In Brazil there is a fever for babies. The problem is that they are so real that people are confusing them

The story began as a harmless content in Tiktok, one that quickly climbed to became a national issue in Brazil. A young woman He published a video In which he pretended to take his “baby” Bento to the hospital: he prepared his backpack, lying it in the car, weighed it, gave him the bottle and cleaned his cheek. More than 16 million people saw that scene, but few realized that he was not a baby, it was A Reborn doll.

Political chaos. I told this week The Guardian. While Jair Bolsonaro faces a trial for I attempt at once of state and the current president Lula is going through The worst moment of popularity of his third term, the focus of wide sectors of the Brazilian public debate It has diverted Towards an unusual phenomenon: Reborn dolls.

We talk about figures Baby hyperrealistscollected and made by thousands of people (mostly women) in Brazil for decades, who have suddenly become white of viral teasingviolent threats and an unusual legislative wave.

Laws against dolls. According to The New York Timescurrently there are at least 30 legislative projects presented in Brazil to prevent Reborn dolls from accessing public services such as health or education. Legislators on the right, especially in the state of Amazonas, have even taken Dolls to Parliament claiming that some women are trying to obtain public benefits with them, (although there is no evidence to support it).

In a turn of the events that approaches a dystopia, one of the drivers even asked if the next step would be to castrate “Reborn dolls” in veterinarians.

Stigmatization As a mockery, the official account of the city of Curitiba warned To the “Mothers Reborn” that their dolls do not give the right to use yellow seats reserved for pregnant women on buses. In contrast, the Municipal Council of Rio de Janeiro proposed to establish On September 4 as the day of the storker Reborn to honor the artists who manufacture them, although the mayor He vetoed the measure on the argument that “this is not happening.”

To put things in order, or almost, According to the UOL mediait has only been documented A real case of a woman with a psychiatric disorder who tried to enter a hospital with a doll, which shows that most bills are based on viral fictions.

From Tiktok to Congress. As we said at the beginning, it all started with a series of virals in networks where a collector had called “Crazy” for taking his doll to a mall. Then, another clip showed a doll being Attended in a hospitalas part of a role -playing game. Although the author of the video clarified that it was A dramatizationthe content was replicated alarmistly as if it were real.

From there, social networks exploded with teasing, threats and a torrent of indignation aimed at the so -called “mams reborn.” The controversy reached a disturbing point on June 6, when a man assaulted a real baby four months on public roads by confusing it with one of these dolls. The aggressor was released on bail and the baby is out of danger, but the fact illustrates the climate of hysteria unleashed.

Disguised misogyny. What at first glance seems like a lower controversy over eccentric hobbies hides a darker background: the pathologization of female entertainment. It counted at the Guardian The sociologist and political scientist Isabela Kalil, professor at the FESPSP, who warns that while adult men can collect action figures or spend hours in front of video games without raising suspicions, women who interact with hyperrealistic dolls are quickly tildos of unbalanced.

The artist Larissa Vedolinknown as Emily Reborn In networks, he has received death threats daily for sharing his creations. “They write to me from anonymous accounts who are looking forward to finding me on the street with a weapon,” He recounts. Vedolin, like many other creators and collectors, defends that the Reborn are not toys, but works of art. Some may take weeks to complete and reach prices of up to 3,000 eurosdepending on the level of detail, such as the width hair implant.

Social reflection. He Youtuber Chico Barneywho recorded a collector event in São Paulo for Your documentary Reborn Babies Don’t Cry, He pointed out With surprise the normality of the meeting: “It was only a group of people sharing an interest, with nothing eccentric.” But that contrast between the reality of the phenomenon and the viral narrative highlights a frequent dynamic in contemporary digital culture: the constant search for a target for collective hatred.

Kalil summarized it rarely: the fury is not based on real events, but on a need for channel social anxiety through symbolic objects. “This case has served to project contempt, mockery and aggression against women who deviate minimally from conventional expectations,” affirms.

Ancient practice. The Times remembered that Reborn dolls exist Since the 90s and his interest is not limited to Brazil. In the United States, Dave Stack, founder of Reborns (an online sales platform) ensures that sales have grown up constantly: 10 dolls a day five years ago between 40 and 60 currently. Prices range Between 200 and 250 dollars For vinyl models, and up to more than 4,000 for limited editions of soft silicone.

Among its buyers there are mothers who They have lost childrencenters for patients with dementia, lawyers who use them in judgments, creators for film and television, and mainly people who “simply love babies.” Some clients even take them to medical consultationsThey feed them with porridge or photograph them with Santa Claus.

A hysteria as radiography. In summary, the Reborn phenomenon in Brazil has become the closest thing to A mirror of collective anxiety, normalized misogyny and the excessive influence of social networks in political discourse. What is essence is a form of artistic expression or an emotional refuge has been transformed in whitewashing, legislation and polarization.

The episode reveals not only the ease with which a moral panic is generated, but also the fragility of consensus on what is considered legitimate in leisure and individual expression, especially when protagonists are women. In a nation shaken by deepest crisesit is still a symptom that a simple silicone doll causes so much noise.

Image | Miriam, ITOLDYADonna Lee

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