sex dolls - Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings

What Affect do Sex Dolls Have on Human Sexuality?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 12:00:00 +0000

If you have spent any time on this blog, you might be thinking another sex doll post? What is her obsession with sex dolls?

I’ve been thinking about this while formulating a response to a reader’s comment on an older sex dolls post.

I find the topic interesting because people have very strong opinions about it based on feelings.

There are just not enough facts or data out there for anyone to form what we might call an “informed opinion.” So, that’s why I love reading and writing about research articles on sex dolls.

Sex Dolls in the Journal of Sex Research

Here’s a recap of a newer article published last year in the Journal of Sex Research.

The authors, through an online survey, sought to add some knowledge to the debate about sex doll usage. Particularly, to address sex dolls used by people who are sexually attracted to prepubescent or pubescent children.

Do you believe your sexual behaviors are compulsive or harmful to you or others? Then you should take the CSBD-19 free, validated self-assessment tool.

Wait, What’s the Debate About Sex Dolls?

The core concerns regarding the use of sex dolls that people tend to bring up:

Using sex dolls increases problematic sexuality. Many feel the users may transfer the type of sexuality they engage in with a doll to a human.
Individuals who use sex dolls will become increasingly isolated from others.
People who use sex dolls will lose intimacy and empathy in their interpersonal relationships.

Specifically, relating to the use of child sex dolls, people fear that if a person who is sexually attracted to children uses a childlike sex doll, it will increase their desire or propensity to then engage in sexual activity with a live child.

Back to the Sex Doll Study

The authors “sought to explore the potential influence of (sex) doll use on common (i.e., sex with humans, masturbation, and porn use) as well as problematic or (potentially) illegal sexual behaviors (compulsive sexual behavior, illegal and dangerous sexual fantasies as well as visiting sex workers).

The study is the first to look at potential changes in sexual behavior associated with sex doll use.

The study asked 224 individuals who were sex doll users:

About the features of their dolls (gender, size, price, etc.)
About the changes they observed in their own sexual behavior
Demographic questions
Open ended questions

Interested in more information about sex dolls and their owners? Here’s all of our posts about them:

Results of the Study

The authors classified sex doll users as those who used the doll basically as a sex toy or those who used the doll as an artificial companion (AC).

The average age of the doll users was 31.

Those who used the doll as an AC were less likely to be in a relationship than those who used it as a sex toy.

What changes did they see in their behaviors?

All of the users reported an observable decrease in common and dangerous behaviors since they started using the dolls.

Specifically relating to doll owners who are sexually attracted to children, those individuals self-reported a strong significantly greater decrease in compulsive sexual behavior when compared to their adult attracted peers.

They also stated that they used their dolls as an alternative sexual outlet as they could not live out their sexual interest with humans.

Individuals with sexual interest in prepubescent or pubescent children did report:

They used the dolls to act out illegal fantasies with the dolls
They lost interest in sexual interactions with children due to their owning and using a childlike sex doll

The authors note the results of their study go against the idea that using sex dolls will reinforce problematic sexual behavior of any kind. Their results showed the opposite.

Sex doll ownership and use decreased self-reported problematic sexual behavior.

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Limitations of the Sex Doll Study

Before we definitively state the use of sex dolls is a good thing or that it does not, in fact, lead to problematic sexual behavior, we have to talk about the limitations of this research study.

The first limitation is that it is a survey.

There is always the question of whether or not the people who choose to respond to a research survey are in any way different from those that do not choose to participate, and this could decrease the generalizability of the results.

The second big limitation is the questions about reduction in problematic (including illegal) sexual behavior were self-reported.

This means we have no way of knowing if the study participants were telling the truth. We also don’t know if the decrease they reported is real or just their perception. Again, this may limit the validity and generalizability of the research.

Nonetheless, this study is a big step in moving forward and answering the questions of what affect owning and using a sex doll has on a person’s sexual behavior.

Reference: Desbuleux, J. C. & Fuss, J. (2023). The Self-Reported Sexual Real-World Consequences of Sex Doll Use. The Journal of Sex Research, DOI: 10.1080/00224499.2023.2199727.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Consult with a professional.

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

Are you looking for more reputable data-backed information on sexual addiction? The Mitigation Aide Research Archive is an excellent source for executive summaries of research studies.

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Sex Doll Owners and Contact Offenses: Correlation?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 21:55:22 +0000

Investigating Psychological Characteristics and Risky Thinking in Sex Doll Owners

Here we go again: Another article on sex doll owners!

This post contains affiliate links. The author or blog owner may earn a commission if you make a purchase using these links.

Yes, I continue to be fascinated by the research on this topic.

Despite what some might believe, discussions come up about it in my line of work. Even at the workshop I taught for law enforcement officers last month.

Of course, when I saw this article, published this year, I was excited to read it.

Previous research articles I have written about on sex doll ownership have been more general in nature. This isn’t surprising given the lack of even basic research on the topic. This article, however, actually digs into the main questions about the ownership of sex dolls.

Law enforcement, treatment providers and legislators want to know:

Is there any association between owning sex dolls and risk of contact sexual offending?

Do you believe your sexual behaviors are compulsive or harmful to you or others? Then you should take the CSBD-19 free, validated self-assessment tool.

A Quick Recap

The study was published in The Journal of Sex Research by academics at Nottingham Trent University. It sought to address whether or not there was any relationship between owning adult sex dolls and either personality characteristics of the owners or any offending supportive beliefs.

First to recap: There are three main schools of thought when it comes to sex doll ownership.

Owning a sex doll increases risk as it can reinforce the objectification of women. Those in this school of thought point to the research that tells us that having views of women as sexual objects is associated with higher levels of sexual aggression. The hypothesis here is that owning a sex doll increases a person’s negative attitudes towards women and objectification of women which leads to a higher risk of sexual aggression. (While sex dolls do come in all genders, the literature on the topic focuses on women and female sex dolls).
Sex doll ownership is protective, meaning that owning a sex doll actually could reduce sexual aggression against live humans. These individuals could reduce their sexual aggression risk by acting out those desires with a sex doll.
The final group does not look at sex doll ownership as increasing or decreasing risk. It looks at the functions that sex dolls can serve to their owners. Some owners of sex dolls report that the doll is a surrogate for a relationship. Perhaps sex doll owners have had difficult relationships in the past or have particular sexual interest which would make relationships difficult. The doll can serve as a physical and, sometimes, emotional surrogate.

Are you looking for more reputable, data-backed information on sexual addiction? The Mitigation Aide Research Archive is an excellent source for executive summaries of research studies.

The Study

This study looked to assess whether there were any particular psychological characteristics of sex doll owners. They also tested the assumption that doll ownership could be associated with a propensity for sexual aggression.

The participants were found in a sex doll ownership forum. A control group was found online through a survey platform called Prolific.

Participants answered questions about:

Demographics
Doll ownership
Psychological assessments that looked at:
- Sexual aggression
- Sexual fantasies
- Offense supportive thinking
- Emotional functioning
- Personality style
- Attachment style

In this study, they used male doll owners in the statistical analysis.

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The Results

The study found that doll owners were slightly older than non-doll owners. Sex doll owners were a little less likely to have partnered sex at least monthly.

Other than that, there were very few other differences between the doll owners and non-doll owners overall.

Doll owners did not:

Fantasize more about coercive sex
Have more of a proclivity for sexual aggression
Have issues with emotion and attachment

Interested in more information about sex dolls and their owners? Here’s all of our posts about them:

Doll owners were, however, significantly more likely:

To view women as sex objects
Have greater sexual entitlement
To see women as unknowable

Overall the results indicated that, in this study population, doll ownership did not appear to be associated with proclivities for sexual offending.

Doll owners were not more likely to be sexually aggressive or endorse sexual aggression.

In contrast, the data suggested that doll ownership was a potentially protective factor when the owner did not have the beliefs that male sex drive is uncontrollable or that the world is a dangerous place.

The authors suggested that:

“The lack of differences between the two groups in this study might suggest that studying sex doll ownership through a lens that assumes psychopathology or atypicality might be misguided.”

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Sexual Addiction Treatment Services has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7250. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Sexual Addiction Treatment Services is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

Take Aways

Any study has its limitations.

This study only looked at individuals who owned adult sex dolls.

It did not address the issue of childlike sex doll ownership. This makes it possible that the data for adult sex doll ownership does not necessarily generalize to individuals who own child like sex dolls.

Regardless of its limitations, this study is important because it is the first that attempts to address the specific legal and ethical questions about sex doll ownership. In particular: Does ownership of sex dolls increase a person’s likelihood of committing an hands-on sexual offense?

Much further research is needed before any definitive statements can be made.

Reference: Harper, C.A., Lievesley, R., & Wanless, K (2023). Exploring the Psychological Characteristics and Risk-related Cognitions of Individuals Who Own Sex Dolls. The Journal of Sex Research, https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2022.2031848

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Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Then you should consult with a professional.

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Why Do People Own Sex Dolls

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 13:36:50 +0000

If you’re familiar with my blog, you’ll know that I love to write about sex dolls research; I find the topic fascinating and it intersects directly with my work, too.

The controversy over child sex dolls stirs up very strong feelings and hard and fast opinions made without any actual data to back them up.

Today, I’m excited to share new research so that we can start to put some facts behind our opinions.

Opinions on Sex Dolls

When it comes to child-like sex doll ownership, opinions tend to fall in three camps:

“Allowing someone who is minor attracted access to a child-like sex doll will enhance their risk of moving on to a contact sexual offense with a child.”
“Allowing someone who is attracted to children access to a child-like sex doll will serve as a protective mechanism and decrease their likelihood for offending against a child.”
“Child like sex dolls serve other functions either in lieu of or in addition to a sexual function.”

Do you believe your sexual behaviors are compulsive or harmful to you or others? Then you should take the CSBD-19 free, validated self-assessment tool.

A Study on Sex Dolls

Doctors Harper and Lievesley recently published a research article in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior on their research about child-like sex doll ownership.

As there is so little research on this topic, the goal of this study was to provide an initial “snapshot” into the characteristics of individuals who own or would like to own a child-like sex doll.

The authors provided anonymous, IP address protected surveys to individuals on online forums and asked them questions regarding:

Doll ownership
Sexual interests
Emotions
Personality
Attachment styles
Sexual objectification
Sexual offending

In total, 205 men answered the survey, and their answers were used in the data analysis.

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The Results

They found that child-like doll ownership was not just something sexual.

Dolls were used for sexual reasons but also for emotional reasons and “other” reasons which included art, non-sexual intimacy, non-intimate care, improving quality of life and to prevent offending behavior.

Those individuals who used the dolls for sexual purposes had sex with the dolls on average 8.08 times per month which was significantly more often than they engaged in partnered sex.

Other findings showed that doll owners, based on the Interest in Child Molestation Scale, were significantly less likely to express a desire to engage in a contact sexual offense.

They also were less likely to score as having an anxious attachment style.

The characteristics of child sex doll ownership from this study indicated that:

Interested in more information about sex dolls and their owners? Here’s all of our posts about them:

“…doll owners were significantly older than non-owners. They were also more likely to exhibit schizotypal personality traits, to report engaging in sexually objectifying behaviors than non-owners and reported more anticipated enjoyment in relation to hypothetical child sexual abuse scenarios.”

The doll owners were also less sexually preoccupied than those who did not own a doll and were less antisocial.

They were also self-reported less arousal to child sexual abuse scenarios.

Preparing a sentencing report for a minor attracted person? Get the data you need, quickly, with Mitigation Aide.

Takeaways

Let’s go back to those thoughts on child-like sex doll ownership and what the data from this study shows.

The authors state that they did not find any evidence in their study to support that child-like sex doll is inherently risky and promotes in person child sexual abuse.

The authors stated that their data supports a functional model of child-like sex doll ownership meaning that most people own a doll to serve a functional need.

Limitations on the Study about Sex Dolls

As with any research study, there are limitations, and they should be noted:

This is a preliminary study, which means the results are not definitive and should be replicated before they are taken to be 100% truth.
As with any survey study, there is no way to ensure that the participants answered questions 100% truthfully.

The way the survey was presented did provide anonymity, but that may not have been enough to inhibit some people’s tendency to answer in a socially desirable fashion.

This study is a great first step toward creating actual, scientific evidence that can then be used to support fact-based opinion and legislation about child-like sex doll ownership.

Reference: Harper, C.A. & Lievesley, R. (2022). Exploring the Ownership of Child-Like Sex Dolls. Archives of Sexual Behavior, doi.org/10.1007/s10508-022-02422-4

Are you looking for more reputable data-backed information on sexual addiction? The Mitigation Aide Research Archive is an excellent source for executive summaries of research studies.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Then you should consult with a professional.

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

Stay up-to-date with all of Dr. Jen’s work through her practice’s newsletter!

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Let’s Talk About Sex Dolls

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Mon, 18 Jul 2022 17:51:03 +0000

For me, the concept of sex dolls is fascinating and when my web guy told me that some people were searching for more information about it, I jumped at the chance to write about them again.

The first thing to do when talking about sex dolls is to forget that image of the plastic blow up doll with a permanently gaping mouth. Today’s sex dolls are high tech, sometimes robotic, really life like and nothing like what most people imagine.

Let’s talk about some of the controversies.

Child Sex Dolls and Sex Offenders

This one is a hot button issue with some people falling in either camp. Child sex dolls are manufactured outside of the United States and they are extremely realistic looking. This is pretty uncomfortable for a lot of people.

The two sides of the argument are as follows.

For individuals who have an exclusive attraction to prepubescent children, child sex dolls might be a way for them to have some sense of sexuality without harming children.

The other side of this camp thinks that allowing people who are attracted to children to have child sex dolls will actually increase their risk of harming a live child.

The trouble is, there is hardly any research on the topic to help people make an informed opinion.

For more thoughts on the topic, check out Prostasia Foundation’s blog on the topic.

Do you believe your sexual behaviors are compulsive or harmful to you or others? Then you should take the CSBD-19 free, validated self-assessment tool.

Sex Dolls and Adults

If we are talking about adult sex dolls, we can avoid the controversy that comes with child sex dolls, but you still get the stigma.

There are many reasons why someone might want a sex doll.

Perhaps they have difficulty meeting people, forming relationships, or hooking up with others for sex.

Perhaps they have a trauma history that makes sex with another person something they can’t engage in.

Or maybe, they just want to.

Interested in more information about sex dolls and their owners? Here’s all of our posts about them:

There is even a sex doll rental company in Houston, Texas that has lawmakers up in arms. They have tried to block it but, to the best of my knowledge, it is still up and running.

In the sex therapy community, the use of sex dolls does not carry the same stigma that it might in other circles. Fundamentally, an adult who wants to have an adult sex doll should be able to do so without worry about what other people think.

However, some people worry that using a sex doll or a sex robot as a replacement for human interaction could be harmful.

Check out some other’s thoughts on the topic here:

Using Love Dolls As a Substitute for Human Intimacy (Psychology Today)
Sex Bot use ‘unrelated to healthcare’ (Medical News Today)

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Answering Your Questions

Some of the google searches related to sex dolls that have landed people on my website have questioned whether or not sex doll use is addictive.

I will take this moment to remind people that when it comes to sex addiction or problematic sexual behavior issues, it is often not the behavior that is problematic but the person’s relationship to the behavior.

A sex doll is a sex doll. If you are questioning whether your use of the sex doll is an addiction, the better questions relate to your relationship with the doll.

Is it something that you cannot stop doing?

Is engaging with the sex doll interfering with your life, work or other relationships?

If your interactions with the doll do not meet the ICD-11 diagnostic criteria for Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder, the problem may be an issue of moral incongruence instead of addiction or problematic sexual behavior.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Consult with a professional.

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

The post Let’s Talk About Sex Dolls first appeared on Dr. Jen's Recovery Readings.

Sex Doll Use: Is it Deviance, Addiction, or Something Else?

Dr. Jennifer Weeks — Fri, 08 Nov 2019 18:27:17 +0000

The sex offender treatment world can tend to label out of the box practices “deviant” and the sex therapy world thinks that all conventional sex practices are pretty much just fine. The sex addiction world can tend to think all non-normative sexual practices are an addiction. But where does that leave sex doll use?

As a clinician, I live at an intersection between these three worlds.

Sex Addiction Therapy
Sexual Offender Therapy
Sex Therapy

These are often conflicting worlds.

It is probably safe to say that these three different but connected worlds all likely have different thoughts about sex dolls.

Interested in more information about sex dolls and their owners? Here’s all of our posts about them:

Sex Doll Stigma

Sex doll use and ownership is something that is seriously stigmatized. People who own dolls are often labeled perverts.

Many people look down on doll owners. While some think if a minor attracted person has a sex doll it will increase their likelihood to actually offend against a child.

We see this view point when countries or states enact legislation about importation and/or ownership of sex dolls as well as a recent controversy in Texas about the opening of a doll brothel.

It is easy to pass a law about sexual behavior on an emotional basis, however, if the science ends up saying that the law is unhelpful or even harmful, it is nearly impossible to get these types of laws overturned.

The reality is that most of these statements are either stigmas or assumptions as it is a topic that is little researched.

That’s why I was so excited to see a session at this year’s ATSA conference dedicated to research about doll ownership.

Dr. Craig Harper and Jeremy Malcolm presented preliminary research regarding sex doll ownership. The first study presented was a qualitative study about the motivations for sex doll ownership.

The proviso here is that the sample size is still small (6) but is growing as the research is ongoing.

So, Why own a sex doll?

Two themes emerged.

First: The “perfect partner” scenario.

Second: Sex.

The owners of the dolls identified deficits on real people or themselves that made relationships difficult.

The men in the study cited things such as a doll not always being critical as a reason to have a doll versus a real relationship.

Some men cited their own personal deficits as reasons for having a doll. They suffered from great anxiety when interacting with others and found it easier to have a doll. Therefore, the dolls took on emotional significance as well.

Creating the perfect partner: We all know that real people have flaws. When creating a sex doll, it is totally customizable and can be created to perfectly match a person’s arousal template.

Does Sex Doll Use Make People Aggressive?

The second study was quantitative and looked at whether or not doll ownership predicted sexual aggression.

I consider this a topic of great importance, because many people hold the belief that having a sex doll, particularly when you are talking about child sex dolls, will increase a person’s likelihood to offend against a real child.

This study comprised a control group and a group of sex doll owners who owned adult sex dolls, and had them take a survey. My summary of the results:

Owning a sex doll did not increase the likelihood of sexual aggression.
There were no differences between doll owners and non-doll owners on measures of sexual assault proclivity or paraphilic interest.
There were no differences between doll owners and non-doll owners on the emotional factors studied, nor in attachment style.

Struggling with excessive sexual thoughts, urges, or activities that are causing you distress? Take the free, online Sexual Symptom Assessment Scale (SSAS) and get a link to share with your therapist.

The study did find that doll owners scored higher in some of the implicit rape theories endorsements.

Particularly, they scored higher on hostility toward women, seeing women as sexual objects, seeing women as dangerous and sexual entitlement.

It should be noted that the study did not look at causation: Therefore, you cannot say whether owning a doll increased these scores or that people with these attitudes are more likely to get a doll. However, we can just note a difference.

Rem,ember this is preliminary data.

The second study has 70 doll owners and 90 controls at present. However, the research is a step in the right direction as it is empirically looking at doll ownership. The second study found preliminary evidence that owning a sex doll is not associated with an increase in sexual aggression.

Why does it matter?

Laws in states and countries are being enacted regarding sex doll ownership.

These laws are being proposed without research to back up whether or not bans would be effective.

It is easy to pass a law about sexual behavior on an emotional basis, however, if the science ends up saying that the law is unhelpful or even harmful, it is nearly impossible to get these types of laws overturned.

Are you looking for more reputable data-backed information on sexual addiction? The Mitigation Aide Research Archive is an excellent source for executive summaries of research studies.

Do you feel your sexual behavior, or that of someone you love, is out of control? Then you should consult with a professional.

Have you found yourself in legal trouble due to your sexual behavior? Seek assistance before the court mandates it, with Sexual Addiction Treatment Services.

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