Brazil's reborn dolls craze

There's a surprising link between infants taken to hospital in Brazil seeking medical help and a baby taken into parliament by a Brazilian politician: they're not real.

Known as "reborn dolls", these "hyper-realistic" baby figures have taken off in the South American country, reported AP, but not everyone thinks this trend is healthy.

Eerie resemblance

If you "blink", you could "mistake" them for the real thing, said the South China Morning Post. Bearing an "eerie resemblance to an actual infant", the dolls "cry, suck dummies, pee, and have nails, eyelashes and veins". Unlike the "waxy, smooth complexion" of traditional dolls, they have realistically "puckered features and blotchy skin".

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They first arrived in the United States in the early 1990s, "targeting adults chiefly", but in recent years their popularity has "rocketed" in Brazil. Costing from 700 reals (£91) to nearly 10,000 reals (£1,300), the dolls are used for grief therapy or parenting practice, said AP. A shop owner in Sao Paulo said that the popularity of the dolls, and the associated controversy, means they're "locking up the store more" and "adding cameras".

Online influencers have staged "birth simulations and strolls in shopping malls" with the hand-crafted baby figures, creating videos that have gone "viral". Last month, several dozen "reborn mothers" gathered at a park in Sao Paulo for a 10th annual meet-up, with their babies.

'Deranged' hobby

Social media has "erupted" in response to this trend, with posts "condemning" it as "deranged" or "dismissing it as a harmless hobby", said the South China Morning Post.

Some politicians have called for "reborn" mothers to be offered psychological help, but others are less compassionate, calling for punishments for people who allegedly use their "babies" to "jump the queue for public services".

One legislator, the evangelical pastor Manoel Isidorio, recently took his "granddaughter" to parliament and argued that playing with dolls is "not a sin".

Other collectors have weighed in. "I love reborns, despite the hate we see out there," Berenice Maria, a longtime collector who owns eight dolls, told AP. "I want the right to go out with them…go to the mall, go to the park."

Another collector, Gabi Matos, told the South China Morning Post that the criticism is sexist because "male hobbies like video games, flying kites, playing football are normalised" and "no one says that they are too old to do these things", yet women can't "take care of their dolls without people thinking we are sick".