The ‘perfect’ partner: Understanding the lived experiences of sex doll owners

Abstract

The ownership of sex dolls has become an increasingly discussed phenomenon in recent years, with legal scholars and legislators calling for increased regulation and criminalization of such articles. In doing so, they promote an implicit assumption that the ownership of dolls increases a risk of sexual offending, which has been questioned in recent survey-based psychological analyses. However, the literature is currently lacking a phenomenological exploration of the experiences of individuals who own sex dolls. In this study, we interviewed nine owners of sex dolls to investigate their motivations and experiences. Two main themes were elicited from the data: “the ‘perfect’ partner” and “sex doll or love doll?”. In understanding doll ownership in this way, we hope to add to ongoing social discussions about the types of people who own dolls, why they do so, and how dolls act as a function aspect of the sexual (and nonsexual) lives.

Exploring the Ownership of Child-Like Sex Dolls

“…Within this context, it is understandable why higher levels of schizotypal traits and lower levels of antisocial trait might be more common personality profiles in doll owners, who appear to have more difficulties in forming relationships with real partners and fill this void with an emotional bond with their dolls (Lievesley et al, 2022). Although this could be questioned in the current sample owing to the minor-attracted nature of most participants, it should be noted that the doll owners in this work were no more likely to be exclusively attracted to children than those who did not own a doll, and so it is likely that any potential surrogacy of real relationships with bonds with dolls is better explained by their personality characteristics than by their sexual attraction patterns.…”