To feel physically sick about this? *MNHQ trigger warning for paedophilia*

[ificouldwritealettertome]

So tonight I put some stupid programme on in the background. DH was working late so I didn't want to watch something we both wanted to see and that pretty much rules out everything! So I watched something on iPlayer about sex dolls.

The presenter was a guy who had a robotic arm and leg due to an accident. But it became clear that he was uncomfortable with some of the content as it was so sexual.

What I thought would be a documentary about sex dolls and how weird they are was actually about AI in sex dolls where they actually interact and basically engage with the user. Yes, weird, but still. No judgement here I suppose.

Anyway, a few minutes of not really watching later, the presenter was in tears. Clearly very upset. So I started paying attention to see a very realistic, naked doll with the physique of a young girl. My heart hit my stomach.

Is this really what we are doing? The whole thing is just disgusting. The body of a woman should be respected and sexual activity should be between two consenting adults. What will this do to our values? Men will become used to permanently available dolls who need no respect or boundaries.

And the issue of there being a child doll, where do you even start with that? I don't even know what I want to get out of this I don't know whether I'm angry or upset.

Am I being ridiculous and hysterical? Something about seeing it has really affected me.

They said violent video games would be a better outlet than IRL violence for men. Wrong. Men who use them get more violent.

LanaorAna2 that's such a good point

Did widely accessible porn make things "better" for women? Sex dolls are just next gen porn. Ditto with VR Porn. Not going to help with objectification.

Ugh that is just awful. I wish I hadn't opened this thread.

I can't imagine any woman would want to have sex with a robot. Men are weird.

I'm with you, op, as is my husband. We watched that show and it was horrible. My husband said it made him sick to his stomach knowing those dolls are made specifically for paedophiles.

I found it uncomfortable to watch too.
These dolls are so far removed from a real woman yet are supposedly "based" on women? They're just holes to wank into that make groaning noises. Bleurgh.

I found the male doll they test marketed comical though. It's penis was ridiculously huge, like the size of an arm! Even the sex toy tester said it wouldn't be going anywhere near her.

Sexual violence tends to escalate from a thought here and there, to fantasies, to images, to porn videos, to peeping toms/stalking, to play acting perhaps with a prostitute, to attacking a victim.

This, totally. There have been quite a few murders related to violent porn. The violent porn drove them to commit the crimes, having a proxy or an outlet for perversions doesn’t get rid of them, it intensifies them.

JaneJeffer I'm sorry I should have put a trigger warning.

aqua it really was horrible wasn't it?

They should be banned. Someone did go to prison recently for buying one which got intercepted but I'm not sure which country they were in. I think these dolls will desensitise these depraved individuals, and then what happens when they are not enough for them? I shudder to think :-(

I agree, MumOf it's almost normalising a perversion by making it mainstream and "acceptable". Not just paedophilia, but all sorts of awful issues related to consent/rape and abuse of women.

I hate it when it's suggested that indulging someone's morally unacceptable demands in one way might prevent them acting on them in another way. Why do people feel they are entitled to have anything they like? They are not. The world would be a much nicer, more peaceful, less horrible place if people practised a bit of self-restraint - and I am talking about a whole range of people, not only paedophiles.

It was all so grim. I liked the presenter though. What was really weird was the doll maker in the UK who said he wanted to target care homes as a big market! Have a sex doll in every room! He said for sex and companionship. Firstly, doubt they will be good conversationalists. How many really old men have sexual needs, and how fucked up if it was with a young looking doll. It would make care homes seedy. Old people less open to technology.
He was nuts!

There’s quite a lot of evidence that the widespread availability of porn has affected how people think about sex, and changed norms around sex and ideal body types.

For example, there’s lots of research about young people’s attitudes to sex being adversely affected by pornography online:
aifs.gov.au/publications/effects-pornography-children-and-young-people
www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Basically_porn_is_everywhere.pdf
www.zerotolerance.org.uk/projects/attitudesresearch
www.ippr.org/files/publications/pdf/young-people-sex-relationships_Aug2014.pdf
www.lse.ac.uk/business-and-consultancy/consulting/assets/documents/sexual-rights-and-sexual-risks-among-youth-online.pdf

I sincerely doubt that AI sex dolls are going to improve things.

I'm normally someone who rolls their eyes at the constant use of 'trigger warnings', but I too wish I hadn't opened this thread. I didn't see this programme tonight (thank God) but I feel extremely distressed at the description of the content.

YANBU

Porn has led us here.

Of course this normalises the idea of raping a child. I am glad they are illegal in this country.

Japanese are at school until 18. Well beyond legal sex age.

Japanese are at school until 18. Well beyond legal sex age.

That's allright, then.

The below is from a bbc news article about amazon selling sex dolls. It clarifies the legal position.

The UK Border Force has seized 179 child-like sex dolls since March 2016 as part of Operation Shiraz, a special operation set up in conjunction with the National Crime Agency.
In July 2017, a judge ruled child sex dolls were obscene items and therefore covered by the 1979 Customs and Excise Management Act.
However, it is not a criminal offence to manufacture or possess a child sex doll: individuals can only be charged for importing them.

Also from that article.

The NSPCC has warned use of the dolls can lead people to harm children.
Designed to be as lifelike as possible, they are made of a silicone type material and weigh as much as a child.
The dolls are made in such a way as to enable sex acts to be performed on them.
The head of policy at the children's charity NSPCC, Almudena Lara, highlighted the danger child sex dolls can pose to children.
She told the BBC: "We already know that there is a risk that people using these dolls could become desensitised and their behaviour could become normalised to them, so that they go on to harm children, as is often the case with those who view indecent images of children online.
"There is absolutely no evidence that using the dolls stops potential abusers from abusing children.

We've debated this repeatedly and at length at work (safeguarding team). There's usually a 50/50 split- half of us will say no, child 'sex' dolls (rape dolls, I would prefer to call them, I absolutely abhor the phrase 'child sex' as children cannot consent to sex, it is always rape) are utterly inappropriate and normalise child sexual exploitation. The other half will say, better a doll than an actual child.I'm uncomfortable with adult versions of these dolls, but not to the same degree.

It’s a very disturbing and damaging trend and it is down to how porn has become so influential on how many people are viewing sex

A doll doesn’t allow someone to play out a fantasy and then all is fine it’s indulges a fantasy and once that happens people want more and those who have sexual feelings towards children it’s far more often about power and manipulation

Of course there should be support for those who are trying to deal with sexual feelings they may have towards children but it’s far more complex than it being just about attraction it’s not like being heterosexual/bisexual/homosexual encouraging them to play a fantasy out is dangerous and of course it will make money and some dubious business will claim it’s morally the right then to do to protect children (I feel more angry about that than those buying the doll)

I don’t ever think St Trinian’s filma were made to entertain school girls

And then there is the Britney Spears video

And Japan is well known for sexualising school girls

I know some will make the excuse it’s women dressed as young girls not the young girls that are sexually attractive porn just indulges this fantasy and has allowed it to become somewhat normalised

That's vile op, it would have turned my stomach too.

VR sex is going to happen, it's the future of porn, not a good thing imo.

Think of how the internet has changed in the last 10 years, how all these pedophiles can interact in a way like never before, that's not a good thing either.