Are Dolls OK for Boys?

[famedglory]

Absolutely. Few things piss me off as much as gender stereotyping children. In my experience, the people who have an issue with boys playing with dolls or girls playing with trucks have a ton of other personal issues that they can't properly deal with so it bleeds out into things like this.

[Mirrin]

I've known a handful of guys that collected dolls. Why not? People have their hobbies.

I get really.. really aggravated by gender stereotyping.

[kenaiqueen]

I told my macho DH that when our baby was born, boy or girl, we would be buying both trucks and dolls. My son's first doll was a soft 'Buddy' doll (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Buddy_(doll)) that he slept with. When he got a bit older, he had a set of Barbie & Ken. When he played with them, Barbie would go out for a spin in her pink Corvette and Cop Ken would pull her over for speeding and give her a ticket. Then he would ask her out to a BBQ and would make burgers for her. It was the cutest thing ever. I think boys need dolls to help them model good parenting. Girls need trucks to help them learn about mechanics.

He's in his 20's now and while he thinks my MH girls are creepy, he is helping to pay for my latest doll as a Mother's Day gift.

[Jany]

Kenaiqueen, that's too cute!

If I ever have a kid, they'll play with whatever they like, period. My sis and I used to do crash tests with our cousins' old matchbox cars until our neighbors moved in ... their girl and boy were a lot more into dolls of all kinds and got us into it, too (made our Mom realize she couldn't keep Barbies from us forever She used to hate Barbies because of their unrealistic proportions, she thought they were messing with our body image). Well, I guess those two were stereotypical after all since the boy grew up to become a (gay) ballet dancer, but he had a happy childhood playing with the toys he liked and that's what counts, as far as I'm concerned.

[Diamond]

Seems that whenever I talk about the doll group and mention K2's dolls someone asks me if he is gay

He's not gay, he's senile. There's a difference.

[absynthe1972]

Seems that whenever I talk about the doll group and mention K2's dolls someone asks me if he is gay

He's not gay, he's senile. There's a difference.

Wow. Really?!?!? About the gay thing. I didn't think that it really mattered if you were gay, senile, happy, or whatever. Super raspberries to people who stereotype.

[takahirokumiko]

If a guy wants to play with dolls, let him play with dolls. If a girl wants to play with monster trucks, let her. What does it hurt?

I'm not a fan of gender stereotypes.

[Calivano]

♪ "My buddy, (My buddy) My buddy, (My buddy) wherever he goes, I go, My buddy, (My buddy) My buddy, (My buddy), My buddy and me!" ♪
I think its sad that males who collect dolls can be regarded as sissy boys. Or girls that are rough and tumble are shunned by their peers also. I like to use dolls as an opportunity to role play with my children and I often times like to use them to teach my kids maybe in the same way someone else might use a puppet. (what a lame cover excuse to say that I really love my dolls and I want my kids to love them too, lol)

[OkamiKodomo]

Stereotyping of any kind is bad. I happen to be a very strong, and rather masculine girl. I'm often accused of being a "bull dyke" or "butch lesbian". I like monster trucks, and big rigs, I can drive a manual, I like to race, and I can heft around six gallon cases of orange juice like it's nothing. I own 3 pairs of steel toed boots, and only one pair of heels that aren't even really heels, but wedges. But I also like to dress up and do my make-up from time to time. Obviously I collect dolls, and engage in other feminine hobbies, as well. When it comes down to it, I'm closer to being asexual than either gay or straight, so really, the things we enjoy doing have very little to do with our sexuality, and it isn't right to shove people in boxes based on such a trivial thing as whether or not they play with dolls.

[Dollies and Dragons]

I'm getting close to having almost as many if not more dolls than my girlfriend! I view them as characters with their own personalities like I did stuffed animals when I was a child. I always preferred the generic toys that you could inject your own persona into rather than ones that already have their own identity. I mean sure I had TMNT and GI Joe and all that but I also had a bunch of random stuffed animals that I gave personalities for myself.

Anyway, everyone views their dolls a different way. I do like to dress them up. Will I play house or tea time with them? Probably not. Will I take photos and make stories of them playing Dungeons and Dragons? Heck yeah!