Importing these products is illegal. Possession is also a Commonwealth offence carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment.
Available figures indicate the scale is significant, but difficult to track consistently. The Department of Home Affairs recorded 103 detections in 2020–21, 88 in 2021–22 and 29 in 2022–23.
An Australian Institute of Criminology review called for more research in the area, but identified plausible risks involved with owning them, including desensitisation, sexual objectification of children, escalation and use in grooming.
The appropriate response is therefore neither to dismiss these objects as harmless fantasy nor to treat possession as automatic proof of future offending. It’s to recognise them as potential risk indicators that may justify investigation.
Honestly, if someone could show me proof that this stopped predators from acting on their deranged fantasies with actual children, I’d be all for making these legal.
However, and I know nothing about the psychology of this, but it’d likely have the opposite effect.
I think the default position should be that we need proof that it causes harm before making it illegal.
I don’t think it’s right to make criminals out of people who aren’t hurting others.
i believe it’s quite an accepted pattern of human nature that what we dream/ fantasize/ aspire to do, we would want to do and carry it out in the real-world. hence these child-sex-dolls are dangerous for kids in the society.
Not every person who possesses or imports a child-like sex doll will go on to become sexually abusive. Current research does not establish a simple causal pathway.
In fact, some scholars found doll owners showed lower arousal to abuse scenarios and lower sexual aggression proclivity than those who didn’t own a doll.
Other studies similarly found doll use was linked to reduced deviant and compulsive sexual behaviour.
I’m finding the above misleading, because the ‘studies’ linked seems to be about ‘adult’ sxx toys, not child like sxx toys.
I believe it’s quite obvious that there is No positive outcome of those wanting/ owning/ using child like sxx toys. For the sake of the community, they belong behind bars!
Mixed feelings with this one.
Offenders belong behind bars—so far, so clear. But what do we do with people who haven’t committed any crimes so far? Do we temporarily lock them up for life because of their sexual orientation? That seems to me to be a very dangerous path, both because it drives these people into hiding and because we know where the persecution of sexual orientations has led—and, with fascism on the rise worldwide, where it will lead.
The most effective way to protect children and actually prevent crimes would be to give these people the opportunity to come out and work out ways to live with their orientation (which, like all other sexual orientations, they did not choose) without becoming offenders. However, I doubt that we as a society are ready for that… your comment on this platform itself reinforces my skepticism.
Some people who have sexual thoughts about children and are worried about it can get support if they don’t want to carry out sexually damaging behaviours towards children, e.g. https://bravehearts.org.au/get-help/for-those-concerned-about-their-thoughts/
There also are people who do not want to get support and want to continue activities which exploit children.
I don’t know if it is agreed by medical and psychological experts that paedophilia is an orientation or not. Some people who have these desires, etc, were abused themselves as children and so there is trauma-based acting out. Other people do not respond this way. The whole situation is complex but the safety of children must be the first consideration.
the safety of children must be the first consideration.
spot on!
the ‘studies’ linked seems to be about ‘adult’ sxx toys, not child like sxx toys.
Why do you suspect child like sex dolls don’t influence interest in sexual abuse fantasies?
there is No positive outcome of those wanting/ owning/ using child like sxx toys.
Except there is a positive outcome, and its the one that depends on whether child like sex dolls reduce interest in sexual abuse, or not.
It is not obvious your perspective is right, and I think you’ve got it backwards.
i believe it’s quite an accepted pattern of human nature that what we dream/ fantasize/ aspire to do, we would want to do and carry it out in the real-world. hence these child-sex-dolls are dangerous for kids in the society.
