Touching Feeling Women

Artist Kimberly McClung, who also uses the eBay ID beachbabies2014, is one of the many women who produce reborn babies. She lists her creative work on eBay and details her practices on a personal website. ¹ McClung introduces the “adult collector” and buyer of highly crafted reborns to “little Jacque/Jacqueline” in an eBay listing that includes detailed descriptions and numerous photographs [Figure 2.1]. ² Jacque/Jacqueline “is a limited edition(196/250) micro preemie reborn baby doll” made from a “sculpt by the extremely talented Tamie Yarie and there will never be another just like him/her.” McClung recognizes the other producers who have contributed to this object, including Yarie who sculpted the limited edition kit, while figuring her own process as transformative and about changing a “blank vinyl kit” into a tangible presence and child. Jacque/Jacqueline triggers emotional and tactile experiences in buyers by being “kinda floppy and kinda squishy” and “very cuddly and loveable.” McClung emphasizes the squishy and hybrid identity of her baby, including its open gender attribution. She includes a “non-anatomically correct tummy plate for posing” that in its painted blankness resists the usual cultural classifications. Reborn artists also complicate the association of artistry with men and masculinity by self-presenting as women artists and mother-producers, who make collectible dolls that are babies. Reborns, including McClung’s listing, are thus art, visceral subjects, and Internet and material texts that make subjectivity less identifiable and stable.