Most of us have seen a sex doll at some point or another—in a funny movie, maybe a joke at a bachelor party, or maybe while paging through a “specialty” catalog or visiting a certain type of store—and these inflatable ladies with their crude and obvious gaping mouths and cartoonish features made us wonder how anyone could stretch their imagination enough to get, um, intimate with them.
And then along came the movie Lars and the Real Girl (2007, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805564/ ) , which enlightened us to the presence of love dolls that were far more lifelike, and for whom, protagonist Lars (played by Ryan Gosling) informs us, people pay thousands of dollars. Well, I must say, although the doll in that movie was decidedly more lifelike (in a creepy way), she was still pretty un-human. I didn't think too much about love dolls beyond that.
Recently, I saw a job posting for a writer to compose copy for a website selling these love dolls, however, and there was a link to click so that the prospective writer could check out the subject matter in order to decide if writing about high-end sex toys was their cup of tea. I'm pretty open-minded about subject matter, so I considered applying. I clicked the link, and I was amazed by what I saw. The love dolls were dressed, posed and photographed professionally to look very realistic and appealing.
But my amazement was not just that the dolls were far more realistic--gone are the strangely gaping mouths, to be replaced by a slightly open and realistic aperture made of soft, stretchable silicone--and actually very pretty, in a Barbie-doll kind of way (not to mention that the original Barbie was based on a German sex doll, which explains her originally improbable proportions). The real surprise is that there seems to be so much more to the love dolls than use as a sex toy.
Fascinated, I did more research and checked out other sex doll websites, as well. Based on the ad copy, as well as some sample FAQs, it appears that the customers for sex dolls treat them more like loved ones than sex objects; that is, the main purpose seems to be companionship, rather than physical gratification. According to the website, many customers don't even use the dolls for sex at all! Seems like a lot of men like playing dress-up with their silicone companions, and some love dolls are specifically made and advertised as having fingernails that can be painted. An episode of National Geographic's Taboo on this subject confirmed that men like to chat with their love dolls and are happy enough that their “girlfriends” don't chat back. I guess there is someone for everyone!
Image from Wikimedia Commons -https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sandy_sex_doll_or_poseable_mannequin.jpeg
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While the love doll industry clearly has a demand in certain countries, I find it sad that such exists at all. There are more females than males on the planet, which implies there does exist a woman for every man and yet there isn't. The entitled male attitude is often to blame; besides, a doll requires little maintenance, can't talk back or complain, and is always available at the man's whim.
ReplyDeleteThe men featured did seem to like that the doll can't talk. I agree; it is rather sad that someone could crave companionship but not be able to handle a real partner.However, it seems best that if they can have a doll, at least they aren't in a miserable relationship with a human partner whose needs aren't being met.
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