Oops. The 'creepy' remark was in response to the Real Dolls link, not to Hermiod. Sorry - posting at the same time.
I thought so.
My problem's with the kind of cognitive/empathy disconnect that seems to me to be necessary to treat something that looks so human as a tool. A dildo, a vibrator, your standard sex toys hell, even old fashioned blow up dolls are just about getting your rocks off. No harm.
But that's the thing, there are literally thousands of designs of sex toy that look just like a human penis.
One could argue that buy buying one of those you are both reducing men's usefulness down to a single body part and, given how big they usually are as well, you're sending all sorts of messages.
But the appeal of these things is about making them look more and more like real people. Making them seem as much like real people as possible. So presumably the idea is to increase the pleasure by increasing your ability to suspend disbelief. Makes it feel like you're with a real person, but one about whose mutual pleasure you don't have to worry, and whose consent can't be given or witheld.
That's not just about fulfilling a basic biological need. You can do that with your hand. It's the added psychological level of making a thing that looks so human, but that you get to use as an object.
If you can do it with your hand, why does prostitution exist ?
I mean, at the risk of a browbeating for using extreme examples, what if sexdolls were being marketted that looked just like real children. They'd just be tools too, right? No actual kids being harmed, the dolls have no feelings or rights. But it's still absolutely skeevy when you think about the desires in which the people who use them are indulging.
I suggest the difference is that despite a lot of people trying to make it otherwise, it's still socially acceptable to want to have sex with a woman.
When it comes down to it, people directly affected have always objected when an easier and more convenient competition comes along. Men want sex and time was they'd have to jump through whatever hoops the local mating rituals dictate to get it. Then prostitution came along and what happened ? Prostitutes start getting called names, they're dirty, they're "whores".
After that pornography came along and people said it had to be wrapped in covers and put on the top shelf where nobody could see it because heaven forbid that a man should see a woman naked without having to work for it.
This would just be the next stage of that, easier and more convenient for men and competition for women.
Just a tad disturbing...
