New Phenom: weird and creepy "babies"

I just watched a BBC television program last night featuring a strange new "phenomenon." I don't know how new it is, but it was definitely disturbing and very sad. In the way that many people have made their pets their "furry children" in order to fulfill some type of parental hole in their lives, apparently there are also people who spend BIG bucks on...fake babies. And I'm talking big bucks as in, on eBay, one was going for nearly $1,500!

They are called "reborns", but they are quick to note: "New Reborn baby ~ Not Fake Baby ~ Realistic skin tones." Not a fake baby? Hmm.

Granted, they are rather cute, and the people who create these dolls are true artists, because these dolls look SO incredibly real, they could fool any expert. They have human like hair, delicate features, skin veining, perfectly painted lashes, lips and nails, are weighted to feel like a baby, and some can even "breathe" or have a heart that "beats."

The sad part of this TV program was that the women who bought these dolls strolled around town with their "babies" dressed in baby clothes--in a pram (stroller)--even through a crowded playground, where surely the mothers of the children playing would stop to ask questions about the baby in the stroller. One of the women in the story said that these dolls gave her all of the pleasures of a baby, with none of the mess, none the crying, none of the illnesses and expense, etc. All the joy, none of the guilt, apparently. Are these the same type of people who, if it were available, would want the genetically perfect baby, with the perfect hair, features, skin? It just seems like such a sad, hollow grasp of reality, and is another symptom of our growing "me-dominated" society where anything and everything goes. Even Boing Boing agrees.

Below are pictures of some of these dolls. Click on the pictures for larger images.