Time and time again, pedophilia has been recognized as either a mental disorder or simply as an involuntary attraction to children. Regardless, society tends to be very uncomfortable with the topic.
Stores that sell items for sexual pleasure are common and plentiful in any city. They’re not always the most visible stores, but they’re always there. And why are they typically hidden? Because society tends to be uncomfortable with sex.
That’s why the creation of a specific style of sex dolls created so much controversy. Shin Takagi created a series of sex dolls that look like prepubescent children. He has admitted he is a pedophile, but also calls himself an artist. His argument being that these sex dolls are a way for pedophiles to be able to satisfy themselves without harming any real children. Instead of living a sexually frustrated life, he argues that pedophiles should have an outlet. He doesn’t want to harm children; but he does have the pedophilic internal urges that he doesn’t want to bottle up inside. Thus, he created these dolls.
Many people argue this is just like child pornography, but, in reality, child pornography harms the children being shown on the pictures and videos, while these dolls don’t need the use of children at all. There is no harm.
Others argue that is just allows for the pedophiles to practice and reinforces in their minds that these actions are okay. This is a more valid critique; however, the truth still is that the thoughts and urges exist whether these people act on them or not. Again, it’s been shown that it isn’t something these people can control. With the use of these dolls, they can just take care of their urges without doing harm.
These dolls are a work of art. They should be able to be sold to all registered pedophiles. It ensures more knowledge about who is buying and owning them; everyone who buys one should be registered and should be following the applicable laws on where they can live or work. They should be able to pay the artist for his work of art that will be therapeutic for them.
Will this still make society uncomfortable? Very. But it shouldn’t be seen as illegal. The acts and pornography should definitely be illegal, but these dolls are therapeutic art. As uncomfortable as it makes us, we can’t always ignore these subcultures that exist around us.
Further reading: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/01/can-child-dolls-keep-pedophiles-from-offending/423324/
