As a child I watched on as my grandmother meticulously maintained and added to her collection of figurines and dolls. It’s not like grandma didn’t have anything to do with her time – it seemed as though all she did was cook, clean, and entertain guests. I thought her obsession with dolls was strange…until I learned about two strikingly life-like dolls that have both enjoyed television specials on BBC America. I’m talking about Real Dolls and Reborn Babies.
These dolls are made my a select few niche manufacturers, and likewise, they are purchased by a very specific type of customer. The people that buy these dolls don’t buy them to decorate their bedrooms, they use these realistic-looking rubber creations to replace their real-life counterparts…human babies and women.
Okay, so this is beginning to sound very dark…that’s not my intent – but what is the reason for this? Grown men pose their ‘Real Dolls‘ throughout their homes to simulate typical human behavior like a housewife watching TV from the couch or a girlfriend posing sensually on a bed – where the doll’s owners are able to literally have sexual relations with their nude (or not) dolls. The reborn baby TV special shows ‘mothers’ sewing baby clothes, decorating nursery rooms, positioning their ‘babies’ in car seats, and taking them to the grocery store.
‘Reborn’ baby owners are often mothers that cannot or will not bear their own children for whatever reason and they can also be mothers that have lost children. The human-like rubber flesh, real baby hair, and life-like faces of their purchased ‘babies’ are replacements for what they have lost or simply cannot produce; nevertheless, their is a group of customers that quite frankly prefer reborn babies over human babies…this certainly seems to reflect psychological imbalances.
‘Real Doll’ owners are often adult males that just don’t want to deal with real women, I can hear the bar jokes already. They custom order these rubber women at rates that start around $6,500 – selecting everything from breast size to skin tone to height and weight. ‘Real Doll’ owners use these dolls as companions and invariably utilize them as sexual objects.
The people that buy these dolls are invariably societal outcasts for one reason or another. They may have experienced some form of trauma (family deaths, sexual abuse, catastrophic relationships, etc.) or quite simply lack the social skills necessary to integrate and socialize into any community. In fact, both reasons for resorting to ‘rubber humans’ are perfectly viable, and the latter can actually be a result of the former.
If anyone out there can lend any sort of insight into this discussion I would certainly appreciate your comments. I am really hoping to get some feedback especially on the psychological aspects of this phenomenon – these life-like dolls also seem to be a great case study for the ‘Uncanny Valley Effect‘ described on Wikipedia:
The uncanny valley is a hypothesis that when robots and other facsimiles of humans look and act almost like actual humans, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers
Resources:
- Reborn Baby Manufacturer (Featured on the TV Special)
- Real Doll Manufacturer [NOTE: NUDITY] (Featured on the TV Special)
- ‘Guys and Dolls’ – Full Length Video on Real Dolls
- The Richard and Judy Show on Reborn Babies
- Baby Gifts:Unique Gift Newborn
Hi Michelle,
You have wrote a great insight on why people would choose to purchase the REBORN BABIES.
Anyway, check out this link on how the ‘baby’ caused a slight misunderstanding…
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/16/police-smash-car-win.html
Hey! this was a great piece: hylarius…and scaring. I actually saw, some time ago, in a shopping center, a young woman with a babyborn she was looking after as it were alive…while it was not…at that time I thought it was used to some educational purpose, but still found the whole thing quite disturbing.
Maybe a good analysis of the ‘plastification’ of western people would reveal that we need petrol even to have a relationship with cubs…but maybe it is also that it does not make any difference, anymore, how much alone one can be: it is not scandalous to live alone, or to care for none, or to love none, or to feed none, not even yourself.
Communitarism has been repressed to the deep root as such that any form of love and sharing has been offered in the plastified form, too, just to show that life is cool, yes, but it could be always replaced…and it does.
Just some initial thoughts…such a rich argument!
I love that someone else used the comparison to men with sex dolls. My post is i little more irreverent and a lot less kind i suppose. http://icouldcrybutidonthavetime.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/reborn-dolls-and-women-who-mother-them/
I am pretty clear on my feelings about this. Not claiming to be a therapeutic professional by any means, but I just don’t see how this is a healthy.
So what? Your definition of healthy doesn’t concern me. I hope the men and women with real doll or reborn hobbies enjoy themselves. It’s none of anyone’s business but their own. Some people can’t find relationships or have children in any other way, and this compensates for them. Some are afflicted with illnesses and this is a comfort to them. It harms nobody, and it clearly doesn’t harm you in any way, so why are you even concerned. You seem very interested in everyone else’s business. In my opinion, It’s your unwarranted fascination with other peoples’ hobbies that is unhealthy.
I think it crosses into the unhealthy territory once it becomes an obsession and starts to obstruct the person’s normal behaviour and needs (for example when it impacts their social life to a point where they start losing touch with their friends and family members). If it doesn’t, then the hobby is just a bit strange but also understandable, especially in people with Alzheimer’s since it’s been scientifically proven to help boost their mood and make them more active). But I also don’t mind young men and women who can’t or aren’t ready to have a child, having a Reborn doll as long as it doesn’t do them any harm.
It is an interesting comparison to the dolls for men.
I don’t think “baby” dolls are necessarily any different than a dog or a cat. A doll would be less work. Less chance of abuse or neglect by someone who really can not take care of a pet.
At first i found the article funny; but the more i thought about it, the more i get exactly what you mean! Scarey stuff; excellent post, would love to see an extension on this.
I’m doing some research into the uncanny valley effect: my studies are currently concentrating on a detailed exploration of the qualities of some almost-human faces that cause them to look creepy – so I’m afraid I can’t offer any insights into the reborn babies quite yet.
However, I am fascinating by them as an example of something that falls into the valley of eeriness: I do feel that this happens because of a mismatch between what we expect from a newborn (movement, noises) and the lifeless and silent reality of these dolls. I think that most traditional dolls manage to avoid this because there’s still an aspect of caricature and they are clearly recognisable as dolls and not babies – with these, they’re so close they trigger reactions of empathy that are then confounded by the lack of realistic sound and movement.
Fascinating stuff, certainly.
The last point you made about the difference between real dolls and traditional dolls is great. When one sees a traditional doll it is just that – a doll – and if we take that thought a little further, I think we’ll find that people that aren’t reborn baby enthusiasts would also view the reborn babies as meaningless dolls, albeit more realistic.
Reborn baby enthusiasts obviously love their dolls to eery levels in the eyes of other people.
In fact they have gone a bit far if you have seen Perfect Woman http://www.techmynd.com/perfect-woman-robot/ That is not natural, I would say. Not Good.
Wow Javed – those ‘Perfect Women’ are something! They take the ‘real doll’ concept to the next level by adding speech and artificial intelligence (AI). This is certainly strange lol.
It’s an interesting phenomenon, and more & more reborn enthustiasts are out there, as I can see in the stats of my website, http://www.fabtintoys.com/Reborn/ the number of collectors grows.
As stephanie pointed out, it IS certainly fascinating stuff, I am not going to condemn it, it’s just interesting to see how people handle their hobbies/collections of material. Are the feelings of a stamp-collector exactly the same when he/she comes across the stamp he/she was looking for years compared with a reborn collector who buys a 1000 dollar doll which looks exactly like a newborn?
Harmian,
Yes I agree with you. I happen to be a very new collector of this fascinating artistry. I currently own 2 from Debbie’s Daydreams with a third on the way from a differnt artist. There are many good reborn artists out there unfortunately there are too many more that think they are and actually draw away for the idea.
I love to hold mine. The feeling is amazing. JMO>
Haha ^^ nice, is there a section to follow the RSS feed
can you buy this baby and if you can how much is it and if it can do iny thing
she is cute and i want her if you are alowd to buy her and if she does iney thing
she is cute and i want her if you are alowd to buy her and if she does iney thing
I wouldn’t call this a fad, but there is definitely something strong going on with collecting reborn baby dolls, and classic dolls like these in general. This is interesting, considering how these realistic dolls earned their name.
I am a reborn artist and I got into it because I saw a show on BBC and saw how wonderful they made people feel when they saw them or held them. I have even taken them to nursing homes and seen people who sat there like lumps hold one, smile and start remembering their grown children as babies. I’ve seen a Mom who had lost a baby hold the reborn I made and rock it for 30 minutes and cry only to look up and smile and tell me how it brought closure for her.
Most people who collect things or do things such as fishing, motorcycling or whatever do it because it makes them feel good, reminds them of a happy time/moment, or brings an unsatisfied need to a point of satisfaction. I don’t understand how or why this is bad or wrong or why we always feel a need to analize things when they hurt no one. If I went to someplace and had a wonderful life remembering time and had a painting done for hundreds (or more) dollars that I would see every time I walked into my den to bring me back there no one would think that strange or a waste of money or that I needed mental help or was lacking in my life because I wanted to remember a wonderful time in my life. Well babies tend to make MOST of us feel wonderful and as I would want my painting to look real not cartoonish so do most that buy reborns for whatever reason. My husband has a Harley and every piece of chrome he puts on it to satisfy obsession to other Harley or bike enthusiests is money well spent. This is something he loves doing and it brings back all his boyish days and memories of his first motorcycle. I don’t know maybe he nedes help. 🙂
I just think instead of critizing we should be glad that people find something to bring joy into their lives. Wouldn’t this be a better place if we all had joy in our lives.
Granted there are those that carry anything too far or do things for the wrong reasons but this is with anything we do.
They are finding the reborns are theraputic and there is an article on my home page about that.
Smile hug a baby, hold a reborn, or polish your motorcycle today whatever it takes to make you smile.
Judymae
Reborn dolls – or reborn baby dolls, as they are also known – are currently a hot topic which causes controversy whenever it comes up in conversation or in the Press.
I understand that is causes controversy, I just don’t understand why people can’t just say, why do people buy them, what for, I find them a little creepy or I like them etc. Why judge people with rude remarks. If you don’t like them fine but it don’t hurt anyone who does.
That’s all.
Judymae
Over the past few months, reborn baby dolls have become more and more popular. However, most people do not even know what a reborn baby is. Reborn babies are doll replicas of a real baby. The doll is most likely made from vinyl and often times the creator of the doll will add items such as glass or beads to get the baby a realistic feel.
There may be different reasons why women love to have these real looking baby dolls, but what is really important is that they feel happy and contented whenever they are with them. Taking care of these dolls definitely make them feel like real moms.
Purchasing a reborn doll is based more on emotion than sense- the heart rules the head. The props and sets used in photos are all designed to take you in this direction. Baby powder, soft toys, lace and fur are all intended to make the doll look (either sleeping soundly or appealing to you with open eyes) so irresistible that you want to pick it up and never put it down.
Outstanding story once again. I am looking forward for more updates.
“nevertheless, their is a group of customers that quite frankly prefer reborn babies over human babies…this certainly seems to reflect psychological imbalances.”
Nah. They just see them as a hobby, a collection, a passion even, but it’s not like they have sex with them or anything. Do men with a huge train set in their homes have “psychological imbalances”? You should give up mansplaining what you don’t understand, leave diagnostics to the professionals, and stick your judgmental attitude up you male privileged arse.
I agree with this to a point but the reborn doll thing seems a bit off. I used to think that they were pretty creepy when I saw the BBC documentary, however I looked into it jokingly (I’m a blogger and wanted to poke fun) and found that for every 1 ultra realistic looking baby, there are thousands of failed ones. They, to a lot of people, are more art than human replacement. Some artists produce so much detail that these babies are like museum quality. Before my research, I was all set to mock after it I found most collectors simply displayed them like any other collection. The attention to detail, resale value and so forth are good incentives for collecting them. They are instant flips (buy for 175 and sell for 450).
Trying to sell i have a real life doll good condition just wondering who buys these dolls