"protect the dolls" - what is this?

[Brefugee]

as the thread title says. I have seen this a few times now, but am none the wiser.

I've just seen it too, and no idea either!

I am also wondering about this!

Pedro Pascal wore a tee recently with it on or something in support of trans women.

oh thanks. I had wondered by JKR had some creepy dolls as her Twix background

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protect_the_Dolls

Definitely a thing worthy of a Wikipedia page 🙃😤

I read recently on X that it means an attractive transwoman who 'passes'
Why they need protecting I've no idea 🙄
I'm sure they'd still have that 'uncanny valley' vibe.

I saw a video of some random person being interviewed at the protests who said there was a group of transmen there calling themselves “Boys with Dolls” there, which I took to mean transmen standing in solidarity with transwomen (even though transwomen are going round throwing transmen under the bus at every opportunity by trying to tell women why we don’t want transmen near us and how scary and gross they apparently are..).

https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/conner-ives-protect-the-dolls-t-shirt

“Protect the Dolls,” a slogan meant to demonstrate solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community, specifically with trans women, who are affectionally called “dolls.”

His brother is now a trans woman, that's why he keeps going on about it.

Dolls are supposed to be attractive but actually are plastic with weird body proportions and often creepy frozen faces?

In South London Cockney slang an attractive woman is a "sausage". Sausage= sausage roll = doll.

Mildly sexist but there you go.

Also, it’s such a useless slogan as it only works on people who (1) believe in regressive gender stereotypes, (2) are men over 50 who fondly remember when women were referred to as dolls (and probably felt they were missing out on being objectified) and (3) are prepared to pretend they see TW as delicate fragile little women even though most of the group in (2) above are fully-grown, middle-aged men.

The juxtaposition of such a hyper-feminine descriptor and the big burly blokes it’s referring to mean it will never catch on as its comic value is too much of a distraction.

It serves to make the opposite point to the one they want to make, but the men who came up with this have so little self-awareness and are so desperate to mandate that everyone else views them as hyper-feminine that they can’t see that.

It's supposedly slang for trans women. As always, the idea of women being dolls is pretty infantilising and sexist. Same old misogynistic nonsense. I don't know how people don't see it. It's glaringly obvious.

I hate to horrify people further but there is also relatively common 'doll' fetish. It tends to involve latex, fake masks, fake boobs etc. Anyone who's been on Feeld (kink/non monogamy) dating site is likely to have come across some of these guys.

Like a lot of dolls do... Do they realise there's more than one interpretation?

Perfectly put <chef’s kiss>

I thought this was drag queen speak for "protect trans women". I've seen it a few times recently, all after the Supreme Court ruling, and I assumed that was what it meant.

I've never felt any of the men using this phrase were talking about women. I assumed it was TW-specific. Is it supposed to be inclusive?

Does she? That's brilliant 😂

I wondered why he'd gone full Will Ferrell recently. That explains it

The wikipedia article linked about says it is linked to 80s ballroom culture so that tracks. From the washington post article about this:

And there is the phrase itself: “the dolls.” It’s a term for trans women that is ubiquitous in some LGBTQ+ circles but not fully known by the mainstream (yet).
“It was familiar, and it was a way that I would talk with my friends, even if there wasn’t a political statement behind it,” Ives said. “It felt quite to the point.”
Calling someone a “doll” is endearing. It implies familiarity, deep affection, a sense of attachment and protection.
Could it also imply a fixation on physical appearance? Or plasticity? Or collectibility?
“I want to have those conversations,” Ives said. “I think that’s really up to the interpreter to decide.”

archive.is/ownV8

It’s not “endearing” to me. I find dolls creepy.

If they were actually women they'd know we don't want to be referred to by outdated sexist terms like that. Why do they fetishise it so much? It's so creepy.

But ... but .. it doesn't rhyme!

It's actually quite apt for a group of men who see women as a fetishised, hyperfeminised state of objecthood.

Gives me 'expectant arsehole and blank, blank eyes' vibes.