Foreign-made love dolls are now available online and recent cases suggest importing them is a criminal offence. However, while calls for criminalization mount, it’s unclear where the law stands with regard to these dolls and their robotic counterparts.
This article aims to start a debate by asking: Could and should male sex dolls and robots be covered by the Child Safeguarding Framework? Taking core offenses into account, it examines whether and where such items could fit into the current law. The argument proposed is that while there is patchy coverage, no single law offers convincing agreement.
Through a qualitative analysis of the discursive practices of male users of a large real-life sex doll forum, this study found that complex and dynamic homosocial relationships characterize men’s online interactions.
In discussing the future of a sex doll, men are negotiating competing structures of masculinity and sexuality, creating a safe online space for others to express their sexual desires and preferences. Using the concept of ‘seam’ or connection, the results show the way male sex doll users subjectively position themselves and are positioned by technology and the increasingly porous human-machine interface.
