History of Sex Dolls

We live in a world that is changing fast. Everything is achieving new heights of personalization and improvement. Health, finance, economics, sports—everything is evolving into something more practical, applicable, and user-tailored. The vast and ever-growing industry of sex toys is no exception.

Sex and masturbation are natural, healthy, and very important activities for an adult's overall psychological and biological well-being. Sex dolls (also known as love dolls or sometimes blow-up dolls) are lifelike dolls—generally made out of material like plastic, vinyl, rubber, high end silicone, or latex, that are used for sexual foreplay and the simulation of sex. These posable mannequins com in a variety of sizes and can often be manufactured to look like your ideal mate.

The First Sex Dolls

Sex dolls have been around since the 17th century, when the Spanish and French sailors started making sex dolls out of cloth and other material to take on their year- or moth-long expeditions. Dolls were also used by royalty in the Mughal era to act out their sexual fantasies.

Sex Dolls and Hitler

A popular myth states that Hitler and other Nazi officials provided sex dolls to soldiers in the Borghild Project. These dolls were supposedly created during the occupation of France, when STDs became rampant among Nazis that frequented brothels. While no reliable sources have confirmed this theory, it certainly makes for a good story.

Rising Popularity

During the late 20th century, sex dolls became more and more popular as a means of sexual experimentation. This led to widespread commercialization. Companies started using vinyl, silicone, and high end latex to build lifelike dolls, while blow-up dolls rose in popularity as a cheaper and easier to conceal alternative to their more posable counterparts. The lackluster sexual performance of these dolls, however, led companies to quickly move on to bigger and better things.

High-end sex doll mannequins built for intercourse started to be crafted out of thermoplastic elastomer and high quality silicone. These materials give dolls a more realistic appearance and creates a density that feels lifelike. More modern dolls are incredibly detailed in appearance, with distinctive skin colors, eye colors, and even real hair in some instances. They have breasts and buttocks that are carefully made to feel real and can even be crafted after the frame of a real person. These love dolls usually have a name and come with clear instructions on how to use them.

Lifelike Attributes

The 21st century saw the creation of hundreds of types of sex dolls, ranging in price from under $100 to tens of thousands of dollars. Technology also left its mark on the sex doll industry. The higher end dolls are able to:

• Blink, wink, and simulate lip movement.
• Moan and talk using a chip that is encoded with data.
• Simulate real sex using pelvic thrusters and motors.
• Simulate orgasms using artificial fluids.

Sex Doll Creators

US, Japan, and China lead the market in the manufacturing of sex dolls, and the possibilities are endless. The more popular dolls range widely in ability and appearance.

Aiko Love Doll

Aiko dolls are known as the most sophisticated female bots in the world. Going far beyond the satisfaction of sexual needs, these bots can make sandwiches, iron clothes, or have a conversation with you. This bot is designed to give you the "girlfriend experience." It was initially created as a friend to those in need of companionship, but it quickly evolved into something much more satisfying.

Roxxxy

Roxxxy is a sex doll that is marketed as your "True Companion." It was the first talking sex doll on the market, and is packed with oral articulation, artificial intelligence, pelvic thruster motors to simulate orgasm, and pressure sensors to give you the perfect sex experience. There are many settings that can be turned on and off as needed, including talking dirty and telling you she's not in the mood, or having a conversation designed to seduce you when she is in the mood.

RealDoll

Matt McMullen is the artist and entrepreneur who is continuing to modernize the industry give the people what they want. Literally. With his company, RealDoll, customers can buy anatomically correct dolls that are completely customizable from the color of their hair to the size of their feet. Pubic hair is one of the most requested customizable features and it can be colored to match the hair on the head of the doll. But if you prefer your lover clean shaven then that can also be taken into account. In an interview with Business Insider, McMullen said, "I was always driven to sculpt females and it just evolved. And this was like the logical progression of what I wanted to do with my artistic abilities and my desire to create."

Sex Dolls as a Relationship Alternative

David Mills, author of Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person’s Answer to Christian Fundamentalism, was quickly drawn to RealDoll and its products. He first learned about the company through Family Guy. He was convinced that the photos were of real people, but a Google search and a view of RealDoll's website proved otherwise, instantly piquing Mills’ interest. "I thought, well, gee, I would enjoy something like that!" he said in an interview with Vanity Fair. "I mean, I love women. God, I absolutely love women and especially their legs. That’s what attracts me to a woman as much as a face, if not more." He did, however, admit that he doesn’t like to be around people very much, leaving him looking for other routes to physical intimacy.. He patiently waited three and a half months for his perfect woman. For him, that happened to be a Body A RealDoll2 model who is petite, weighing 83 pounds but has enough to hold in the right places measuring 33-24-35. Taffy, which is what Mills named her, also has customized freckles and only cost a little over $7,000. Mills thinks that was money well spent saying in that same interview, "Not everybody wants to be in a relationship, especially an emotionally draining, costly, anxiety-filled one. If a man says, 'I don’t want to be in a relationship,' most of the time that’s probably a fucking good decision! And he can order a RealDoll, which will end up being a helluva lot cheaper than the women he was dating! If a man has a hundred or no girlfriends, RealDolls are a good option no matter what."

Sex Dolls in Media

There are thousands of men who understand exactly where Mills is coming from. Some men feel unwanted by actual women but, like any human, they still yearn for companionship of some sort. That is where the dolls come into play. That concept was explored in the 2008 feature film Lars and the Real Girl starring Ryan Gosling. The movie follows the life of a shy and quirky man named Lars who introduces his brother and sister-in-law to a wheel-chair-bound biracial missionary Bianca. His family is startled that his "friend" is actually a doll that he purchased off an adult website. Though it took time, his family and the community eventually embraced Bianca, who later touched the lives of many in the community. But aside from the producers of MGM, that is the story of real men who has been portrayed in television shows such as Guys and Dolls, as well as My Strange Addiction on TLC.

The network shed light on life of iDollators (or technosexuals) by featuring Davecat, a 40-year-old living in Michigan. The show revealed his life with his wife Sidore Kuroneko and girlfriend Elena Vostrikova. The IT worker admitted that even though his primary reason for buying his dolls was for sexual satisfaction, a small part of his reasoning was about companionship. In a recent article, Davecat expressed his concerns for being in a relationship with what he calls an "organic woman" by talking about his friend who was going through a divorce. "That's an enormous investment of time, money, and emotion, and I'm not interested in having someone in my life who may bail at any time, or who transforms into someone unpleasant," said the doll husband. "Ultimately, getting romantically involved with an organic woman doesn't seem worth it to me."

Not Just for Men

McMullen’s company is slowly expanding his brand, offering male dolls as well. These dolls are made of the same material and with the same features as the female dolls. Like his female dolls, McMullen will make male dolls that resemble actual people, but will only make exact replicas with the person's consent. Those that he has consent from are manifesting themselves in the Wicked RealDolls line. That line features porn star Jessica Drake, who has been known to send clothes for owners of the doll that resembles her.

The Future of Sex Dolls

With the tremendous changes in technology and virtual reality being made, sex dolls have evolved into an alternative for real sex. Robotics technology implementation has made strides that have revolutionized this industry. The introduction of pelvic thrusters for sex and motors for hand/arm/neck/eye movement have made the experience as real as possible. Talking bots that use pressure sensors and cameras to determine your movements and a database (that can be inserted in a chip, or downloaded from your phone/computer) along with a calculating artificial intelligence algorithm can mimic a conversation with the user. It is safe to say that these love toys have evolved into virtual girlfriends, and they are on the way to becoming a companion.

There are implementations in the pipeline for the introduction of a high-end AI Bot that can import a lot of data from your devices (apple devices, Cloud, Android devices, and computers) to calculate what kind of person you are. The responses that it will give to your commands will be based on sentence selections that suit your personality and have references of the things you seem to like.

Imagine starting a conversation with your sex doll and being asked how your waffle was this morning. Or how you liked the new AC/DC song that you downloaded last night. Imagine coming back after watching the Star Wars movie on Netflix and your love doll Sandy quoting Princess Leia. This is the future of sex doll.

From a sex toy, to a sex doll. From a sex doll to a virtual girlfriend. And now, from a virtual girlfriend to a perfect companion for you.

Living Dolls

Porn companies are also in the process of developing virtual reality technologies that will sync with your sex doll, so that you can watch porn and synchronize your partner's movements with those of the actors.

There is an ongoing debate on the topic of sex dolls and how their growing popularity impacts society. There are a lot of pros—they can reduce prostitution and help those with emotional barriers inhibiting human relationships, and many cons—like the prospect that living in an overly virtual world can damage human psychology. There is obviously nothing (at this time) that can rival real sex—an experience that is not just a physical act, but also mingling of two souls. But the option of sex simulation can be a healthy way for many people to get their fantasies out of their heads and satisfy their sexual needs. It has also been proven to help those who have recently lost loved ones and aren’t ready to venture back into dating yet. But whether you see the pros or the cons more vividly, RealDoll alone produces over 10 dolls a well, so soon enough there is sure to be a doll in a home near you soon complete with full lips and a nice rack.