Your thoughts on gender neutral dolls as boys or girls?

Eh... It's all in the presentation, I think. If the body isn't super-obviously gendered (like uber-ripped body-builder guys or massively boob-a-palooza ladies) the way you paint, dress or explain a doll matters more to its over-all impression than the specific bits of the body it's on.

My trio of zephyrs, who are supposed to be genderless creatures, are all on relatively non-muscular male bodies. The dolls that I have on actual asexual bodies, on the other hand, are all gendered. (Both SeiReis and my KyoTenshi are guys, while my KoTenshi twins are a guy and a gal.) No one has ever questioned any of the genders I've chosen for them, in spite of the bodies.

 

It's being called a girl body? I've been considering that body for a female doll, but I've only seen it called gender neutral or angel (Doll Parts, Island Doll - BJD Dolls, Accessories - Alice's Collections and Angel body 61cm_1/3_Body_WIND ISLAND_Islanddoll). And they also have a boy body that looks pretty similar if you want to get that (Doll Parts, Island Doll - BJD Dolls, Accessories - Alice's Collections). As for me, I prefer to have the bodies match, but if the sculpt looks alright I'd be open to it.

EDIT: Oh, you meant the 39. My bad. I always have SDs on the brain. But yeah, other than the really wide hips it looks fairly neutral. If you really like it, why not?

 

A lot of the time with BJD dolls the head is just a head. I've seen plenty of boys that could easily be girls or vice versa. Unless it's one of those hyper masculine heads I don't care. If I think it will look good opposite gender I will go there. my DOD Lahoo is on a Bobobie girl body and it works fairly well. One of my Miro dolls it's marketed as a set of twins. Girl and boy, same head, different bodies, names. I had to have both. That head worked so well for me as both that I just needed them to be twins. If it's done well it's fine by me. There are some dolls it just doesn't fly gender swapping but a lot do. Whatever works...

 

Oh yeah, I would definitely gender swap heads. Doll heads are so androgynous in this hobby. Going back to the girl I mentioned she is supposed to be gender neutral or a boy, but she just screams girl to me. In fact, I often find that I like some boys' heads as girls better than I like girls' heads.

 

Personally, I want my doll's body to match their character, but I think the point of a gender neutral body isn't just for gender neutral characters, but maybe also for people who aren't comfortable with their dolls being anatomically correct. Then there are also people who don't like an hourglass figure on their girls or lots of muscles on their boys, so a gender neutral body is an easy way to have your doll be whatever gender you'd like them to be. Besides, unless you're undressing them or doing photostories with lots of nudity, who will even know?

 

My logic is: its your doll, you can make your doll's gender whatever you want regardless of what their body looks like!
So if you wanna give a gender to a character on a neutral body, go for it. Or a character in a gendered body agender? Do it!

Just like with real people, gender and anatomy don't always have to match. (:

 

If you think it might bother you to have a cis male character on a girl body... does he have to be cis? I mean, is there a particular reason the character couldn't just be a trans boy?

I'm all for doing whatever you like with your dolls, regardless of their body type, but it sounds like it's worrying you, and you're the only one whose opinion really matters.

 

I love my Pixius. Ive had two whom i could never decide the gender of. Id consider a gender neutral body. I am waiting on two yosds I'm going to gender swap. Im considering ignoring that another incoming yosd is male. I have no issue with cross dressing or "other" status characters and dolls representing them but as a transperson I sometimes feel vague annoyances at cheesy depictions. I also want to remind people we're often not lucky enough to have androgynous bodies. I wish I was lucky enough to be like some people's Trans dolls, cutesy and passing with charm and grace. People see a female sculpt with tiny hips and go "ooh she'd make a good FTM." ...well, any sculpt could be. Let's not be delicate here. A "traditionally masculine" or "traditionally feminine" sculpt can just as easily (and perhaps more realistically) show your gender variant character. It's your choice to go whatever route you prefer because the dolls aesthetic needs to please YOU. I personally would find it emotionally more satisfying to own a trans character who looks at least a bit actually trans. I can relate to that and appreciate it. With a character whose supposed to be a bit androgynous or cross dressing but that's not exactly the focus of what im depicting, I'd be more willing to go for a very neutral sculpt. It all boils down to this. What are you depicting and how realistic do you care to be? And how anime are you going with it? How much is the appearance the center of your image for the character, and how much is it the idea of them being andro or other? Your choice should speak VOLUMES. Now mind you, I'm usually one to make the character before the doll, or choose things intently, not get a doll and decide later how it'll be. A lot of girls heads are made very... dainty and low profile in the features, so I definitely get using male heads for females. Real women have remarkable facial features more often.

 

I personally adore the idea of making an FTM doll. In fact I considered it when I first started in the hobby because I myself am genderfluid, so I can pass as a boy if I truly wish to. I also feel that having a trans doll would give him a lot of backstory and a unique personality.

I wouldn't personally call the doll a cis male if he's placed on a naturally female body, because it actually wouldn't match the definition of cis, but perhaps an androgyne, or genderfluid, or trans male, as that just makes more technical sense to me.