As adult-looking sex dolls and robots become more popular, more lifelike, and—thanks to artificial intelligence—more animated, a chorus of critics warns of horrible consequences:

• Increased sexual violence against women
• Objectification of women as passive playthings
• Encouragement of sex crimes, especially against children
• Destruction of real human relationships
• Triggering or aggravating mental health problems in users

In a previous post, I discussed a study by English researchers who found that sex doll critics are mistaken on all counts. Their findings showed no significant mental health differences between sex doll owners and non-owners, and no evidence that, compared with non-owners, doll owners pose any greater sexual threat to women, children, themselves, or society.

Now, another report by German researchers has corroborated and extended those findings. The latest study shows that, far from posing dangers to women, children, themselves, or society, sex dolls can serve as safe, benign sexual substitutes for men who might otherwise commit sex crimes.

The Study

The researchers from the German Institute for Forensic Psychiatry recruited study participants from websites devoted to sex dolls. Who were they?

• The vast majority identified as male (91 percent), with 4 percent women, 4 percent non-binary, and 1 percent other.
• Their average age was 43.
• Their average age when they began playing with sex dolls was 31.
• An unusually large proportion (39 percent) had never had sex with anyone other than themselves.
• They owned an average of two dolls, having paid around $2,700 for each of them.
• Around half viewed their dolls as toys, half as companions. Among those who viewed their dolls as toys, 44 percent were married, compared with only 13 percent of those who considered their dolls companions.
• Two-thirds identified as heterosexual (67 percent).
• Ten percent admitted feeling sexually attracted to children or teens.
• Participants answered a 55-question online survey.

As doll use increased, the researchers found “there was an observable self-reported decrease in all dangerous or illegal sex-related behaviors … and a significant decrease in compulsive sexual behaviors.” Owners “used their dolls as alternative sexual outlets either because they could not find human partners, or because they could not otherwise live out their sexual interests with their partners.”

Benefits of Sex Dolls for Owners—and Society

• Doll owners who admitted sexual attraction to children generally said that playing with sex dolls decreased their desire for sex with minors. One said, “My doll completely satisfies my pedophilic urges. I don’t dream about sex with children anymore.”
• They also reported significant decreases in the use of pornography and fantasies of illegal sex—incest, public exhibitionism, and sexual violence.
• Many doll owners claimed improved their mental health—less anxiety, depression, and sexual disappointment.
• Owners said their dolls helped them adjust to desire differences in their relationships. Coupled owners had sex with human partners once a week, but with their dolls, three times a week.
• Many said the dolls had improved their partner sex. “I’m more patient with my partner, more caring, more focused on her needs.”
• Many owners said their dolls allowed them to act out fantasies their partners would not permit, particularly oral and/or anal sex. “My wife doesn’t like oral or anal sex, so I have it with my doll.”
• Doll owners who enjoyed cosplay—short for costumed—dressed their dolls up in outfits that turned them on. “I can dress them up however I want.”
• Owners said dolls offered a gateway into sexual fantasies. “My doll allows me to act out fantasies I have no desire to experience with a real person.”
• Half of the owners viewed their dolls not as toys, but as companions, friends, or pets that evoked not abuse or violence, but tender affection.

Doll Panic: Rather Similar to the Hysteria Over Pornography

Many social conservatives claim that any sex other than vaginal intercourse in heterosexual marriages is problematic, if not pathological. So, it should come as no surprise that, without evidence, they accuse doll owners of mental illness and allege that dolls contribute to sex crimes.

Their attitudes dovetail with religious fundamentalists’ critique of pornography; they often insist that X-rated media contribute to sex crimes. But when porn viewers, overwhelmingly men, enjoy solo sex while watching porn, they are not out in the world raping women and children. When Eastern Europe was Communist, porn was illegal. Since then, several of those nations have legalized it—and uniformly, sex crimes have decreased.

Now, many are demonizing sex dolls and their users. But again, when men play with dolls, they are not abusing real women or children—and this study shows that they lose interest in doing so.

Those who hold anti-doll sentiments are mistaken. The researchers concluded that their findings “contradict the dystopian picture that sex dolls reinforce problematic sexual behaviors.”