Should Some Sort Of Age Limit Be Imposed Regarding The Sale Of Gore-Themed Dolls?

This hobby isn't exactly for young children anyway, so I doubt a child would ever get a horror/gore-themed doll. Of course, I've had friends (who are all very well-adjusted sane people) who have been horror movie fans since early adolescence; as long as they enjoy what they buy/save up for, I see nothing wrong with this.

I might be slightly biased since I believe there can be "artful gore" (I'm hunting for a head to do a Glasgow smile on), but if it's not to your taste then you can just ignore it.

 

People are too sensitive nowadays.. personally I fear a world where children aren't exposed to and don't have an understanding about 'gore' and 'horror' whether they choose to dislike it or have an appreciation for it is their own accord...
There is also an entire line of "monster High" dolls out that are geared towards small children.. Zombie and vampire hookers galore! To say that the BJD community should be restricted and damned is just.. hypocritical.
Children will be exposed.. whether you want them to or not.. they are kids, its better they understand what they're being exposed to and be able to make their own decisions intelligently and based on their own personal likes once they've gotten old enough to understand what they like..

 

Living Dead Dolls are worse than just about anything BJD companies will ever come up with. They're targeted at teenagers and sold in stores and malls for less than $25. I think it's much more feasible and likely for a teen or kid to buy one of those (honestly or dishonestly) than to drop a few hundred on a resin doll they saw online.

Like others have said, this isn't a kid-related hobby. There's no reason to cry "save the children!!!" here.

 

No! I think it should be up to parents to decide what their kids can or can't have, it is not a company's responsibility to say what is or is not allowed.

As for scaring kids? That's ridiculous. I think it's WORSE to say "you can't see this because it's scary" than it it to say "It's a doll and nothing to be afraid of." This is why we have kids screaming and crying and refusing to go near novelty shops year round...because somebody told them the store was scary during Halloween. It's horrible to condition a child to be afraid of everything OR shelter them from all "bad" things so they have no clue how to react in reality as an adult.

I grew up with "scary" toys and I feel like I am more well rounded and adaptable because of it. Why teach your child that a doll is scary when there are much more serious things to be cautious of than harmless toys?

 

I disagree. I don't see why that should happen. BJDs both male and female have their 'parts' so should there be a rule against people under 17 buying BJDs in general?

 

How on earth would anyone enforce this? All a 13 year old has to do is claim to be 18, or say they have consent.
Maybe the company thinks they're protecting themselves, but I think it might just be a gimmick to show how spooky and "extreme" their doll is.

 

That's a whole nother can of worms. Outside the USA, many dolls are anatomically correct. Human lifelikeness does not equal porn. If someone wants to prevent their kid seeing eevil bits, better not give them any mirrors, I say. We already have discussion and debate threads about that topic.

 

I'll raise my hand and say that I was one of the kids given a youth account and an accompanying debit card at the age of 14. When I was 15, I was given a credit card that was in MY name, with the only stipulation being that I had to pay it off every month. Apparently, the restriction of being over 19 only applies to the main account holder, but the "extra" credit cards can be issued to people younger than that. My parents gave me one because I was an avid online shopper, and they got tired of the whole "buy this for me and I give you the money", so they just got me a CC and my own paypal and said "have at it, your butt on the line if you can't pay it off". So by the time I was buying dolls at 16, my purchases and finances were completely out of my parents' hands and range of approval, and that's definitely something I intend to do with my own children (unless they prove to be insanely irresponsible), because by the time I was 19, I had 3+ years worth of built-up good credit and then bank practically shoved a credit card (any credit card I wanted) into my hands.

Would a company have known I was under 17 though? Nope. So... The restrictions are pretty useless, and besides, I think parents need to start taking responsibility for how they raise their kid, not blame the things the kid became interested (that they don't approve of) in as a result of their careless, disinterested parenting. And I'm saying this as someone who isn't a fan of gore dolls in the least. I'll take my cute fluffy happy dollies over gore any day of the week, but I just do not agree with any kind of age restriction in principle. That's making far too many assumptions about all young individuals (and their parents), which is wrong on so many levels.

As for exposing little children to them... Honestly, it's only going to be as scary for them as you make it out to be (and I speak from experience). If you just say "Oh hey, it's a doll, isn't it cool? Look, you can give it different hair, and change its outfit, and its legs and arms can bend! Isn't that awesome?", then the children won't treat it as a scary thing, even if they don't really like the blood or the face-up. If you act all "boo it's evil, and at night it gets up and roams around the house looking for souls to consume while its eyes roll in its sockets", then you can change even the cutest doll into a menace in the child's eyes. I was actually trying to explain to a group of small children (my sister's friends) why I don't bring out my dolls more often, and they all summarily laughed at the idea that adults sometimes find dolls scary.

 

Personally, I'm not at all a fan of censorship. Additionally, why would a chlid under seventeen want to buy a doll that's going to give them nightmares and frighten them?

At a certain point, we need to stop telling people what they need to like or dislike. Parents can only guide a child through life, and hopefully give them the tools necessary to get through life. They cannot keep trying to shield them from the real world, which is, at it's best, a gory, violent, and often sexually-charged. Teenagers need to learn to deal with these things, and a gore-themed doll is a pretty safe way to do so.

By making something taboo, we lesson the people's ability to cope with it. Shielding and hiding things like gore-themed dolls only makes them a bigger threat in the eyes of teenagers (and could also make them the Forbidden and make them want these dolls all the more). If we just relax and treat them as everyday objects, they will do the same - even and especially if they bother you.

 

LOL. I was 14 when I tried to move out the first time (which I have to admit ended in an epic fail...but not on my part). By then I had already nursed my grandmother till her dead and was very much sexually active.

Protective upbringing Hah! In my days kids where aloud a lot more fun.

 

My guess is that they did it more to save their own butt to be able to sell them in whatever country they originate from, or that there are laws in place there that says they have to do so if they intend to sell such products.

While I think it's rather silly, and something they can't really police easily, I'd rather they do that to protect themselves than them getting in trouble for whatever reasoning without a disclaimer like that and have to be shut down or stop the sale of the dolls. I'd rather them be safe than sorry.

 

Enforcing that sort of purchasing rule works better in person, but I don't see anything wrong with having a manufacturer suggested age range either way.

I admire your concern for the feelings of others in the hypothetical house, but that doesn't have to mean you can't get the doll you want. Keep it in your room instead of on display in a living room/den? If you share a room with someone that is sensitive to the level of gore or dolls in general, just work out a compromise. Keep it in the box while they're in the room, set up times the doll is out, create a signal to let them know you're in there with the doll so they don't walk in and freak...

 

As a mom I believe in keeping children innocent as long as possible. I would not allow my younger daughter no where near the site with gory dolls. But I am talking about a young child.
If my daughter was 15 or 16 and had saved that much money she should be allowed to buy what she wants. JMO!

 

I agree with suggested age ranges. If a child is naive enough to believe that they shouldn't order a doll because they're too young, then they shouldn't. But if the child believes they are mature enough, they're probably fine. Either way, its not like the children can't look up pictures of gore dolls anyways. There's no way around it.

Plus, dolls have female and male "parts" so technically shouldn't even older children not be able to buy dolls??? If you can buy a doll with a "part" as a kid, you can buy a doll with a gore mod.

 

I don't see how they could enforce this. If a person is genuinely creeped out, afraid, or unsettled buy having a doll with a gore mod, why would they purchase it in the first place? Since the site probably has pictures of the dolls available on the site, it would be fairly easy for someone to come to the conclusion that the doll didn't sit right with them. Following that logic, wouldn't it be better for them to also do some kind of lock on the actual photos of the dolls so that people under the restricted age didn't even see them?

I also agree that it's not like someone that young could get away with buying something online without a parent knowing about it. It's most likely going to be the parent who decides that the gore mod doll is OK or not, and allows their child to spend that money on it. It would be really hard for the company to verify that the age put into the system is the parent's and not the child's.

If my kid wanted a gore modded doll, I'd probably be OK with it (mostly due to the fact that I'm in the hobby, and I understand the concept of gore mods). I don't know all the reasons why a person buys a gore mod, but I'm sure some owners are fans of the OT Living Dead Doll series - and their dolls can be much "scarier" than a gore mod.

EDIT: I just got a look at one and they definitely reminds me of LDD's.

 

If you don't like frightening dolls, that's fine. You don't have to buy them.

But simply because SOME people prefer dolls that aren't frightening doesn't mean they should make the choice about what other people are able to buy with their money-- even if they are under 17. A BJD is not a 5 dollar purchase that a 12 year old can make without their parents knowing. If they're 15 or 16 and using money form their job? It's their right to do so.

Let's flip the tables for a minute though, to give you a better idea of what I mean.

I don't think children should be exposed to such unrealistic body images. I feel that dolls should be limited to those 18 and up because they portray a body type that simply isn't achieve for a good percent of the population-- and exposing younger children to these dolls could have a negative impact on their body image, and cause eating disorders. Plus, I only like dolls that are curvy, and I'm creeped out by super skinny dolls like the ones form Doll Chateau.


See how that seems kind of backwards? It's the same with horror dolls.

 

...You're worried about gore-themed dolls? For goodness sake, when my siblings and I were young, we collected Garbage Pail Kids collectible cards. Have you seen those? Any and all of those grossly-themed trading cards are far worse than the horror dolls from Ringdoll. :P Some kids like to be scared or grossed out, anyway! Like the others, I would be more horrified my hypothetical kid would spend so much on my / their card without asking first.

 

But we must protect teh pweshus angel baybeez from any hint that there might be things that are scary or different or not puppies and sunshine! They might have nightmares or realise that theirs isn't the only point of view or something!

...Yeah, sorry. If it's not obvious, I think the notion of age restrictions on buying *dolls* of all things, is moronic. If a person doesn't like gory dolls, they're bloody unlikely to be buying them in the first place, yeah? It's not the company's lookout whether Jane Dollowner has a little sister or cousin or uncle who'll go into screaming fits at the sight of a "scary" doll, either. Just because you, or someone's mum, or their little cousin are terrified of the OMG scaaaary dolls doesn't mean the person who wants them shouldn't buy them. It isn't their responsibility to shield you/them from everything that might ever make them a little afraid or uncomfortable. (Nor is it healthy, really-being overly coddled and put in a bubble can really screw a kid up.)


There are better things to protect children from; in the grand scheme of things, a doll with a missing eye and bit of red paint doesn't really rate very high. Besides, kids today see far worse things in other places. Ever watched certain cartoons, read some children's books, taken a look at the games parents let their kids play, or seen some of the toys that exist? For the most part, these dolls aren't even going to register as something to be afraid of. That's something that you instill in a child by telling them that that creepy doll with the sewn up mouth is something that's "OMG CREEPY WRONG FEARSOME!" If you don't treat the doll as something to be feared, then it's less likely to be an object of fear. It isn't difficult to explain to a person that no, the doll is not going to come to life and hurt them, the gore is all paint, and that honestly, a big hunk of resin, cloth, and elastic is nothing to fear. Let said person decide for themself whether they like the doll or find it too creepy;telling them how they should feel about something only leads to bad things.


Seriously, the onus of "protecting the children" is not on the company. They shouldn't have to double check every individual's purchase and send out a questionnaire about whether not said individual is really, really sure they want to buy that doll and whether little sis/bro/cousin/neighbour's kid isn't going to find it OMG scaaaary and need protecting from teh awful, creepy hunk of paint-spattered plastic. Honestly, I think it's more disrespectful and wrong to tell someone that they can't have something because someone in the house might not like it. Little Suzy thinks that big sis's doll is nightmare-inducing? Keep her the hell out of the room it's in. Teach the kid who's afraid that it's on them to avoid that thing they're afraid of, if they can, not for it to be restricted or not exist. There could also be a compromise of some sort-keep it out of sight of the person if they can't avoid being in a room with it, don't deliberately use it to scare them (unless they really deserve it XD), give them a warning before taking the doll out so they can leave the room, turn away/find some other way to not have to see the doll.

ETA more thoughts on the above: Everyone needs to make the effort for all involved to be comfortable. The others in the house needn't prevent the doll owner from having what they want, but the owner shouldn't use the fact that someone else in the house has a fear of the doll against them. Respect should go both ways. Absolutely, you cannot just decide that someone will get over their fear if you stick Mister Creepy Gore Doll in their bed every night for a week. It doesn't work that way, and you could make the fear worse. As silly or irrational as some of us find such a fear, we can't ask the person feeling it to just get over it because we think their fear is stupid. By the same token, those who are afraid cannot ask us to not have a gory doll ever simply because it scares them.


What you're proposing isn't actually an age restriction on people who purchase dolls, it's a restriction on people who purchase dolls who also have small children at home. That's ridiculous-it's censorship, which is not a good thing for the most part, and a fairly pointless bit of it at that. There are some kids who like gore and creepy things at least as much as their older relatives. (Like that kid I saw having his picture taken with Kane Hodder at a con, or the totally adorable kid in full skeleton costume at a Misfits show I went to-I'm pretty sure they're the sort of child who'd love a gory doll.) You cannot assume that because you find gore on a doll frightening, every child under the age of X or any adult over the age of Y will also find it frightening. Blanket assumptions...well, you know what they do, right? You can't make a lateral decision based upon your own feelings. (I mean, I think Lusions are bloody creepy, but that doesn't mean I'm going to call for any kind of censorship/restriction of their purchase.)


Of course, I'm one of those freaks who actually owns and loves one of the gore edition Lawrence Owens, thinks those Ringdolls are the best things I've seen since that Lawrence was released, and will watch the progression of any and all gore mods done here with much glee, so maybe my opinion doesn't count for much.

 

^Yes! It is DEFINITELY all about respect.

If I am scared of dolls, and your gore modded doll is even more unsettling, you can bet that I'm going to do my best to stay away from it as best I can. I don't think it would take someone a lot of effort to stay away from the thing that scares them. But I can't force them to not buy the doll. I might protest out of fear, but there is nothing I can do to stop them. The only reason they might not buy it in the first place is out of respect for my feelings.

If someone does buy the doll, they have the responsibility to respect that other person's fear as real and legitimate. They cannot think that putting the doll in their bed, or intentionally scaring the person with the doll is funny. It shows a lack of respect. You have a responsibility to keep the doll away from this person, and if you must share the same space, make it known so that they can either leave the room, or turn away from it.

It's tempting to think that exposing the person to the object of the fear right away will get them over their fear. Exposure therapy is usually the last thing you do after talking about, and slowly taking the steps to ready yourself to face the object you fear. You can never really fully get rid of the fear, but you can train yourself to have a cool head while afraid. When it comes down to it, you don't get to make the decision that 'this' is the day they get over their fear; they have to.

So, it is definitely a part of it that's about respect.

 

Yes, one should take other peoples fear and phobia's in to account and intentionally scaring someone with any object that is part of their phobia is not funny, its mean.

It would be very nice if one owns this type of doll to be a bit more carefull not to frighten others.
Plus you would run the risk of the scared person trying to hit or trow away the doll out of fear and damage it.

But i fail to see how age applies to this? Shouldnt a 14 year old and a 34 year old be just as carefull with this?