DOLL, PROPERTY OR SUBJECT? REBORN BABIES, AFFECTIVE NEOLIBERALISM AND THE LIMITS OF CIVIL LAW

Bebês Reborn, Neoliberalismo Afetivo E Os Limites Do Direito Civil

Abstract

This article analyzes the legal-social phenomenon of reborn dolls–hyper-realistic dolls designed to simulate newborns–through the lens of Lacanian psychoanalysis, critique of political economy (critiques of neoliberalism), and Brazilian Civil Law theory. Drawing on the 2025 case in Goiânia, where two women engaged in a legal dispute over the "custody" of a monetized reborn doll on social media, the study investigates how the symbolic monetization of affect disrupts traditional boundaries between subject, object, and property. The hypothesis is that neoliberal rationality and the platformization of everyday life create hybrid zones of subjectivation and ownership, in which the reborn ceases to be a mere object and assumes symbolic, emotional, and economic value. The article is structured around four main axes: (1) affective neoliberalism and the aestheticization of care; (2) the reborn as Lacan’s object a and a simulacrum of mourning; (3) the challenges it poses to legal personality, custody, and patrimony; and (4) its status as an inheritable digital asset. The conclusion suggests that Civil Law is increasingly challenged by performative and symbolic affective bonds, requiring new concepts–such as performative symbolic goods–to address legally unrecognized but socially legitimized subjectivities.