

My mum is terrified of most of my BJDs, but she collects porcelaid dolls herself, which to me makes no sense, and also she said that they arent AS scary dress up as they are when they are naked... this to me makes no sense.

Whereas my Grangran loves my dolls, she wants to make them clothes an play with them too!

 

things like this is why i am afraid of dolls : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62ckrcXDWuk

Those babydolls always give me creeps!.. i for myself don´t think that they look much to lifelike or like dead children... they are just ugly and creepy xDDD ... (just watch the next video with that laughing babydoll)

my mother herself have some old porcelaindolls that only sit or stand anywhere.. i think they are rather cute ... but not my thing... I´m a girl but I always tended more to plushys and playing cars ... BJD are something different they are just very beautyful! some dolls are looking creepy .. but i think thats a good point because it is "sexy creepy" (lol sorry for my english >_>) ... oh but there are also some dolls that makes me creep ... like notdoll molds >_> and thats no "sexy creepy" thats more.. "eewww *shiver*" (was that to harsh?sorry =w="" well notdoll molds .. are really not my thing)