Men & Dolls by Benita Marcussen

Public Story

Men & Dolls

Copyright Benita Marcussen 2024

Updated Dec 2012

’Are you not afraid' was one of the first reactions I got when I presented the idea of making a personal project about men living with dolls. Besides being initially curious to see how well engineered these dolls are I am hoping the story will move some of the prejudices I was met with at the beginning of the project. After six months of research I was finally invited into the doll community. They had a secret meeting in Wales UK and off I went. Some of the first people I met were the parents of doll owner Carl, 55. I was amazed to experience how these two seniors had accepted the presence of a real doll in their house. This moment I understood that there are several sides to the story. So far I have met six men. Two are married and have kids. Two are divorced after more than 13 years of marriage. One man left his partner shortly before getting married and one has never had a serious relationship with a woman. All men have different stories and reasons for owning and living with dolls. They cannot be categorized together eventhough all of them agree that dolls ease the pain of lonelyness.

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