< my doll >

[rayheinrich]

Call me naive, but I took this as a poem about human relationships. What we have at home is not what we see in the media and some of us choose not to emulate that photoshop world. A long-term relationship leaves time for many aspects of the sexual experience, including the control described. Interesting poem that can be turned many ways, pun accidental but applicable.

Well, yes.  It was inspired by an episode of the Love + Radio podcast called "A Girl of Ivory",
which you can find here.   And a story about a man who has two is here.

The episode involves the dolls, but it's really about the power of men over women in this society and of the
ways in which men, especially ones who feel the most powerless, desire to exercise it. Even to the point,
as in the case of these dolls, of creating artificial women who don't have the will (literally) to resist them.

And in the case of those women who transform themselves into dolls... (Various pictures here.)
Is it camouflage used to hide themselves? An appeasement by transforming themselves into something
desirable to people that have power over them? Seeking relief from having to constantly endure this state?
OR
They could be purposefully creating a parody, making an ironic statement, reclaiming dolls to use as a symbol
of power.  After all, these women are the ones, instead of men, doing the creating. And the very act is so
exceptional (like all good art) that it not only reveals, publicizes the disparity, but is an act of power because
it is, in its exception, an anti-social (anti this society) act of rebellion.

Famous quote: "Life isn't 'either-or', it's 'both'." - ?? (at the moment I can't find who said it)

But yes, this poem's main attempt is to comment on our culture using the dolls, a product of it, as both
metaphor and direct example.



P.S.
While the social aspect of these dolls fascinates me, I don't think I could ever have sex with one. The doll is created to
be a powerless woman, one who lacks the ability to consent. Having sex with one would seem too much like rape.
(Which, thinking darkly, is probably another appeal of these dolls.)