Too many? (Dolls in drag, / relationships, etc)

Just to get this out of the way... I have nothing against gay dolls. I've got dolls that hit every sexuality. So no "OMG HOMOPHOBE" talk, please.


A question for those that flock to the gay portrayal of dolls because they're tired of the stereotypical het relationship that society at large forces on them:

Why is a gay couple the only way to show your dissatisfaction with that archetype? Though, really, I find the reasoning a bit flawed since so many of these "different" homosexual relationships still fall into the trappings pf heterosexual guidelines - only with the bonus of an extra penis thrown in for edginess factor. If it's a matter of a sort of latent feminism, what's stopping you from making the strong, independent female, and her stay at home male partner? In that situation, you're still getting that effeminate male, and you're doing something that's different from the status quo.



As an aside - I'm not saying "Do this, or you suck." Its just I noticed a lot of people kept bringing up the point that they were sick of the Man = Breadwinner, Woman = Babyfactory set up that we see often in the real world.

 

I don't know that I qualify as one of the people that you are questioning, but I tend to find the reversal of roles just as uninteresting. I find male/female gender politics tedious in general, but I feel that way about any dominant/submissive or simple dual party system.

 

To whoever it was who said they've never seen a normal straight male doll before...all I can say is oi, oi, oi, you must not really be looking at the gallery after all then.

This is interesting to hear. What I want to know is...do you feel the same about het relationships and why if you do/don't?

 

Fads come and go and well if companies or people that do comissions are selling out of only one style of clothing what do you think they would make more of? Designers look at hundreds of pictures to see what's in now and where that could potentially move in the next 2 months, 6 months, and a year from now. Also some of the designs are just made cause that person thought it looked nice at the time or that it looked cute.

Like when the whole lolita style took root, you think those people thought it would become as big as it is right now? Or what about the people that made super baggy pants in the late 90s? Or Nintendo for taking a chance and making the Game Boy in the 80s? Or the fan subbers that took anime and did all the translating for the subtitles on their own? Or the people that made copies of anime VHS using two VCRs so that anime could get more exposure to more people that really wanted to see it before there was a market for it?

It seemed like a fun idea at the time and it just turned into a big thing. Some things rotate out, some don't. Like we can apply this to BJDs, why did all of us buy one or want one? We thought it was cute, something unique, something we could have fun with. Some of us might not be in this hobby 5 years from now cause some of us (and this is not directed at anyone but this is to make a point) jumped on into the hobby cause it was a fad. It happens.

As far as dolls being vampires, elves, etc....
Vampire romance novels are now regularly making the #1 spot on the NY Bestsellers list, a number of movies in recent years have used vampires as characters, as well as TV, anime, manga. So why wouldn't it somehow expand into BJDs when most of us can say we read and/or watch something with vampires on a regular basis? Elves, come on Lord of the Ring movies were a HUGE part of the recent wave and as a result we still see a lot of that. Plus legends and stories often include vampires and elves and all sorts of mystical creatures, so why is anyone surprised?

Things just have to come full circle. My small group of 4 cover a bunch of styles that are "in", but that's not why they wear their clothes. I make most of their clothes and I thought the outfit would be fun to make as a design challenge. If it happens to match what someone else is doing or the majority is doing hey cool neat picture opts.

 

I don't feel that het or homo relationships are over done...I think that wishy-washy homo (and het too!) relationships are over done. I would like to see realistic representations of normal, loving relationships once in a while. Not that I hate on the angst, because I love angst as much as the next person, but I think the tortured relationship is as overdone as the hearts and flowers kind.

I just want to see dolls that are happy with themselves and happy with their partner without being overblown and or have a few issues like the next person, but aren't pissy and with the other dolls in their life.

 

i love guys in drag, homosexual pairings and androgynous dolls, how dare you! lol, just joking but i do still like them. i agree though; they are so TOTALLY overdone, it's unbelievable. can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone in the world was the same as the BJDs in the BJD world? we'd all be transvestites and emo gayboys LOL!

i do like manly dolls though. they're charming because in the BJD world, they're the minority. i'd like to see more companies making some manly guys with real muscles, not this lady-ish youthful faces on bodies that don't suit.

i also love MAN-dolls with huge noses. big pointed noses that could stab your eyes out. none of that dainty rubbish, ha-ha.

 

>_>; As long as doll owners don't complain that their boys keep on getting mistaken for girls.

I am no judge to who should have what kind of doll, but it really does irk me sometimes when a gay/cross-dressing/homosexual relationships doll is all they can come up with. I would really really encourage a bit more variety. >_>;

And last I remember, most cross-dressers aren't gay...I dunno why that's stuck together so much...

Otherwise, I just dress my dolls in whatever makes them look good. And I'm more of a fan of the manly figure myself, so I'm not much interested in dressing my boy in frilly pink dresses. There are some of those cross-dresser/gay/whatever types that I'm okay with, because it fits their aesthetic, but if it's pulled off horribly, then I don't really pay much attention to it.

 

Huh...that is a good question. But, as it's been said by many on this thread, a lot of the drag/homosexual/emo/faerie/elf and what have you dolls aren't made that way for the sake of being different and going against status quo; they're made what they are by their owner because that's the owner's taste. From what I've seen anyway ^^; I've yet to see a doll that was given some random characteristic just because the owner wanted them to be different. I'm sure they're out there, though.

For me, the man-over-woman thing just keeps me from focusing on my het-character couples (which I have a lot of...I only have two characters who aren't straight O.o) because I lack plotbunnies for them that I find interesting. For all the yaoi I've read/seen, I've seen ten heterosexual romances. I love them all! But because I've seen so much, most of the ideas I have don't seem interesting to me. ;___;
The reasons I tend to focus on my one and only homosexual couple are a) one of them is my main character. and b) their personalities work of each other really well...which is how they (accidentally) ended up together in the first place. ^__^; Gender wasn't even taken into consideration; they were straight when I made them O.o;;

So I don't think it's normally a case of going against status quo. I think it just has a lot to do with the characters the owner has on his/her hands and the owner's tastes

 

See, I can kinda understand this. Like if someone said oh they're bored of looking at relationships involving torture or sappy romance.

What I don't get is the 'if you've seen one homosexual relationship, you've seen it all'. Are het relationships so different then? Personally, I go through times when I only look at friendship or family stories rather than romance because I get bored of romance, het or homosexual.

Oh the horror. Heh. But if we're going to generalize, then let's imagine if the BJD world was based on the real world. Everyone's dolls would be wonderfully normal and straight and dress according to their social boundaries.

 

bunnydots- I happen to own a Pipos Ringo and to be honest there are hardly any anthro/animal dolls out there in the BJD world compared to other "human" style bjd's. For example when i recently attended a doll convention i was one of a few people attending the convention who actually had a Pipos doll or even a anthro/animal doll. Pipos is really the only company which specializes in making only anthro/animal dolls.

EDIT:

LKJ- Personally, I am not and have never been influenced by my peers and this definitely has nothing to do with being in self-denial or the fact that i may be lying by say this. I have always been a unique individual, which is reflected in the way in which i live my life and in everything i do including the way i dress. Yes whilst it's inevitable that the majority of people will be influenced by their peers. More often than not there are people who make a conscience decision to go against the crowd, be different and stand out.

 

Just to throw in my two cents, I'd have to say that I heartily agree. Granted, there CAN be a bit more angst in homosexual relationships simply because they're not as readily accepted as heterosexual couplings, which creates an added dimension of difficulty for all parties involved.

Oh, and prettyhatemachine, I have two words for you: ALAN RICKMAN. *shiver* Three cheers for beaky noses!!

 

Ever since the start of Steamboat Williy "the grandfather of mickey mouse" we've had anthros/ animals although be it in Anime/Cartoon form and what about Goofy? He is definitely an anthro/animal and was yet another creation of Walt Disney and is still a much loved and well-known cartoon character.

 

It would be a really sad day if this were to happen as this could be considered to be "segregation" something which Gays and Lesbians have been fighting against for a very long time. Whilst i realize that not everybody agrees on issues that are in relation to homosexuality, i feel that if this was to occur, we might as well take a step back in time to 50 years ago when being gay was not as accepted as is it is now. I feel that creating separate threads, would only lead to discrimination and issues which we really should not have to deal with.

Also why should people with gays and lesbian dolls label any post in relation to these dolls with warning about the homosexual nature of the post. I feel the only time when a post may need to be labeled is when there is adult content and people may not want to see it all or are at a place (i.e work) where they may not be able to view such a post.

A great musician Dr Alban wrote and sang a song with incredibly profound lyrics and I felt that it was appropriate to post it here because ultimately no person has the right to dictate to another person how they should live their life or where they should post things involving their dolls or whether or not they should post warnings with their posts especially if the dolls are not hetrosexual.

(Below is the link for the lyrics of It's my life- Dr Alban.)

http://www.mp3lyrics.org/d/dr-alban/its-my-life/

 

There are actually labels for romantic type threads in the gallery. The little 60/60, 45/45 hearts in blue and pink work for just about any kind of relationship and are subtle enough without having to separate things into subforums.

I think most people aren't feeling horribly offended by what relationships being portrayed, especially not so much as to demand separating all different types of relationships into different areas.

 

Something's than been done to DEATH? All the pretty luts boys (especially Els) that are some sort of cross dressing pretty gay boys. Really, I'm sort of sick of seeing some girl with a meat rod and no chest. It gets a little old.

I like to think we can beat the stereotypes, though. After all, emo gay boys can actually be interesting. Stereotypes are stereotyped for a reason, not only because they're popular. Unfortunately, in today's society, people don't look deeper and see there's more than just the obvious. Here's an example.

I have an effeminate male character with equal tendencies towards both genders. He has a very tortured past which involves legitimate angsting reasons, like seeing your family getting guillotined and then getting buried with their headless bodies. Oh, more cliche, he's also a vampire, and mourns his lost humanity. But he's not some gorgeous adonis. He looks dead, I mean dead in daylight and it's not exactly attractive to everyone. And him being a vampire isn't even central to the story. Despite these differences, the general public is going to say this: "omg, emo gay vampire fic, thats soooo overdone." They HAVE, actually, and it is REALLY annoying. I'm sure the crossdressing girly Els have a similar frustration.

 

I think people should be able to do whatever they damn well please with their dolls. It's their personal property who is anyone to say what they should or shouldn't do with it? Who cares of people are being 'trendy', if they change their interests, they can change their dolls. Fashion trends happen in life, and so they will happen with dolls as well. If you want to express your passion for a certain type of clothing through your dolls, who is anyone to say no?

who CARES about realistic and non-realistic storylines it's a DOLL and thus it is not a real person.

no one is forcing you (or anyone else) to look at gallery posts and read people's photostories. If you don't like what someone has done with a doll. Don't look at it. I would like to think that DoA promotes an atmosphere of tolerance and acceptance for people's preferences in dolls. This sort of topic with certain posts I've seen in here feel more like they belong in one of those other forums. I think the mods should seriously delete this entire thread because it's offensive towards many doll owners of all different types of dolls.

We own dolls to have fun and be creative and enjoy the versatility of this hobby. Not to tell other people what to do with their resin.

 

Wait so...wouldn't you be able to identify with these "crossdressing pretty gay boy" owners? If they have to deal with the same frustration you do, why would you go and say that the characters they give their dolls have been done to death?

Eri- I agree. If I'm going to spend $900 on gorgeous resin, I'm going to do with it as I please.

 

Ah, I'm diving in here, LOL, I'm bored, and I'm jumping into the debates (which of course are never resolved, and my post probably never read, LOL) Oh well... My boring two cents.

I've noticed my dolls have het relationships, and are reflective of myself and probably my hubby whenever I DO do some kind of story with them, how boring! Why? Well, I think it's because I lack the imagination, don't relate to?? am straight myself? I dunno?? Anyway, since I'm not one for pornography (rather be doing it myself, thank you very much, LOL) at the same time, I don't mind huggy kissy lovie shows of affection by same sex dolls or people.

In the mean time, I am trying to come up with a storyline for my dolls, and want to do a comic strip, but once again, I simply may not have the right imagination. Maybe I need to designate some of my girls as gay (since I have too many of them, LOL) and spice things up a bit.... Or maybe it's all an excuse to be building my steampunk laboratory, LOL.

 

I'm really interested and sort of baffled by the existence this thread. How does one judge when there is "too many" of something? It's all in the eye of the beholder. There are always going to be trends. This is a different type of example, but when I got into ABJD everyone seemed to be getting Els (myself included). They were piled sky high in the gallery. There were some rather popular ones and plenty of times when people admitted "I got my El because of so-and-so". Then for a while it was Shiwoos. There is always going to be the power of influence, but it's no one else's business if someone wants to change their doll to fit into it.

I've certainly got my share of dolls with gay relationships, dramatic angsty pasts and punk/emo-ish clothing. I just want to touch on the mention others made of overdone "angsty backstories", before I shut up. I like doing photostories and frankly I'd be a little bored if I couldn't be overdramatic! I wouldn't feel the same writing a story about every day life with no action. I see everyday life... everyday. I know personally that I'd have little interest reading about a doll walking the dog, then going to work and coming home to his/her perfect family. Much like with novels and movies, most people aren't interested in everyday life. We crave the fantastic things that we can't get IRL. Not everyone is going to be a fan of it, but not everyone is going to dislike it either.

And like several people mentioned, there's always the back button. I use it on a regular basis if I see something I'm not interested in. Everyone does what they want and if I don't want to see it, I just step away and dig up something I do want to see. And there's certainly a big enough variety, if one takes the time to look.

Maybe I should say I'm tired of seeing so many dolls in pants! XD

 

Along agreeing with everything you said....I vote yes! Please oh please can dolls in pants be overdone?

...even though they are serious business