I can’t believe it was only a few months ago when I first heard about the 33 sex doll ban! It came as such a surprise to me, especially after I’d just started seeing what the technology advances in this area were all about. I’d already heard about how the lifelike adult dolls had grown in popularity in recent years and how realistic they were, so I couldn’t believe it when I heard the news.
I knew right away that this was going to be a controversial topic. On the one hand, I could understand why it was a positive thing, in terms of the potential ethical issues the dolls might cause. On the other hand, I also sympathized with those who argued that the ban was unnecessarily restricting the agency of those (like single people or those in non-traditional relationships) who wanted to use the dolls as a form of companionship or even sexual pleasure. It made me sad to think that all the advancements we’d made in technology and robotics had now been taken away from the people who’d just begun to explore how the dolls could be used.
I tried to stay open-minded about the issue, and I read everything I could find in order to understand both sides of the argument. It struck me right away that it wasn’t just a debate about technology, but a much bigger discussion about our attitudes towards sex and its role in society. Supporters of the ban argued that the dolls had the potential to increase the objectification of women, whilst detractors argued that the technology itself had been used safely and had never caused anything negative or unsavoury.
It quickly became clear to me that the debate wasn’t just about the morality of using sex dolls. People’s opinions were split due to different views on intimacy and relationships. To the opponents of the ban, the life-like dolls were seen as a valid way to explore our sexuality in a way that felt safer and more natural than using traditional pornography. For others, however, the dolls were seen as a symbol of what’s wrong with modern relationships and an affront to the sanctity of the human body and spirit.
No matter which camp people fell into, it was clear that the sex doll ban was going to have a lasting impact on all of us, whatever our views on its morality. As a society, we’d pushed the boundaries of technology, offering us an amazing opportunity to explore previously unseen avenues of intimacy and pleasure, only to have it taken away from us due to fear and prejudice. I just hoped that, in the future, we’d be able to look at the issue again from a more informed and accepting point of view.
It made me sad to think that all these advancements in technology and robotics had now been taken away from the people who’d just begun to explore how the dolls could be used. I fully understood the protectionist stance some people had taken in regards to the dolls, but at the same time I saw it as a bond breaker to the progress our species had made in its knowledge of bodily pleasure and intimacy. It felt like a missed opportunity to study and appreciate the nature of modern human relationships, and how exploring alternatives could potentially have enhanced our understanding of what it means to be in a relationship.
As the months passed, I kept hearing snippets of news about the debate. I saw people on social media empty furniture stores of all their lifelike dolls and Penis Rings haul them back to stores, citing morality as their reason for doing so. I even heard stories of people on both sides of the debate engaging in heated verbal and online battles trying to defend their positions.
It was heartbreaking to see so much passion and emotion caused by the 33 sex doll ban. People’s reactions ran the full gamut of emotion, from outrage to profound sadness, and the debate stirred up some interesting conversations and philosophical musings too. It made me think more deeply about the power of technology to bring pleasure and intimacy, how it can unite us and how it can break us apart. What had started out as an exciting and pleasant pursuit of human connection had swiftly descended into a mess of angry debates and hurtful criticisms.