Reborn Babies, Real Dolls, and the People Who Buy Them
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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 of deceased babies. 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
20 Responses to 'Reborn Babies, Real Dolls, and the People Who Buy Them'
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
Lisa
2 Oct 08 at 1:21 pm
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!
Marta
2 Oct 08 at 7:00 pm
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.
amy5
3 Oct 08 at 12:21 am
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.
Maureen McCabe
3 Oct 08 at 7:40 am
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.
Timothy
12 Oct 08 at 7:45 am
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.
Stephanie Lay
22 Oct 08 at 3:06 pm
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.
Lateef
22 Oct 08 at 3:27 pm
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.
Javed Khalil
29 Oct 08 at 12:23 pm
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.
Lateef
30 Oct 08 at 10:19 am
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?
Harmjan
5 Dec 08 at 7:56 am
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>
Leslie
4 Mar 09 at 12:06 am
Haha ^^ nice, is there a section to follow the RSS feed
Organic Clothes
25 Mar 09 at 11:35 am
can you buy this baby and if you can how much is it and if it can do iny thing
makaylian
1 May 09 at 10:12 pm
she is cute and i want her if you are alowd to buy her and if she does iney thing
makaylian
1 May 09 at 10:15 pm
she is cute and i want her if you are alowd to buy her and if she does iney thing
makaylian
1 May 09 at 10:15 pm
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.
David Neoterik
27 Jul 10 at 10:51 pm
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
Judymae
27 Jul 10 at 11:46 pm
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.
David Neoterik
30 Jul 10 at 1:47 am
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
Judymae
30 Jul 10 at 7:37 am
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.
David Neoterik
8 Aug 10 at 11:22 pm