The Self-Reported Sexual Real-World Consequences of Sex Doll Use

ABSTRACT

It is a growing concern that the use of sex dolls and robots could affect human sexuality. This concern has led to a ban of child-like sex dolls in several countries and a call to ban adult-like sex dolls and robots by some scholars. However, empirical data is largely missing supporting this claim. Here, we present retrospective self-reported quantitative and qualitative data of a large sample (N = 224, 90.5% men, Mean age = 31 years, SD = 14.2) of teleiophilic (i.e., sexual orientation toward adults) and pedo-hebephilic participants. Using an online survey, we found that users reported an overall reduction in sexuality-related behaviors (e.g., porn consumption or visiting of sex workers) in response to doll ownership. Users in a relationship with a human were less affected by doll use, while those in a relationship with a doll reported greater effects. Interestingly, pedo-hebephilic users reported a greater reduction of sexual compulsivity compared to teleiophilic participants following doll use. Additionally, pedo-hebephilic participants more often reported acting out of illegal sexual fantasies with their dolls and a loss of interest in (sexual) intimacy with real children through doll use in the qualitative data. These self-reported data challenge the view that doll use is dangerously affecting human sexuality and instead suggest that dolls may be used as a sexual outlet for potentially dangerous and illegal (sexual) fantasies.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2023.2199727.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the participants and members of the Doll Community for their support and participation. We are particularly grateful to those who supported us with their input and thoughts during the development of the questionnaire. We are also thankful to Verena Klein for her input in the development of the project.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.