Cover photo credit to The Sydney Herald. 5 minute read.
Child sex dolls. What sounds like a sick joke or something out of a disturbing sci-fi horror movie is actually a real creation from a self-confessed pedophile manufacturer in Japan.
For more than a decade, the company has shipped anatomically-correct imitations of girls as young as five to clients around the world. Not long ago, a woman in Australia took a stand against the sale of these dolls in her country, and ended up making changes. Not soon after, the dolls were forbidden from being imported into the United Kingdom, as well.
The U.S. may be next.
The man behind the dolls, and Australia’s response
But who is making these horrible devices of “fantasy?”
Shin Takagi is the man behind the anatomically-correct child dolls. In a detailed write-up about his company and self-described pedophilia, The Atlantic reported he has shipped these “toys” to child sex seekers across the globe for over a decade. Some versions of the rubber dolls look as young as five years old, and can be purchased in a variety of different facial expressions, including sadness and pain.
As first reported by Australian Women’s Weekly a couple of years ago, Melissa Evans—a concerned citizen from Queensland, Australia—started a petition on Change.org which slams the “pedophile aids.” She asked for an Australian politician to ban the importation of these child sex dolls, and they listened.
Australia representatives now say customs are starting to crack down on the import of these harmful items as a result of the backlash.
A Department of Immigration and Border Protection spokeswoman told the Sydney Herald: “The Australian Border Force works closely with the Australian Federal Police and state police agencies to target and seize this objectionable material at the border, and bring before the courts those that seek to possess or are in possession of a child sex doll.”
They said they are treating the issue “very seriously.”
The UK was next
Not long after, child sex dolls were officially pulled from sale in the United Kingdom by online retail giant Amazon.com Inc after widespread criticism from watchdog and children’s charities in Britain that voiced concerns that people who use such lifelike dolls may go on to sexually abuse children, according to a report by Reuters. Many have also been removed from the United States platform, as well.
“All Marketplace sellers must follow our selling guidelines and those who don’t will be subject to action including potential removal of their account,” an Amazon spokesman said in a statement. “The products in question are no longer available.”
Why would anyone create child sex dolls?
In an interview with The Atlantic, the doll creator insists the “toys” will reduce rates of pedophilia. He first made the child-like figures to “stop others committing crimes.” As a self-confessed pedophile, he claims there is no way to change a pedophile’s sexual orientation and that the lifelike sex dolls act as a safe substitute, satisfying their needs so they do not commit crimes against real children.
“I am helping people express their desires, legally and ethically. It’s not worth living if you have to live with repressed desire,” he told The Atlantic. He said he often receives letters from his clients—which include doctors, teachers and celebrities—that say: “Thanks to your dolls, I can keep from committing a crime.”
Related: Futurologist Says Sex With Robots Will Become Reality By 2050
But is this perspective backed by science? Actually, no.
Evans argues the lifelike appearance of the dolls will help to normalize sexual relationships between adults and children until the pedophile eventually escalates and offends against an actual child.
“I do not believe in any way that this is an appropriate deterrent against children being sexually abused,” she wrote.
We agree.
So far, there is no research to indicate whether or not Takagi’s dolls would be successful in preventing abuse. Peter Fagan, a paraphilia researcher from the John Hopkins School of Medicine, believes that contact with these child dolls would likely have a “reinforcing effect” on the user’s pedophilia and “in many instances, cause it to be acted upon with greater urgency.”
Related: Understanding the Growing Worldwide Problem of Porn
The dolls that appear on the Japanese website are dressed in bikinis, lingerie, and are sometimes completely naked. Many of the imitation girls are sprawled out on a bed or laid in other provocative positions, often with childlike props such as a school backpack or stuffed animal.
We don’t need to tell you how disturbing these images are.
An international issue
Clearly, this is extremely concerning and should be an issue regardless of which country you live in.
If you’re worried that child sex robots will become common in your neighborhood, we have good news. A New York congressman introduced a bill that would ban their sale in the US. The Curbing Realistic Exploitative Electronic Pedophilic Robots Act (CREEPR Act) would be the first of its kind and would block people from buying and selling the silicone dolls online and in stores. So far, it’s received support in the legislative process.
Related: How Powerful Cyberweapons Hunt Down & Remove Child Porn (VIDEO)
We aren’t robots experts, but we do hear from experts who break down the escalating nature of a porn habit. Porn is an escalating behavior because, as some consumers develop tolerance, the porn that used to excite them starts to seem boring. [1] Predictably, they often try to compensate by spending more time with porn and/or seeking out more hardcore material in an effort to regain the excitement they used to feel. [2] Many porn consumers find themes of aggression, violence, and increasingly “edgy” acts creeping into their porn habits and fantasies.
Sometimes, these “edgier” porn fantasies involve children. And seeing as many pedophiles seek out images and videos of child abuse, and then some escalate to desiring a lifelike silicone child sex robot, is it not possible that similar principles could also apply to child sex robot owners?
If someone has a sexual interest in children, and they claim they’d never act out their desires in real life, who is to say that a doll or robot would completely deter theses desires instead of ingraining them and reinforcing them again and again, until the synthetic silicone isn’t enough?
We don’t want to live in a world where it’s normalized to have a child sex doll, so we’re speaking up about it. No one’s abusive reality should be sold as a silicone fantasy.
Whether it’s a computer screen or a sex doll, we need to be educated and take a stand for healthy sexuality and relationships.
