The Silicone Self: Examining Sexual Selfhood and Stigma within the Love and Sex Doll Community

Abstract

While previous research has theorized the potential benefits and consequences of intimate relationships with robots and dolls, little empirical research has been conducted on today's love and sex doll owners. By drawing on digital ethnographic data and interviews with 41 love and sex doll community members, I explore how love and sex doll owners account for their transgressive sex practice. I argue these accounts reveal the underlying sexual selfhood project of doll owners, what I term the silicone self. I analyze silicone selves to show how doll community members manage stigma by emphasizing sexual individualism and drawing on pro‐sex, feminist, and anti‐feminist discourses. I further highlight tensions within the community that stem from conflicting views about gender and sexuality.

How Customers Evaluate Genitalia versus Torso Sex Toys on Amazon.com: A Content Analysis of Product Reviews

“…The anthropomorphization of sex toys should, however, be evaluated with caution. In line with sexual objectification theory, earlier studies have already raised concerns that sexist, objectifying, and at times abusive use of human-like sex toys can lead to objectification and abuse of real-life sex partners, especially women (e.g., [ 24 , 25 , 34 ]). We have not found any evidence of physically abusive use of human-like sex toys in our sample; however, a number of reviews (predominantly reviews of torso sex toys) considered sex toys more appealing than a real partner for having no feelings, emotions, or complaints (“ Don’t worry about upset feelings.…”

“…However, the feminist sex toy criticism is partly based on heteronormative assumptions, ignoring that different toys such as penis-shaped vibrators are also used by transgender people, during sex between women, and to penetrate heterosexual men [ 3 ]. Furthermore, the assumption that users of realistic female-bodied torso or full-body sex toys are driven by questionable (namely sexist, objectifying, and abusive) motives attaches stigma to the use of those toys [ 34 ].…”

The ‘PERFECT’ PARTNER: UNDERSTANDING THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF MEN WHO OWN SEX DOLLS

“…In conducting this phenomenological analysis of men's experiences of sex doll ownership we have been able to add to existing review-based work (Döring et al, 2020;Hanson & Locatelli, 2022;Harper & Lievesley, 2020), survey data (Harper et al, 2023), and coded interviews (Hanson, 2022a;2022b) to begin to formulate an initial profile of sex doll ownership. Among our sample, doll ownership appears to be a functional response to perceived deficits in both owners and their human partners.…”

“…This could, in some instances, suggest that dolls exacerbate existing issues though (for data suggesting a link between the use of impersonal sexual materials [e.g., pornography] and lower relationship satisfaction, see Minarcik et al, 2016;Wright et al, 2017). These issues were not explored in Hanson's (2022a) analysis, though, as the focus was on a limited description of the main data-related codes within the interview transcripts. As such, we are left with questions about the pathways that owners (and, where applicable, their partners) might take towards doll ownership, as well as how they construct and interpret their experiences when own-ing and interacting with dolls.…”

“…However, we do not know about the experiences that lead to these motivations, nor how people make sense of them. There is one study that reports a qualitative analysis of such topics, but this limits itself to a code-based analysis of the sexual (or desire-related) motivations for doll ownership (Hanson, 2022a). However, this desire-based account of ownership is just one part of the story of doll ownership, and ignores interpersonal, intimate, and emotional aspects of owners' experiences.…”