Letters to the Editor
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Learn from my mistake
Don't click on the link to the rental company. I think I got a cold sore just from reading the FAQ section.
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Whoa
Okay, you just totally creeped me out.
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Unfair to men
girls and young women play with dolls to learn social skills, to learn how to associate with others.
boys, both by virtue of being discouraged from playing with dolls, and due to their lack of interest in the first place to play with dolls, are at a disadvantage when it comes to learning how to socialize as compared to girls.
real life is risk prone-- many less socially adept guys prefer being alone rather than trying to risk further ostrasizing by the society when they attempt to make some connection with someone who interests them.
rather than having some empathy for these men, it is quite universal among women to label these men pathetic, losers, creeps, etc, etc, ad nauseam.
On the issue of dolls not talking back, sure, there is probably that element to some extent, but I can point to scads of women who have given up on guys and taken up residence with cats. Cats, in the same way, fill that same role of uncomplaining accompaniments that are far preferable for these women than are the men around them.
Is it more pathetic to be someone who never learned how to be social with the opposite sex or to be someone who damn well knows how to socialize but has such an impatient and dismissive attitude toward the opposite sex that cats are preferable. I call the cat ladies more pathetic.
I hope I live long enough to see fully humanlike sex bots with intelligence built in. Or at least a passable virtual bot that is indistinguishable from a real woman.
You can bet, the moment thay make men dolls like this, there will be a cult of women seeking out such pleasures too-- even if it is merely for the pure visceral fuckability factor rather than for social drinks and carousing.
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Reaching
"even when that perfection is lifeless and comes wrapped in plastic."
Okay, based on your post I assume you have 2 girls. I have a boy. Have you ever looked at the action figures sold to boys? Gi Joe, et al. Boys have the specter of perfection thrust on them as well. Maybe the men who use "real dolls" are victims of desiring perfection in both genders. They have such low self esteem that they are incapable of a relationship with a real woman, "only to women who don't talk, move or breathe" - yes its disturbing and very, very sad. There is something wrong with those men and they should, dare I say, be pitied.
The paralell to American Girls Dolls?! Sorry, I love Broadsheet, but you need a break from worrying about the state of women in todays world. It is infecting you and twisting your vision. AG dolls are pretty because we all like to play with "pretty" things. I like Bobbi Brown lipstick in Rum Raisin because its pretty. I have my eye on a certain pair of brown suede boots because they are pretty and I am human and I like to indulge myself. Our kids do the same thing.
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@Brightstar
First: Uncomplaining cats? Me and my gf's cats complain all the time. Even the one that doesn't vocalize his displeasure let's you know when he's hungry or wants attention.
Second: Can't we find guys with sex dolls pathetic and creepy at the same time? I mean, it's sad and all that some guys are so shy and whatnot, but ... still. Moreover, it's not just women who are creeped out by such behavior. I'm creeped out too. Are you not?
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Perfect Dolls
Maybe the problem with the American girl dolls is that they're halfway between toys and collector's items. When I was about eight, I saved my allowance and birthday money to buy the Kirsten doll. And as much as I wanted to take her hair down and brush through it, I didn't because I knew I could never get it back into those two perfect, looped braids. In some sense even my Barbies seemed more real, less perfect because they weren't a hundred dollar investment. I cut their hair, or dragged them around by it. I could turn a Barbie dress into a shirt and skirt if I liked because the clothes were plentiful and cheap.
My sisters and I would have tea with our AG dolls, or reenact some scene from one of the books. But with less valuable toys, we usually made up our own stories to act out. When the arm of one Barbie got ripped off, we didn't cry, we made a new game: Barbie car accident! It's not the doll, it's how you play with it, and how you feel you should play with it. And how much should we let children's toys dictate how they play.
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BS65, Why Do You Even Read BroadSheet?
> girls and young women play with dolls to learn
> social skills, to learn how to associate with others
Sometimes. Sometimes to have someone lower on the totem pole they can boss around (kids need that sometimes). Sometimes the dolls are used to train them in "proper" feminine, wifely, and consumerist values. Sometimes all three, on different days. No two girls (or two boys) are exactly the same.
You could just as easily say that boys play group sports to learn social skills, to learn how to associate with others. That would also be true in some cases. And, despite the WBA, society encourages boys to do this far more than girls.
I know many guys who are more socially adept than many women, and vice versa. I don't know who your friends are.
> rather than having some empathy for these men,
> it is quite universal among women to label
> these men pathetic, losers, creeps, etc, etc,
> ad nauseam.
Oh, not just "among women," BrightStar! (Although you would of course say so in order to make women appear bad.) Most men also think that a guy simulating a real relationship with a life-size "realistic" doll (and avoiding real-life women) is pathetic, and, to the extent that they expose others to their "hobby," losers and creeps.
I can have empathy for these people, and still think they are - almost definitionally - pathetic.
I don't think your comparison of a inert, inorganic, life-size doll to a living pet (cat or dog, owned by women or men) shows much understanding of the human-pet bond. But I would agree that people who treat their cats more or less literally like their "babies" can be a little pathetic too.
> I call the cat ladies more pathetic.
Of course you do. They're women, thus irredeemable in your eyes. Nobody who has read a single post of yours could possibly be surprised. How do you feel about men with dogs?
> I hope I live long enough to see fully humanlike
> sex bots with intelligence built in. Or at least a
> passable virtual bot that is indistinguishable from a
> real woman.
Well, of course you do. You want sex with women, but you either hate or are afraid of actual women, or both. (You may not be aware how much you reveal through your constant stories about men who, through no fault of their own, can't interact with women, who always label them as "losers" and "creeps." The rest of us could write a book....)
But I have to warn you: if they create a "virtual bot that is indistinguishable from a real woman," you may find yourself just as frustrated with it as you are with real women. With luck, the technology won't be THAT convincing.