Pediophobia

I don't really have any major fear of dolls. It really just depends on what the doll looks like. The fear of dolls comes more from my fear of children than anything. You see, I am quite terrified by children. I hate babies and don't want to ever touch them or even be in the same room as them. I can tolerate toddlers for a little bit as long as they don't touch me. I don't really want to interact with older children either.

The same goes for an doll that looks like a child. I can't handle it. They just creep me out way too much. I feel uncomfortable being around them and get very nervious. If someone tried to force me to hold one, I would probably shove it right back at them or drop it, not that it's something I really want to do, but that would just be my physical reaction. This goes both for children and childlike dolls. I don't like any dolls that are not mature because of this. It kinda makes things hard sometimes because I only like 1/4 dolls because I think they're easier to handle.

I always try to let people know how I feel about these things so they are not surprised. As long as it's not an actual baby or they don't try to force any childlike thing on me.. I can usually handle being around those things. I, fortunately, don't have to very much. I avoid interacting with my friends kids and my only friend I see regularly with dolls has similar feelings as I do so she only had 60-70 cm mature dolls so I have no problems being around them.

 

LOL

I call my husband Pod (long story) so I think Podophobia could be fear of Pods...

 

I'm with Mirrin. I'm not a fan of babies or children AT ALL (don't know how to act with them and they kinda creep me out..) so I dislike my dolls looking like children or babies. I couldn't have a particularly baby-like tiny for instance.

This is also the main problem I have with minis; most of them look like children!! I with there were more mature minis (like Limho Mono) so they weren't so childlike O_o.

 

I have pediophobia for full-scale replica 'beings', but not dolls (I think that comes under the same phobia name, but correct me if I'm wrong). I'm not sure why, I think the size makes them unthreatening. I thought I'd be terrified of BJDs because of how 'real' they look, because 'realness' is what disturbs me about mannequins and things, but I had porcelain dolls as a child and I wasn't afraid of them (even when I'm sure they used to 'move' in my old house that my mother believed to be haunted) so, again, I think the size issue makes them fine.
Growing up, I had bad, frightening experiences with wax dummies and mannequins and now I can't be near them. If I turn around in a shop and there's a mannequin with an actual face instead of just being a 'suggested' human figure, I freak out.
I start having a panic attack and walking away as fast as I can.
So, yes, wax dummies and store mannequins I have a phobia of, things that represent full-scale sentient beings. But dolls? Not the case. Hence, I wouldn't have a doll any bigger than 1/3 human size or above 70cm.

 

I have a friend who's terrified of dolls, because when she was younger her aunt told her a story about a doll that looked like you and waited in your room till you slept and killed you. Her aunt then hid a doll that she had dressed to look like her in her closet XD oh lawd

 

I honestly think that it is something much deeper than just the pop culture influence of horror movies and stories. I think some people are truly and inherently afraid of dolls. Personally, I suspect that it has to do with how life like they look. They often do look like little humans, but utterly without life. (Although we might disagree on that point.)

 

Oh, that sounds like a fun aunt XD

Satsuki-chan, how do you feel about the dolls that are actually nearly lifesize, like Lusion Dahlia? Because even though she's 80cm, I think, that's about the right size for a child.

I tend to dislike dolls that aren't BJDs porcelain dolls, Bythe, Pullip, baby dolls... I think it's because BJDs have such obvious characters. They're dolls with personality, which is what I like ^^

 

the only type of doll I find creepy are certain rough-looking, renaissance-y looking marionettes (with like the long fingers and noses... kinda like the clown doll in poltergeist) and of course Chuckie and Charlie Dolls.

It pisses me off when people compare gorgeous BJDs (and Blythes) to Chuckie... REALLY?! Come on, are they blind?

Part of why I think BJDs, especially, are NOT creepy is because they are so carefully and thoughtfully well made and have pretty fairytale makeup (very unlike the three types of dolls that do give me the creeps, which are generally poorly/roughly made and do not have soft, pretty makeup).

My ex-husband was literally afraid of Blythe. He thought that the possibility of one of them killing him was not 0%. My new husband is not scared of them at all, and he will even photograph them with me. He likes BJDs better for the same reasons I said, pretty and very well made.

Oh, and my new husband also will sometimes say "ok, that's creepy" but he's only saying that to let me know if the eyes are off kilter or if my lighting is weird, not the doll itself. For example, he thought that the eyes in my icon were creepy-ish, but I did it on purpose in this case. hehehe

 

Blythes give me the creeps, too. They seem like soulless zombies dolls to me, not unlike clowns (my fear of which seems to stem from how they're transformed, satirical, loud humans). I also had a bit of a fear of marionettes, but some of them are so well-done that I can't chuck the whole genre!

BJDs, though, don't quite step into the dark side of the uncanny valley for me, though they do for a lot of my friends. Sure, they're idealized human forms, but they're beautiful and recognizable as such. They're like the elves of the doll world.

 

For me, I have only played with Barbie as a child, and some big plastic dolls.
For me, old porcelain dolls are very scary. I don't really know why, I just find them real creepy to the point that I could not have one in my room at all. I would not even want one in my hose. They just scare me. I can't say I have the same problem with the abjd dolls.

I do find the newborn dolls freakingly creepy! I get chills down my spine and everything!! That is total horror for me. Doll-zone did a new born little christmas event thingie... and I'm terrified by it.

There is ugly dolls for me (some companies I really don't like) but that is not the same. Newborn like dolls is my nightmare. And old porcelain dolls. I don't really know why I feel this way.

When I look at my dolls I don't see them as something creepy at all. I'm not afraid they will come to life and murder me at night. I'm perfectly safe with them watching over my bed. But those porcelain dolls... never! They could be haunted! I have no problem at all thinking that they could be evil or haunted. And the newborn is just... ugly and disgusting to me. I don't believe they are haunted like the old porcelain ones, but just very scary. I could not touch them I think... They creep me out just by looking at them.

I actually think dollmores Lusian dolls is a bit creepy too. In a combined way of the other two. They do look a bit to real, and their faces reminds me of porcelain dolls, so they could be haunted too!! Yes gosts and spirits scare the crap out of me.

Sorry for long rant

 

Eee, dolls that are practically lifesize scare me just as much. I do think it's the size that gets to me-- they feel unthreatening when they're small. The face is important too though. The dolls in the thumbnail image on the wiki article for 'pediophobia' scare the crap out of me. T__T

 

Im afraid of some dollsike haunted ones that move at nigt and look creepy on purpose but not to the point of it being a phobia

 

I'm afraid of any doll... well not BJDs but there are some that creep my out. Like those lifesized ones... My DZ Yuu is 70cm... and even this is almost too tall for me...

I hated dolls since I remeber and I screamed everytime i saw a doll with hair or eyes that could be open or closed and so on... I'm still afraid of them. I can't sleep when my sister has some of her dolls in my room, not sure why but i am even afraid of going to the toilet when theres a doll in the room that's not one of mine. I think it's because my mom had a doll that could walk and talk when i was like 2 or 3 years old ... i was almost the same height as this doll and really was afraid of it, walking behind me or something, though it was broken and couldn't talk or walk anymore. *shivers* gaaah

 

I have to point our that being afraid of something and having a phobia of it are different in measure, so while I may find some dolls creepy there are none I have a phobia of. Even the most extreme gore mod I can still pick up and look at (though do not get me near a syringe, even to just be in a room with one I often have to be sedated! = phobia).

Babies creep me out, and so do Blythes, however I love my Pullips and BJDs. I of course mean babies in real life as well as baby dolls, but I'm great with kids. As soon as they get to the age they can talk and walk I love them! XD Plus most baby sculpts look just "wrong" in some way. They look off. Most BJDs have abstracted proportions, but those lean towards the ideal whereas baby dolls try for realism. Blythe creeps me out as she has no eyebrows or eyebrow ridges, as a matter of fact I've seen women around here who have plucked off almost all of theirs and they frighten me too (no offense, just instinctual response).

I also have a friend who is phobic of dolls. She saw a Taeyang I had and panicked until I put it away, but she's afraid of most things. I don't mean that in a demeaning way, she really IS afraid of most things.

 

I don't have a fear of dolls or children. I find stuff like that that I don't like to simply be unpleasant. I find Blythes unpleasant, but I'm not afraid of them. Same thing with babies.

That sounds like my (and many others) encounters with Teddy Ruxpin, that animatronic teddy bear that would read books on tape, when I was little. I saw that bear move his head and read me a story, and I flipped out! I couldn't get away from it fast enough.

 

Phobias are weird...why do we get them anyway? I have a full blown phobia of clowns and spiders but I have over 1000+ dolls, the very ones who terrify some of you....I just adore them. No one in my family is scared of them thank goodness but I have had people come to do work in my house and refuse to come in because of the dolls!

 

After reading this thread, I'm not going to buy my kids any dolls unless they see them first and want them. I don't want to cause any unintentional childhood trauma...

 

Sumud up, these are eerie creepy small people with souless eyes. Thats what i think. They have human form and clothing along with accessories and even addressed as people. But they are lifeless, almost immitating a human corpse.

 

I guess, a doll is something that you love, and you take care of it constantly, like brushing its hair, changing its clothes, etc. So the thought of something so precious and harmless going crazy and evil is really scary, compared to like legos or something. And they look so realistic too.

Maybe the typical porcelain doll usually has blank glazed eyes, so that is what people think of and remember. At least, all mine did. Until I got into bjds, I didn't realize that dolls could look so lifelike and animated. ^^

I personally have never been afraid of dolls though.

 

I walk the line here. Most dolls creep me right the -insert swear of your choice here- out. Barbies, Bratz, Porcelain dolls... I run in the other direction, really quickly. Some BJDs even make me squick out and walk away.

But then there are BJDs that appeal to me because of their nature. The ones I have I just think of as 'large action figures of my characters' more than anything else, and because I've grown up with action figures - I played with them as a child and still have play-arts from most of my favourite anime shows, the correlation there makes the dolls acceptable. I don't like the overly 'moe' style of some dolls, but those that walk the line between anime and realism, I'm fine with. (Not so much overly realistic ones. They can creep me out a little)

However, sometimes with other people's dolls I'll squick. I'll RUN AWAY VERY QUICKLY. I don't know why. Maybe it's because of the uncanny valey phenomenon. Or because I actually see them as 'doll', not 'character'. It never happens with dolls whose 'characters' I know before I see the doll, though.

...does that make me odd?


EDITED TO ADD: Also, I find that eye placement is a biggie for me. The less natural the eye placement looks in a doll, the more it is likely to scare me. Especially big-centred eyes where you can see the whole, unbroken iris. I just looked at my dolls and found I've subconsiously set most of their eyes so that they're looking in a specific direction - either up, or off to one side. Maybe this has something to do with it?