Cyborg Ninja

Otherwise known as "plush animals" or "soft toys." I sleep with them every night, though it's not like I need to, I just want to. Plus it kind of makes it easier on my back when I sleep. I still find them really adorable and I'm attached to all of them -- and I have well over 100. They gave me comfort through a pretty turbulent childhood and even adulthood (I'm in my early 20s). Am I nuts?

Manic_Skafe

Well when you really think about it, sanity is all relative anyway.

www.RealDoll.com - you know you really want to.

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stevie667

I have a small stuffed clown fish on my desk in front of me, and i have an assortment of other creatures i refuse to part with.

African elephants to anyone who thinks i'm nuts.

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albania

It depends, for a guy it's probably not healthy. For a girl it's probably a toss up. If you're an adult who has a healthy social life and you find that your love of stuffed animals has no negative impact in your life, then it's probably fine.

telekinetic

As long as your not getting yiffy with them, I'd say that's perfectly normal, and even if you are, there's a whole subculture who loves animals on that particularly unsettling level...not that there's anything wrong with that.

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squeeeb

my wife has stuffed animals, and when she is travelling or if i'm not around, she sleeps with them. i thought she's nuts, but, if many other women are doing it, i guess it's not that strange...

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shakran

Do you feel nuts? It's pointless to worry if someone will think you're insane for sleeping with stuffed animals. They will. Trust me.

But then some other people will think I'm insane for NOT sleeping with stuffed animals. As long as your behavior and preferences does not hurt you or others, then what's wrong with it? Enjoy your stuffed animals

Cyborg Ninja

Oh, there's something definitely wrong with that. And no, I'm not doing that >_< and I have a perfectly healthy social life.

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snowy

I have a collection of weird stuffed animals. Some of them decorate my house. On my sofa downstairs I have a theme-park exclusive Stitch head beanbag pillow, a pillow shaped like a plush duck, and a stuffed elephant from the Legoland store at the Mall of America.

I also have a stuffed hedgehog named Hedgie that I acquired at a department store in the Netherlands, as well as a couple of platypi I got while traveling around the U.S.

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Bill O'Rights

"Yiffy"?

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TotalMILF

I sometimes sleep with my husband's shirt rolled up in a ball... does that count? Also, sometimes I take my son's Daddy Doll and cuddle up with it, if I'm particularly lonely. As long as you're not purposely replacing living, breathing people with stuffed animals, then I think you're OK. (again, see the real doll documentary)

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Nimetic

As a bit of aside, I was wondering the other day why stuffed toys are so cute. I'm a guy - and I still think that some of them are cute.

I reckon that it might relate to proportions. Most soft-toy bears have have similar head to body proportions as babies, which humans seem programmed to like. I'm not sure if babies have larger eyes (relatively) than adults, but that'd seem credible also.

In terms of them being furry. Dunno. That's an odd one. I guess - in robotics I heard that they say that something which is too close to human looking becomes repulsive, if not real.

So back to the original theory, I think it's the eye, nose, mouth and head-to body proportions that humans are programmed to like. To various extents depending on our mood, chemistry etc.

I wonder if there's research on this...

Sultana

Naw, I don't think you're nuts. I have several I've accumulated over the years--I've always loved them, and actually it's hard for me to get rid of the old, "unused" ones. I donate them to charity collections, hopefully they will find a home.

I used to find comfort in sleeping with them. I don't do that anymore, but I would never think anything strange of anyone who did, unless they were dependant on it, or talked to them (a lot, heh), or stuff like that. Even then, who does it bother?

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albania

When people see something they like their pupils dilate, hence people will find big black eyes cuter. That's probably the underlying reason as to why cartoons and teddy bears have that particular characteristic. I think it's particularly true that people respond well to appropriate proportions. However, I think the fascination with certain animals may have to do with evolutionary impetus. Suppose animal x hunts the same food as you or animal x can tell where all the predators are. Then the people who aren't afraid to live near animal x will have a better chance of surviving then someone who is afraid of animal x.

Midnight

MMMmm... I had over 200 plush animals as a kid. My mother was constantly insisting that i needed to sleep with them. Even as a kid I thought that was screwy. My plush were always in perfect condition because i never played with them, never slept with them. My mother nearly had a stroke when my first act with the car after getting my drivers license was to bag them up and drive them over to a toy drive at the local firehouse for Christmas.
When threw my husband out and moved to my parents home with my daughter, my daughter had never felt the need to sleep with them, have lights on, never had bad dreams - none of that crap we feed into our kids heads. within a week (and we lived in our old home for months after the separation- so this nonsense had nothing to do with that, and everything to do with my mother) she has sleeping in a bed piled high with stuffed animals, wanted the light on, and was waking up in the middle of the night with "nightmares" - or more realistically, waking up for a drink or to go to the bathroom and being cornered by my mother who would snatch her up and croon to her "oooooooh you poor baby, you had a nightmare about that horrible man didn't you?" - my idiotic mother was implanting suggestions into the kids head that years of therapy wont work out.

What does this have to do with you sleeping with stuffed animals?

Eh. if you want to hove some sort of freaky emotional crutch, something that "makes you feel better". Have at it. Or you could grow up and deal like an adult... either way, I blame your parents.

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Can you smell the satire?
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Seriously, who the hell cares if you sleep with stuffed animals? If you are asking if it is weird, it probably is. As long as you are ok with it, does it really matter what people think?

Midnight

Daniel_

We have some soft toys that sit on the headboard.

It's not that odd.

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abaya

Whenever I am not sleeping with my husband (e.g. when we had a long-distance relationship for 2 years, before we got married), I sleep with a little stuffed dog that he surprised me with one day. And on his headboard, during our distance, he also stored a handful of little stuffed animals that I gave him over time. We are both unapologetic fans of cute stuffed animals. I also grew up sleeping with one favorite animal in bed... I could NOT sleep without it. (The starring animal varied from bear to bunny to beaver to sheep to puppy...)

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Sultana

My all-time favorite is/was a seal (still have it).

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Matt Groening

My goal? To fulfill my potential.

snowy

I still sleep with my Blankie. My parents tried and tried to get me to go without Blankie, as when I was a child it meant that I also sucked my fingers. Once I gave up the finger-sucking in childhood, Blankie disappeared for a while. He went into my mother's hope chest, where he was safe. Then, a few birthdays ago, my mother sent Blankie back to me as a gift.

Yes, I totally admit to being 25, sharing a bed with my SO, and sleeping with my Blankie. And I am okay with it, and don't care what other people think--though my mother still hassles me about it (she even tried to kidnap Blankie once...that didn't go over well). No, Blankie does not travel with me (he's too old), and he spends most of his time under my pillow. But he's there.

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alicat

I had a blankie that my Great Aunt knit for me when I was born. I couldn't sleep without it and it showed. It had a huge hole in the middle and an ancient piece of gum stuck in it that never came out no matter how many times it was washed.

When I was 18 I went to a party and stayed the night at a friend of a friends house. The next night when I went to bed I realized I'd left blankie behind and panicked. I made some calls only to find out the girls mother had thrown my blankie in the trash, which had already been picked up. Utter devastation. I'm 36 and would probably still be sleeping with my blankie if that had never happened.

One of my favorite movie scenes ever was when Michael Keaton tries to get his little boy to give up his Woobie in "Mr. Mom"

"I understand that you little guys start out with your woobies and you think they're great... and they are, they are terrific. But pretty soon, a woobie isn't enough. You're out on the street trying to score an electric blanket, or maybe a quilt. And the next thing you know, you're strung out on bedspreads Ken. That's serious."

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pornclerk

I say who cares? If you aren't hurting yourself or anyone else, and you just enjoy them, then good for you. Other people find comfort when they are upset by drinking, doing drugs, shopping or eating. I think finding comfort in stuffed animals is great.

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gremlinx8

I slept with my blanket until I was 16 or so. I still have almost all of my stuffed animals from when I was young, and I can still remember what I named some of them.

Adri

I never had a blankie, but I had a series of stuffed animals throughout my life that were *essential* to my well-being as a child.

Then sometime in college a boyfriend gave me a 16" Pat the Bunny doll, and I've been sleeping with him ever since. The bunny, not the boyfriend.

At this point I've determined (due to occasionally leaving Pat in the car after a trip or something), that all I really need is a Pat-sized pillow to hold between my neck and my chest while I sleep, but I have yet to find an appropriate pillow and thus my orthopedic-purpose bunny will suffice.

He's really raggedy though; all his fur fell off and so he's just a soft mesh sack full of dirty stuffing with a nose and greyish ears. But he's my bunny, I love him in a strange yet satisfying way, and that's all there is to it.

albania

I wonder what the women in this thread would think if their significant others had the same affection towards stuffed animals as they did.

abaya

Huh? I already told you about both me and my husband. We're fine with it, when we're long-distance. I cuddle mine, he keeps his on the headboard, and we both like cute stuffed animals and have no problem with it. I think it's actually quite cool that he's willing to admit that he likes cute things, since the average man tries to appear as manly and cool as possible at all times. Not mine!

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la petite moi

Why is it not healthy for a man, but a toss up for a woman?

albania

I don't know, I don't think it's just me, but I was raised to protect the people and things I loved. I don't quite understand the impetus to be comforted by a stuffed animal. Isn't shouldering things and just sucking it up and dealing part of the biological(maybe social) imperative that all men have? Wouldn't it seem logical that in a large number of cases if you're expressing behavior that's not generally seen in your gender then it's probably not healthy? Women, on the other hand, generally grow up with stuffed animals. Most women I know like to hug things and people when they're sad or lonely or just in general. Therefore, it doesn't seem particularly peculiar to me that they should keep stuffed animals even in adulthood.

Abaya, yes I see your post, but was just wondering out loud since other women had also posted.

mixedmedia

I've never had a blankie.

I had a Mrs. Beasley doll when I was very young, but I don't remember ever cuddling with her.

All I know is that I am creeped out by cars with stuffed animals aligned in the back window....sorry, but it makes me think "chronically anti-social"...maybe that's just me....

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snowy

My SO has a Scooby Doo plush that my brother got him as a joke on top of his monitor (he looks like Shaggy, and acts a bit like him too). He doesn't use it for comfort, but it's there. His something special is actually his childhood pillowcase, which he still uses--and insists on using, and I don't begrudge him that because he doesn't begrudge me Blankie.

I've got no room to talk, even if I wanted to.

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Grasshopper Green

Ah, stereotypical gender roles. If they applied to mine and my husband's relationship, I'd be the man, and he'd be the woman.

I work more than he does; he spends more time raising Son. He is a cuddler and touchy feely; I am not. He prefers (not always, but more than me) "lovemaking" and foreplay; I do not. He is into expressing his feelings and problems; I clam up and don't care to discuss things like that. When a decision has to be made, I usually make it, not him. Hubby has a stuffed monkey that I bought him when we first started dating. He doesn't sleep with it or anything, but he still has it 11 years later.

Despite him "expressing behavior not generally seen his gender", he is definitely masculine, manly, "normal", or however you want to label him, and I am womanly, feminine, "normal", and whatever. Here's to hoping that gender roles go the way of the dinosaurs.

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kramus

Punkin Head - circa 1957. He's still around, along with a lovely little stuffed rooster I rescued from a toy-drive bag, and a hedge hog I bought when I was 17.
Proud to say I'm a manly man - rough, tough and hard to diaper , and ain't nobody gonna take my teddybear from me.

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=88677 is a thead I started and I bet some folks could post in it if they were so inclined
(and I have a rather rough looking scan in thread http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=88681)

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albania

I wanted to clarify I didn’t mean that all behavior that’s not stereotypical is not healthy…it seems as though that’s what I’ve implied. Given some behavior my instinctual opinion is that aberrant behavior whose origin can’t be traced to a clear or at least somewhat rational cognitive process in general is not healthy. Medusa, you used your husband as an example. However, all the things you mentioned seem perfectly acceptable to me even as a man, even while I might not behave the same way as your husband. I think it’s quite logical to want to explore and share your feelings.

I’d like to point out that I also gave a clear answer as to what I believed to be unhealthy behavior for both genders with respect to the stuffed animals and I think it applies to a many other things as well, i.e. something is probably not healthy if it negatively impacts your life. Other than that I made a general statement about the difference in women and men regarding the issue. I certainly didn’t intend it to have anything to do with stereotypes, but you’ll have to admit that it’s hard to talk about this and not bring up in some way stereotypes.

abaya

Right on, Medusa. It's the same for my husband and I... I fix the car, he cooks dinner. He's much more patient and slow-to-anger than I am... I'm the hothead, very aggressive and judgmental and wanting to smack people all the time. And yes, we are both fine with stuffed-animal appreciation, lol.

This has nothing to do with what kind of plumbing we have or whether or not we have boobs... it's just who we are, as human beings. We basically don't give a fuck about gender roles, being manly-womanly-whateverly, because they're pretty claustrophobic and unhealthy, in the end. Why constrain ourselves?

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JustJess

There are a lot of reasons I get along with Ms. Abaya so well... me and Q are similar in these ways too. Although he's not much of a cook (mostly by choice I think!), all the rest fits.

I have some stuffed animals I refuse to part with, but it's been a long time since I slept with any. I have my husband (a real cuddler) and my cats. That's kind of the point of cats to me... living stuffed animals, purry and cuddly. But Q still has Baby, his stuffed bear... he's been around almost as long as Q's been alive. And I'd skewer anyone who didn't think he was manly because of it!

Albania, I see what you're saying... I guess all of us are just pointing out that at least in this crowd, stereotypes are pretty useless. We like what we like.

Oh, and as far as studies go, yes, there HAVE been studies on why we find certain animals etc cute. It is completely about the ratio of eye size to face size. Our eyes don't grow, so babies are born with huge eyes in little heads. Cats, dogs, etc all have proportionally large eyes to smaller heads even through adulthood, so our evolutionary instincts to protect come into play with them as well. We're just programmed for it. So I'd be more worried about a guy who couldn't admit that a stuffed animal or kitten was cute... what kind of dad would they be??

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Adri

That's EXACTLY how I feel about my cats. That's the "point" of cats. I love it.

Taltos

I'm pretty sure my cat would kill me if I posted something like that. Somehow, he always knows...

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And not to yield.
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Nimetic

That sorta blows my little theory about facial proportions out of the water.