Way back in the day (2011) I happened to speak to Bronwen of the Sinthetics company in a piece I called “What Little Girls Are Made Of”.  We pondered the use of an intimacy engendered with real life female dolls, quite expensive ones actually, that the buyer could customize a bunch of ways. It was obvious to me, that if one had the money and inclination, a customized companion at one’s beck and call could be, to some, more appealing than trying to deal with all the drama when befriending, falling in love, and trying to find intimacy with a flesh-and-blood person.
Fast forward and we see (and I have reported on) the opening of brothels in Europe and Asia that ply the sex doll trade. There are no real ladies in these establishments (at least not ‘working’ for the clients who come in) and these places seem to do a brisk business. Certainly reports have surfaced where the Johns at these brothels have requested scenarios with the dolls that, even for this type of business, border on the ‘bizarre.’ Still, there are more of these kinds of pleasure houses opening up all the time.
One such place, Playmate Dolls, recently opened on our continent, in Canada (it is actually Canada’s 1st doll brothel). Now comes word another is opening in a strip mall in our northern neighbor, Aura Dolls. While certainly not the first, Aura, planning to be open 24-hours, advertises itself as ‘North America’s first known ‘brothel.’
This begs the question, at least to my mind, when might we see such a place in North America…or will we ever see one?
Business goes, almost always, where there is a demand. Surely, in this country and plenty of others there have come seemingly wonderful ideas that die in a month’s time and God knows in the modern world, with so much of our consumer needs fulfilled without having to leave the house. But if there comes a need for sex dolls here, in a full-time brothel, where brothels are legal (the very few places they are in the U.S.) we might just see them?
Then again, is paying for the ‘services’ of a sex doll an illegal act in the parts of this country where prostitution is illegal? It has been accepted pretty much since the inception of the oldest profession that men (mostly) are paying women (mostly) for intercourse or some other sexual act where the man (mostly) climaxes. If the man in this case climaxes on, inside or because of his close proximity to an inanimate object—and yes, pays for the right to do so—is this prostitution in the ways our laws now define it?
I’ll go you one further…
If one argues that it is paying for the privilege of spilling of ejaculate that stains (if you will allow me) the proceedings as an illegal act, then one could argue when a man goes to “give sperm’ at a clinic, something he is indeed paying for in the full brush of his purpose for being their (to fertilize an egg) since he let’s lose his juice, via masturbation, is this not an illegal act? “No Ralph,” I hear you say, “it is intent that matters here, the guy jerking-off into a cup in a clinic is doing so for a higher purpose, not for pleasure.” But couldn’t it be argued that the pursuit of pleasure in one person’s world is as important as impregnation in another’s?
And, even if I give you the male-paying-to-ejaculate-makes-it-illegal argument, since women don’t technically give forth ejaculate (in most cases) can it be said then that if a lady engages a male sex doll (and yes there are male sex dolls), in a brothel for that purpose, would this strictly not be illegal in North America as she is not giving forth sperm when she reaches climax?
My thoughts on legalizing prostitution in this country are pretty clear…do so, I say; tax it, make sure the women are consistently medically checked, keep things aboveboard and safe. But if sex doll brothels do come ‘down’ to us here, you can bet the above concerns will be foremost on the minds of folks who think having sex with dolls is perfectly fine and legal and those who do not.
