Do you like judging people? I do. It’s one reason I DVRed the latest episode of 20/20 based on a teaser for this segment, which if you haven’t already seen it you must watch immediately. (The other reason I DVRed it is that one of my other usual Friday Night JudgmentFest standbys — Supernanny — was a rerun. Thank God for What Not To Wear.)
So the segment — in case you think you’re too busy to follow a link — is about women who buy super-realistic baby dolls and treat them like real babies: they buy them new baby clothes, they take them out to the park, they set up nurseries for them, they HAVE BIRTHDAY PARTIES FOR THEM with THEIR ACTUAL HUMAN GRANDCHILDREN AS GUESTS. One woman in the segment likes to fool strangers into thinking whatever doll she has out that day — because SHE HAS MORE THAN ONE — is a real child, and fully admits that when she’s out with one of her dolls and no one comments on it, she feels let down. Surprise! She’s a childless forty-nine-year-old. Another surprise! Her husband declined to appear in the segment. Really, the situation here is that (a) people have more money than sense, and (b) they need therapy and aren’t getting it from the producers of 20/20.
Obviously, the segment is fucking amazing. Check it out.
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I’m not too busy, but I think I might be too scared to watch it!
Perhaps you did not notice it’s categorized under “Bossing You.”
I too am frightened, but also intrigued, and fascinated. I can’t believe that picture isn’t a real baby!
It’s more obvious in the original (much bigger) shot. But do a Google image search on “reborn doll” and you’ll see some crazy shit.
Oh. My. Goodness. That was hands down the most disturbing thing I’ve seen in some time. I don’t know which part was more disturbing, watching those women take these dolls shopping, and throwing parties for them; or when they showed the close-up of the dollmaker putting the baby parts IN THE OVEN to bake.
So creepy.
One day, this slightly crazy looking dude came up to me when I was pushing my sleeping baby in her pram and said “is that a doll or real?” At the time, I thought “Yes it’s a doll, because adults go around pushing prams with a life-sized fucking doll in it.” So, slightly crazy-looking dude, I stand corrected and apologise sincerely for thinking you were nuts. Which you clearly were, but a stopped clock and all that.
There was a similar segment on 20/20 about people who adopt monkeys and then raise them as children, with parties and outfits and bedrooms, etc. And then are somehow totally surprised on that fateful day when the monkey mauls them.
link here:
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5319860
There was a whole show about these dolls on BBCAmerica (part of their “everyone in the world is a freak” series of documentaries). I never watched it, but saw the ads — I just assumed it wasn’t really as bad as they made it out to be (because most of their ads are much more dramatic than the so-called freaks about which they make these shows).
That BBC America series is my favourite. I watched the one about the men and their RealDolls, and it was amazing how much of the things those dudes said about their sex dolls was exactly echoed by the women on 20/20 about their baby dolls.
I will admit that I watched the one about the two women who were basically starving themselves to get into size zero jeans (one was a reporter doing an “experiment” and the other was a genuinely disturbed person). But the ads for some of the others drive me crazy — like is it so shocking that people have transgendered parents?
I didn’t even realize there was one about sex dolls. And you know what I want to see even less than socially-retarded freaks with sex dolls? Pasty, British, socially-retarded freaks with sex dolls.
Hey! One of them was South Asian, so they’re not all pasty. Everything else you said was accurate.
I saw some segments from the BBCAmerica show, and those people freaked me out. They seriously need help.
And they’re not alone, by a long shot. If you look on eBay, there’s TONS of stuff for Reborn dolls on there. The dolls themselves are hundreds or thousands of dollars. What’s really freaky is the auctions for doll parts. Gyuh.
SO CREEEEEEEPY!!!! I just wish it were Barbara Walters doing the story! Just imagine her saying “weborn” over and over again.
In fact, I did *not* see it was under “Bossing You.” I will now have to watch, but if I am permanently scarred, you’re paying for the therapist!
You have to watch horrible shows for two now.
That is a perk I hadn’t yet considered!
Jesus. They can babysit mine and enjoy real-life pooping action and “gimme that food. No, wait, I don’t want it” for a weekend.
I mean, DAMN!
My favorite part was the doll parts going into the oven. I can’t believe no one ever mentioned that these women don’t want real babies because real babies, you know, turn into stubborn toddlers and distant teenagers and do annoying things sometimes. Not to mention that a 15 year old might resist being pushed around in a stroller as an attention-magnet for ma.
Also, there is no way that woman could adopt if she wanted to. She is a lunatic. An adoption agency would never go for that shit.
Holy shit, I saw that when it aired. The expression on my face resembled that of a cat trying to hawk up a hair ball but never succeeding. I had forgotten about it so thanks (not) for reminding me. Heh. What these ladies need, now that I’ve mentioned it, are dozens of cats. Cat Ladies are far saner than Fake Baby Ladies.
When I was six, if my grandma had a whole room with dolls and their stuff (cribs! a changing table!), I’d have been thrilled. When I was seven, I would have asked my mom if grandma was okay. By the time I was eight, I’d probably ask mom if I could sit out in the car in read instead of visit the old crazy lady.