Pediophobia

This is a really interesting thread
As a child I loved any kind of doll, I mostly had a lot of barbies though (talking into the hundreds) and to me they were just as they were, dolls, playthings, nothing more and nothing less. They had personalities and stories that I made up for them but I still didn’t see them as more than just toys.

It wasn’t until I got BJD’s that I felt that a doll was more than a doll. Even though they are objects they seem more conscious in some way. Maybe I’m a bit weird but I do see my BJD’s as “living beings”, not living in the way us humans are alive but alive in an imaginary way. Kind of like writers who become so attached to the characters they create that those characters become “alive” to them. Even though in reality they aren’t.

As for a fear of dolls, for a short period of time I did through a weird faze as a kid where I wondered if they came alive at night. So before I went to bed I would take the barbies that I had been playing with and put them up high (like on the top of doll houses, shelves) because I figured if they were up high they couldn’t get down or go anywhere. That was the only time I had a somewhat fear of dolls and I think a lot of it had to do with me being young and seeing a horror movie with dolls coming to life because it all started after I watched the movie.

Now the only thing about dolls that make me uncomfortable are the eyes staring at me and dolls that are extremely realistic.
With eyes I’ve noticed the more realistic the eyes are the more it bothers me. Like with my BJD’s I’m fine with them looking at me while I’m playing around with them but if I’m off doing something else and they are sitting there staring sometimes it makes me feel uncomfortable, even more so when my back is turned to them. It’s something about that consent unnatural stair and that they don’t blink.

That reminds me I had a friend who's nephew (who at the time was about 4 or 5 years old) was absolutely scared of one particular doll, he would say it was because the always eyes followed him. They would have to hide the doll away in a closet because he would get so upset seeing it.

As for realistic dolls, I think most of them are very beautiful but I would feel very uncomfortable having one. One of the things I like most about BJD’s are that a lot of them look realistic but still stylistic in a way that they aren’t so real looking that they actually look like someone’s child sitting there.

Some dolls look so real you almost expect them to move yet they don’t, almost like they’re frozen or something. The dead child thing never really crossed my mind with BJD’s until one day I stopped in a doll shop looking for wigs and one of the lady’s who worked there knew about Volks and CP’s dolls, after a bit of she goes and says about them “I can’t understand why people would pay so much for dolls that look dead”. Personally I never really thought of BJD’s looking dead, some morbid but not dead.

Wow I didn’t mean to write so much lol.

~Meg

 

As a youngling I really liked dolls, I had a huuuge colection of fashion dolls which now are unfourtunatly sold or are in too much disrepaire to enjoy. so I guess it started at an early age... my little Farren is very much a comfort to me, especially since recently I've moved otu on my own for the first time... for the frist week or two I've been terrified.. but my little boy on my lap made me feel so much better.

My girlfriend is -terrified- of dolls. She is convinced that my sweet little boy has the eyes of a killer (o.o it hurt his feelnigs.. poor boy) She is slowly getting used to him.. butI don't think she will ever like my hoby... I think at best she will tolerate it.

I'm not entirely sure why this is, thought I know for a fact she did not engage in using dolls for comfort as a child, she was a tomboy played with dinosaurs and bugs... maybe that has somethign to do with it.

The eyes seem to be a big factor. and the gaze. To me it's comforting because it keeps me from feelnig lonely. I can understand how an unwavering gaze liek that would be unnerving but it jsut dosn't effect me. To me I see my boy's eyes as very soulful.

 

I've never had a problem with dolls..I used to have a tiny porcelain clown doll,bet that would scare a few people here XD My mom also let me play with her old baby doll..it never bothered me that she was limp and 'flopped' or that her eyes rolled back, well it bothered me only in the sense that she never sat up so I could dress her easily. And I was in love with my Barbies for a long time..I only gave them up when I was around 13 and in that awkward phase of trying to be older.

I just talked to my mom about her dolls and she said when she was growing up (around the 50s) that every girl loved dolls and no one ever had a fear of them, it was just not heard of. She was surprised to know that anyone even nowdays had a problem with them. I think most people's problem is that they just like to overreact for the attention..and taking something as innocent as a baby doll and accusing it of being scary is very contradictory to most people, and definitely gets them the response they want.

Oh and I just looked it up in my psychology text book, that experiment was done with a white rat..not a rabbit, thankfully :3 I can't imagine anyone so cruel as to make a person afraid of rabbits

 

i don't have so much of a fear of them as a generally vioelnt nature towards them - not bjd's, of course, but the porcelain, blank types. at the faintest suggestion, i leapt upon the opportunity to rip one apart - de1wigged, de-eyed, the whole works. she wasn't my favorite, either, she always haunted me since when we had first move, my dad broke her little leg and i was left with a feeling of drea - after all, i'd been fond of her and i couldn't help but imagine now the hate in her eyes.

and then g i joes.. not exactly doll, but with the very similar human likeliness. once i got bored with one, and at the end of the day, we were missing half his body, and his legs were coming out of his arm sockets.

i'm not that friendly to dolls, no... but there's something about bjd's realistic qualities that make me respect them. with one sitting right by me, i feel i can say freely that they are very human-like, and have their own aura, their own personalities. they're not blank... they follow you with your eyes, whisper things into your head, change moods. whereas other dolls just mirror the human form, bjds actually convey the human spirit.

 

Hunh. It seems like a lot of peoples' fear goes up with the realism of the doll, but for me I think that the opposite applies. BJDs without face-ups creep me out because they look so plastic and sad. I also know that a lot of people (myself included) don't like the dolls that have red around the eyes for whatever reason... Probably because it tends to give them a sinister, haunted, or sick look (mind you, this doesn't always apply, as I have seen red used very beautifully on occassion).

Dolls have never been a particular fear of mine (though I remember that my grandfather bought me a clown doll when I was two or so that I refused to let my mom take out of the closet >>)... but for a long time I found BJDs creepy (before I actually started to look into them). For some reason all of the ones I kept seeing were slovenly with bad wigs and ill upkeep. I just couldn't imagine why someone would want to own something so expensive that managed to look so cheap... And, on top of that, they'd be spending mass amounts of money on a red-rimmed staring thing (obviously I've changed my mind since then... ehehe).

In general, though, I haven't talked to many people who are actually afraid of BJD dolls. Maybe creeped out for reasons already mentioned (like staring eyes), but mostly just confused at the appeal.

I've taken my MSD out several times (shopping, to the movies, et cetera) and have never once had anyone even comment on him. I did take him into my last job, though, and had one co-worker ask me "What is that?" with a not-so-happy look on her face as the other (who is very, very gay) proceeded to say that he wished Liir was about 6'8" and real. It's always frightening when someone tries to hit on your doll -.-

 

So it wasn't just me!

I still have a pair on my desk, although I only use them as models for drawing. ops:

 

I've never been afraid of dolls of any kind, though I had problems bonding with Barbie and other fashion dolls. (I had to pretend they were actually people from different soap operas and movies I'd seen in order to, uh...get along with them, I guess.) I preferred porcelain dolls, but found myself afraid to play with them, not because they were "creepy", but because I was afraid of breaking them.

I have a tendency to give personalities to inanimate objects...I even named and talk to my car, desktop PC, and laptop. So...giving Adrien his name and personality, and talking to him, isn't such a strange or creepy thing to me or the people who know me well.

Real children, however, make me very nervous. The are small and always underfoot, fragile, loud, and rambunctious. I never know what to do with them or how to treat them, so I do my best to stay very far away from them at all time. ^__^;

As for the "dead kids" thing...maybe most people don't know about Victorian thanatology? I've never been particularly disturbed by death or the dead (though I readily admit that it hurts to much to go to the viewing before the funeral when a close relative dies), so the death portraits, while slightly morbid in modern times, seem quite natural for the frame of time that most of them were produce in. Mummies, too--just a different way of burying and respecting the dead. I've never associated the dead with dolls, either, so I really can't see how BJDs could look like dead children. O___o;

 

i dont know much about it at all really...but i looked this up once after i saw it in one of those scary house movies...(the haunting maybe??)

anyway..waaaywayway back in the past...people used to dress up people who had died..and then sit them up and take photos of them just like it was a family photo...

it was creepy as all hell..but somewhat normal...sometimes the eyes of the dead people in question would still be open and other times they were closed or had their eyelids painted...very creepy...

i myself love BJDs obviously..but if i didnt...i think it would be THAT above fact that would creep me out about them...

 

It was "The Others"

Mentioned this further back in the thread: read some of the earlier posts if you find that sort of thing interesting! It got quite creepy!

Lucy

 

lucybond:

Hehe...oops...sorry..when i posted i didnt have the time or the willpower to read through all 10 pages of the topic...guess i shouldve huh? ops:

 

Hehe, not spanking you over it, or even scolding! Just thought you might enjoy some of the great links to pics of modern mummies & discussion of Victorian dead-folk in some of the earlier pages: we had quite a debate!

Lucy

 

Wow. This topic is awesome (in the true meaning of the word).

When I was younger, I wanted to play with dolls, but my parents were the kind that thought it was "odd" to speak the voices of the dolls aloud. Basically, while I was acting out my lovely dollies' latest melodrama, they'd come and check on me to see why I was talking to myself.
Then I started writing, and politely informed them that all great thinkers were mad. ops:
I never lost my love for dolls, but when I was older (teenage) and it was socially unacceptable, it became harder for me to justify it, even in the safety of my own home. At least my fiance understands.

A lot of people have mentioned dreams. When I was young I did dream that my stuffed animals (again, not many dolls in my youth) got up and played with my cats all night long, and in the morning came back to my bed to sleep with me.

I think it doesn't creep me out because I've always felt invinsible. I guess it has something to do with my solipsism, but that's another story for another day.

 

When my girlfriends found out I was buying BJD's they immediately ostracized me. Almost in unison they said; but helene they're so scary!!

When I asked them why, many said they got reminded of the bride of chucky - I have never actually seen it. Others said they look too human-like, too real.

My guy friends though, have totally opposite reaction. They all said the dolls are cool and incredibly detailed. They are intrigued at the construction of the joints and the molds.

I think guys approach it from a more technical view whereas girls approach it from an emotional view.

 

I think part of it has to do with weather you see the doll as a "thing" or if you try to assoiate a character with it.

I'm very picky about my dolls, ...I'm usually turned off to store's pictures of Dolfies or CP (a few I like) because I never think they have a personality or are doing any thing at the moment other than being a doll. Dolls at DoD or in people's galleries look like they're up to somthing.

For example, Yen looks like he's teasing you while you're getting the picture. Mir looks like you're offering her a biiiiig fluffy kitten. Pitts looks like she's sizing up some one she's just seen for how good a boy/girl friend they could be. That's just what I get from it.

I dont like dolls that are just getting a picture taken, I cant figure out who they are and what they're doing. Old dolls are the same way, I cant identify//expect at all what they're doing or what their lives as characters would be like. American Girl dolls I can because they all have back stories.

Gene dolls... omg. *.* too classy for my blood, but so elegant.

Ya see, my mom has always made rag-dolls. I'm usted to them even if I was a stuffed animal kinda kid (dolls hurt when you roll over them) but when I was a little older, My mom made me two cloth 16 inch victorian style dolls. I named them Anna and Cathrine and... my lord the stories I devised.

I think some people see dolls as dead jsut because they dont have that spontanious imagination to fill in their life.

 

my roomate is pretty scared of my doll, esp if he has his wig off. she says he looks like an alien with his big eyes and pointy chin.
it's tot he point I told her "it's a frikken doll, he's not going to hurt you while you sleep"

 

hmmmm! I even as a kid liked creepy stuff and dolls were no exception, if it was a doll that someone said was scary or ugly that made me want it even more, I think I felt for them, then again I could be a tad morbid...I have one huge compo doll that has upper and lower teeth, a tongue, it's eyes are yellowed from age and they squeek when you move him, his face has hairline cracks too, I have to keep him put away because of the fact he scares everyone, which I find sad because to me, at one time, close to a hundred years ago he was new, and well loved by some little girl, that fact alone is really cool to me, so what if he looks a little worse for wear.
Thats not to say I haven't had a fear of dolls, or actually one doll in particular, when I was six or so my mom got me one of the my size, patty play-pal type dolls for my birthday..I was put off by her the second I opened the box, she wasn't ugly or creepy in any way, I made an effort to play with her..I loved wearin her dress..it may be the reasoning of a six year old but I felt she didn't like me, then I saw a chiller flick with a doll that looked just like her, the movie didn't bother me but it did make me think harder about the fact my own doll had something against me..well I got up to go to the bathroom one night, and knocked her over, I tripped over her and got my hair tangled in her hand..stupid long hair..lol..the more I tried to get up the more tangled my hair got, I finally ended up waking up my parents from all of the noise, my mom untangled my hair, but the comment my dad made spooked me "first time I ever saw a doll try and rip someones hair out" it was a joke but it stuck with me..so I took the doll the next day and threw her in the creek by my house..I was so happy she was gone..about a week later I saw my mom comming up the driveway with her..oh man I knew I was in trouble..she sat me down and aske me why I had left her where she would wash down the creek..I broke down in tears and told her how afraid of the doll I was, I had an antique bisk doll head on my dresser her face was cracked and one eye was rolled up in her head, my mom got her and aked me how I could be afraid of my new doll but not that horrible broke thing..I had no reason for her...to this day I don't like the my size dolls..creepy ugly dolls, heck yeah! they're great..I think it's all in ones personal perception

 

I used to be terrified of all dolls because I thought they were alive. I used to have plastic baby dolls that could pee and stuff, but as a child, I never really took care of my dolls and ended up penciling their faces up. For some odd reason I believed the dolls became angry at me for doing that so I would chuck 'em in my closet and would be too afraid to look at them again. x_x I blame watching Child's Play at the tender age of three though. T_T Chuckie still scares the heck out of me. Everytime I see a picture of him I freak out. The only dolls I'm not afraid of are BJDs. XD I think it's because they're so beautiful I just want to take care of them.

 

Wow this topic is really interesting 8D

I used to have a slight fear of dolls. Only in the Chuckie/Toy Story sense (dude bald barbies attacking the crap out of people is scary XD;

Once when I was younger I got one of those barbies from McDonald's and I had this obsession with chopping their hair off so she was bald and I just left her on the floor, but omfg she just kept staring at me and I was freaked out she was angry or something that I cut her hair! So I cut her head off too >_>;;; But that was just as bad. @_@

Though that's the only real fear I've had of dolls. In boxes, it's fine. XD I dunno it was just that one time. I don't remember how I got to that point either, I'm just weird like that I suppose. It's been awhile since it happened. BJD's aren't scary to me, I find them cute. >w<;; As others have said, yes, it could be because they are more anime-style than lifelike or because I associate them with my characters.

Porceline dolls I don't find scary really, I just find them ugly ^^;; (Personal opinion~)

I very much agree with helene on the views of the genders though. But my female friends I showed BJD's to were more "OMG KAWAII!!!!111 " reactions than anything else. But I also tried to show them ones that fit their type of personality and their likes ^^;; My guy friends I've showed them to were more amazed by the detail as well. Although that is a bit OT sort of o_O;

I do think Chucky has much to do with people's fear of dolls, though. I watched it when I was younger, so it may have had a slight effect on me then. But I had tons of barbies and such so I couldn't be afraid forever XD;

Ahahahahahah XDDDD~~~

 

this is such an interesting thread o_O
I've never really been interested in dolls, only in small ones that you could get furniture for them or make stuff for them, but abjds instantly caught me. I think they're creepy because they look so real and beautiful, there's an 'ethereal' feel to them. While being perfectly unnaturally beautiful is alright for fairies and elves and such, it becomes creepy when it's something mortal like a human, *shrug*.

 

This is the most fascinating thread.

I am creeped out by babies in general and this extends to baby dolls especially those with little teeth. I also find cherubs very creepy.

I never liked babies as a child and remember being made to hold my baby cousins for photos. I think it was all the paranoid fussing by my aunts telling me that their heads were soft and so forth combined with my own natural clumsiness - I was sure I'd just break them.

So for me I think the dislike of baby dolls comes more from my discomfort of the real thing rather than any inherent probelm with dolls.

I can't think of anything that scares me enough to be a phobia though, although I really don't like to walk past or look into mirrors in the dark, it just gives me the jeebies.