What's up with those hyperrealistic baby dolls on the Net?

Midle-aged woman proudly shows-off her "children".

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Have you seen those videos of adults treating hyperrealistic dolls like actual babies? They're called "reborn dolls," and customizing and selling them has turned into a lucrative and controversial cottage industry.

To find out more, I interviewed Shallon Lebsack, 23, who told me what makes reborn dolls special, her initial discomfort with her collection and the role grief has played in her hobby.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What does a typical day look like for you? I just graduated from college with a degree in applied sciences. I don't have a job, but I do this thing called rooting where I'm using a needle and putting hair into a baby's head. I've been doing this for nine years now. I'll take commission work. Currently, I'm closed, but I have five dolls I'm working on. Rooting can take up from a week to a month.

What is the appeal of having a hyperrealistic doll versus just a regular baby doll? It's just the realism. I believe it's an art form, really. A "reborn" is a generalized term for a hyperrealistic doll that is hand-painted. It's something that a sculptor has sculpted themselves. Then they partner with companies to have those sculpts sold. Unfortunately, there is also a category of counterfeits, where these kits are bought by companies and they copy them. They give absolutely no royalties or anything to the sculptor. Basically, they're wiping their name away.

How do you react to people who are like "That is weird" or "That is creepy"? Honestly, I used to be a lot more offended. I used to bring my dolls out in public. I don't do that anymore. I do have some close friends who make fun of the hobby. And I will say they are mostly men. I just think it is harder for them to understand, and that's fine. I will fully admit there are some weird people that will be like: "Yep, this is my child. This is a real baby."

How do you feel about how the internet disseminates this? I don't have any interest in dolls, and all of a sudden these women with reborns were on my feed. I used to make a lot of videos. My main platform was TikTok. I had 10,000 followers, and the big thing you're going to deal with is mass reporting. Mine got banned for child abuse, which doesn't make any sense. It's just a whole bunch of people calling you insane: "You need to go to an insane asylum. You need to get treatment." I was just painting.

Do you have any ideas about why this in particular seems to trigger people? It is extremely unfortunate to say, but with the spread of images of children on the internet, people will look at us and the first thing that comes in their head is that we are a predator of some sort. There is the 2 percent of people that you'll find online that are like that. However, they are mass reported by reborn groups. We'll screenshot their page, put them on Instagram and be like: "Go report. This person's a creep." We're very big on getting them out of our community.

I have a loved one who lost a child and ended up collecting dolls after that. Have you encountered people in this community where this is part of their grieving process? Yeah, absolutely. I actually lost [a] baby about three or four years ago now. He wasn't a full-term or anything like that. However, I was actually already collecting before that, but collecting babies past that event definitely meant more. At first it was something that was like, "Why do I feel this way? This is really weird." Like, I shouldn't feel nurturing toward an inanimate object. But I guess I could compare it to how a child holds a teddy bear. They feel comfort from that. Kind of like a weighted blanket.

Shane O'Neill connects the dots between entertainment news, internet fads, celebrity gossip and pop culture ephemera to sketch a portrait of how we live today.