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Frequently Asked Questions: What do feminists think about lifelike “sex dolls”?

A.
What do feminists think about lifelike “sex dolls”?

This feminist doesn’t think much about them at all.

I would feel sorry for a man who was serious about a sex doll, as it would suggest he was unsuccessful with actual women, both emotionally and physically, or is simply shallow and afraid, but this opinion has nothing to do with feminism, it is just my personal opinion.

I agree with Daniel Schwarz Carigiet that objectifying women in this way is cringeworthy. It’s not something I would be afraid of or up in arms about as a feminist— there are certainly more important issues.

So I guess I’ll just toodle along not thinking about sex dolls at all, and when I do, shake my head in pity.

A.
What do feminists think about lifelike “sex dolls”?

I think that they are weird. And I just tripped over an article about Japanese “love robots”. Eeeewww. That would be like having sex with a Nespresso machine, no? Not a great turn-on for me. Sorry not sorry.

I’m a feminist and I think that sex dolls appear to fulfil a need for some people. Okay. Not my thing, but there you go.

The one thing I strongly dislike or am uneasy with, from a conceptual point of view, is that they seem – in my mind at least – to reinforce an objectifying perspective of women, i.e. women are simply a pair of tits and whatnots to screw at your convenience. This I am seriously uncomfortable with. And I find it cringeworthy.

Women are people. And I am against objectifying women as it strips them of their humanity and is – honestly – disgusting. “Oh but men are objectified too” I hear you say. Well, yeah. Far less often, but admittedly it happens. But if you compare the two, we are talking about two different phenomena.