Real dolls: the ultimate in sex toy, or the ultimate in objectification?

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, open up a new tab and Google “Real Doll” (sorry, I can't link the site as it is adult in nature). Your first hit should be the official website for Real Dolls, the full-sized, silicone-and-rubber sex dolls that some men are willing to spend thousands of dollars to own.

Meanwhile, many feminists are unsettled by the potential ramifications of women being so easily replaced by plastic.

First of all, I must confess that when I look at these things, my first opinion of them springs not from my inner feminist, but from my inner special effects designer. These things are amazing examples of craftsmanship! Honestly, I'd pay a lot of money to learn technique from the people who make these, because they really do look incredibly realistic (and learning how to make convincing looking fake bodies is kind of a dream of mine, though for rather different reasons).

However, it puzzles me a little to see such artistic talent go into this kind of a product, and it makes me wonder if artisans with this much ability and sensitivity to detail can display the same sensitivity to the effects products like this have on society.

I myself have something of a hard time figuring out what to say about Real Dolls. On the one hand, I'm a very sex-positive feminist. I support sex and men's sexuality, including masturbation, toy, and porn usage. I also don't think it's necessarily crazy to spend a truly ridiculous amount of money on a sex product, if that's what you're really into.

But while I feel that guys are far too often demonized by women (and bad feminists, both male and female) for expressing their natural urges, I reserve the right to criticize aspects of the sex industry for catering to patriarchy and dominance more than they cater to healthy and natural sexual desire.

As such, Real Dolls make me uneasy. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't believe for an instant the makers of these dolls sat down at their drawing table and said, “Let's design a product that will be the ultimate in portraying women as objects and promoting unrealistic beauty standards,” but that's just what Real Dolls do; the product is merely a response to an already sickened state of society.

I say this because of what I've learned about the sorts of men who buy them. The price of these things (upwards of $6,000 apiece) means that, generally speaking, they're not a sex toy, they're a lifestyle decision. In addition to the detailed testimonials you can read on the Real Doll website, there have been books, documentaries, and even a feature film (Lars and the Real Woman) made about the kinds of guys who buy Real Dolls, not just as a way to get their rocks off, but as a genuine substitute for a real woman. In fact, they often say something along the lines of, “this is so much better than a real woman,” and that's when this author starts to get a serious case of the jibblies.

What does it say about the state of our society when there are men who consider an inanimate object to not only be a suitable replacement for a real women, but an improvement?

The me, the answer seems obvious: we have pushed so hard the notion that the ideal woman is an object of physical perfection and non-personhood, that now we are seeing the ultimate expression of that ideal in the form of “women” who are no longer even people.

She can't move. She can't argue. She can't disapprove. She can't have opinions of her own or express herself, because there's nothing to express. Her body will never change from the cold (literally and figuratively), unattainable ideal it is now. She cannot love or hate or converse or dream, she has no needs or desires, no talents or aspirations. She cannot challenge you or support you, nor can you do either of these for her. She is every bit as human as your sofa.

And to some men...she's perfect.

Am I the only one who thinks there might be something wrong with that?