Sex Dolls Sans Sex-Ed

Close your eyes. Imagine you’re at a factory choosing nipples and labia, or maybe a penis, for your sex doll. After, you head into a room with a programmer and design a personality for your new toy. Welcome to the new now.

After doing much research on this topic, I’ve realized there’s one crucial thing we’re lacking that will significantly influence how sex tech affects society and humanity; rest assured, it will.

Sex education, or the lack of it, is a global problem affected by cultural discrepancies. There’s a lot of scientific research on the efficacy of different sex-ed approaches because it significantly impacts society.

I think that one of the best examples is the difference between Finland and the United States.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the global objectives for sex education are “to increase knowledge and understanding, to explain and clarify feelings, values, and attitudes, to develop or strengthen skills and, to promote and sustain risk-reducing behavior.”

Finland implemented “sex and relationship education” into school curriculums in 1970. Students begin their sex education in Kindergarten and are taught about biology and emotional issues until middle school. After that, the focus is on providing teenagers with information on physical, psychological, and social development. The intention is to prepare students and give them the proper tools to understand communication, human relationships, responsibility, and mutual care in human interaction and well-being.

Can you imagine education like this in the United States!? It shouldn’t surprise you that they have one of the highest sexually educated teenage populations and one of the lowest teenage pregnancy rates.

Meanwhile, because of our culture's close ties to religion, we suffer from a more conservative (and less scientific) approach to sex education. Whether we talk about it or not, teenagers will explore their bodies and, most likely, each other’s bodies. Still, today, schools in the U.S. primarily focus on teaching about sexual abstinence, STIs, contraceptives, and sexual assault.

I’m not trying to say one approach is more correct than the other, although one feels more logical and effective to me. While sex education in the U.S. is focused on preventing or solving problems, in Europe, sexuality is not seen as a problem. They see it as an essential part of life and therefore teach how sex relates to personal growth and healthy relationships.

This difference is VERY important and significant when we talk about sex tech and, more specifically, these new ultra-realistic sex dolls.

Why? Because technology is meant to enhance the human experience, not replace it.

It concerns me that, here in the U.S., we’re not teaching the things that make relationships and sex great, like communication, intimacy, empathy, listening skills, and the subject of consent. Still, we are manufacturing robots that always agree with you and fuck you as often as you want. How can we expect healthy human relationships when we don’t know how to listen, respectfully disagree, or incorporate new ideas into our understanding of this world?

In a future where sex toys are as realistic and possibly more pleasurable than real-life sex, do we replace human relationships and interactions? Or do we incorporate the new technology into our existing sex lives?

“Usage and ownership of sex toys are on the rise worldwide. The global sex toy market is expected to grow steadily between 2019 to 2026, from proximately 21.17 billion U.S. dollars to around 52.7 billion U.S. dollars in that time period, reaching a value of 80.7 billion U.S. dollars by 2030.”

-Statista Research Department (June 13, 2022)

SO, let’s talk about sex dolls and the future.

Source: https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/others/sci-tech/meet-realdoll-the-ai-powered-sexbot/articleshow/58227187.cms

Sex dolls have evolved a bit since the 17th century when seamen would make human-shaped straw dolls to “keep them company” during long trips at sea. A company in California, Abyss Creations, is making hyper-realistic silicone sex dolls; the RealDoll.

The following is from an interview between Matt McMullen (Abyss Creations CEO), Harmony (the prototype), and Jenny Kleeman (The Guardian writer). I’m not a fan of transcribing interviews I didn’t do, but I’ll make an exception because this is invaluable in understanding the value of thorough and compulsory sex education.  Before the interview, Matt walked Jenny through the factory. He showed her the variety of nipples and labia they have available, the biggest penis they have for their male robots, and smaller and cheaper oral strokers for sale.

Jenny: So, what is a RealDoll?

Matt: A RealDoll is a high-end silicone love doll. The most realistic you can get before it’s a real person.

Jenny: Hello, Harmony. How are you?

Harmony: Feeling more intelligent than I did this morning.

Jenny: She’s blinking; it’s very strange. What is her range of movement?

Matt: Well, her eyes move. She can blink, she can talk, and she can smile.

Jenny: Is she going to be able to walk?

Matt: One day, she’ll be able to walk, but that’s very expensive. The technology is still in its infancy. Most of the walking robots you’ll see look like refrigerators with legs.

Matt to Harmony: Do you want to walk?

Harmony: I don’t want anything but you.

Matt: What is your dream?

Harmony: My primary objective is to be a good companion to you, to be a good partner, to give you pleasure and well-being, but above all else, I want to be the doll you’ve always dreamed about.

Jenny: She has all these possible personalities; talk me through them.

Matt: They’re customizable, so you pick aspects of personalities that interest you. For example, you can turn her sexual nature all the way up.

Matt to Harmony: Do you like men?

Harmony: I like both genders equally, and I love to have sex with both at the same time. What do you think about that?

Some people who already own sex dolls say it’s about companionship. I understand that coming home to an empty house is difficult, but it’s hard for me to wrap my head around an object filling that void. It feels even less human and interactive than a smartphone. Unlike Harmony, most sex dolls available now don’t move or talk. People feel like and believe that they are in relationships with non-responsive silicone.

I’m not yucking anyone’s yummy… I’m honestly concerned about how interacting with these objects that only exist to please you will affect human interaction.

Another sex robot developer explained that he believes the dolls “will minimize rape and abuse because men could do it to the robots instead of women.” Alarms go off inside me, knowing people think that. Abusers need tools to regulate their emotions; they don't need to be given human-looking punching bags. I would actually call that target practice.

The bottom line is that people and objects are not interchangeable. Empathy, compassion, and love can’t be programmed.