Love Me, Love My Doll

[Shadow_Ferret]

What the hell? :eek:
:Jaw:

[ChaosTitan]

What the hell, indeed?

Is this a movie? TV show? Link?

[DamaNegra]

I think SF is referring to a documentary about men who have fallen in love with their sex dolls. Very, very interesting stuff

*runs off to search for link*

Here. (possibly disturbing) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NeVI2kWsjE

It's... uh... strange. For me, actually, watching it was kind of creepy. You have been warned.

[Shadow_Ferret]

It's on BBC. I don't know what it is. But these guys have these $10,000 dolls taht have replaced real womeni n their lives.

One guy is packing his up to send to a "cleaner" and he says, "when she comes back it'll be like our honeymoon all over again."

What? *shudders*

[ChaosTitan]

Whoa..... um....

[Shadow_Ferret]

Exactly!

It's just... creepy.

[ChaosTitan]

Reminds me of an episode of "Nip/Tuck."

[DamaNegra]

Actually I found this a while ago, when I was discussing with my bf that people actually fell in love with their sex dolls. He couldn't understand how could people fall in love with what is basically a very fancy dildo, but there it is. People actually do fall in love with those things.

As a writer, I find this subject fascinating. I wish I could see the entire documentary.

[Robert Toy]

Creepy doesn't even begin to express the feelings I got. Yuck

[BenPanced]

Actually I found this a while ago, when I was discussing with my bf that people actually fell in love with their sex dolls. He couldn't understand how could people fall in love with what is basically a very fancy dildo, but there it is. People actually do fall in love with those things.

As a writer, I find this subject fascinating. I wish I could see the entire documentary.
I've seen it twice and as creepy as the subject is, I didn't even see any "train wreck" morbidity in it. Just something...emotionally stunted about these guys that I found fascinating.

But, hey, I'd rather watch this than You're So Fat, It's Disgusting You Are What You Eat with screechy/shrieky/screamy "Dr." Gillian The Shrew...

[Yeshanu]

Actually, after thinking it over, it's probably better that these guys are fixated on inflatable toys. That way, the won't end up reproducing. (We hope.)

I don't find it creepy so much as sad. These guys are permanent infants.

[BenPanced]

RealDolls aren't inflatable dolls. They're solid latex built over a poseable aluminum frame and are customized according to the customer's instructions (eye color, hair color/length/texture, cup size, etc.). (I looked them up after the first time I'd seen the documentary.) (No, I'm not posting the link here.)

[StoryG27]

I think SF is referring to a documentary about men who have fallen in love with their sex dolls. Very, very interesting stuff

*runs off to search for link*

Here. (possibly disturbing) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NeVI2kWsjE

It's... uh... strange. For me, actually, watching it was kind of creepy. You have been warned.

It's on BBC. I don't know what it is. But these guys have these $10,000 dolls taht have replaced real womeni n their lives.

One guy is packing his up to send to a "cleaner" and he says, "when she comes back it'll be like our honeymoon all over again."

What? *shudders*
:Jaw:

[ChaosTitan]

(No, I'm not posting the link here.)

And we thank you. ;)

[Shadow_Ferret]

Actually, after thinking it over, it's probably better that these guys are fixated on inflatable toys. That way, the won't end up reproducing. (We hope.)

Yeah, $10,000 dolls. Very real. The guy I spoke of who was packing his away to the "Cleaner," when we first turned it on, I had no idea it was about dolls. The guy was lovingly picking it up like you'd carry a human, in his arms, and I thought it was his wife or SO and she was partially paralyzed from a stroke or something. It wasn't until I got a good look at her face and eyes, that I realized it was a doll.

[JoNightshade]

This takes "objectifying women" to a whole new level.

It's also very Norman Batesish. ;)

[plaidearthworm]

I watched the BBC documentary, or at least the first 15 minutes of it, a while back. One guy was painting his doll's toenails and applying her makeup. All I could think of was two movies, Mannequin and Lars and the Real Girl. At least, until one of the guys starts pulling out all his guns. He has his fake woman on his compound, and plenty of firepower. That's when my hubby said "WTH are you watching?"

[maestrowork]

I saw an episode on Real Sex on HBO. These dolls are incredible life-like (with all the right "parts"). They're not your garden variety inflatable dolls.

Also, Lars and the Real Girl is a really good movie -- it was a bit disturbing at first, but it turns out to be a sweet movie.

[Yeshanu]

(with all the right "parts")


All the right parts? Aren't they kind of missing the most important parts--namely brain and heart?

While I think it's kind of dumb, I can understand a guy who wants one as a toy. But going beyond that and to treat it as a living being is to descend into the realm of mental illness, no matter how life-like the dolls are.

[Shadow_Ferret]

All the right parts? Aren't they kind of missing the most important parts--namely brain and heart?

Bah! The brain? That's the part that causes nothing but trouble. ;)

[Torin]

There's also male versions of these dolls, and in my wandering around the internet I found some female dolls made of plush material and available in vampire and "furry" form. You wonder who it was that had the brilliant idea of making these things in the first place and who is probably rolling in more money than Bill Gates at this point.

[BenPanced]

All the right parts? Aren't they kind of missing the most important parts--namely brain and heart?

While I think it's kind of dumb, I can understand a guy who wants one as a toy. But going beyond that and to treat it as a living being is to descend into the realm of mental illness, no matter how life-like the dolls are.
One of the guys interviewed said he doesn't get the companionship he gets from human women. He just uses the dolls for sex.

But then all that kinda goes out the window when you find out he has eight dolls.

[Shadow_Ferret]

One of the guys interviewed said he doesn't get the companionship he gets from human women. He just uses the dolls for sex.
The "cleaner" who has a "normal" relationship (although the girl friend still had issues with his job), was saying that every once in a while, he gets a doll who is -- my words, so hot and sultry -- that he just has to have sex with it. He was even saying that they "push" back. In his mind they were very real.

[Nakhlasmoke]

... when you find out he has eight dolls.

expensive hobby, that.

[maestrowork]

expensive hobby, that.

Still cheaper than having eight girlfriends at the same time...


I think for some men, it fulfills a certain sexual fantasy. They're not really looking for a soulmate, but some really hot chick to have sex with. In real life, the possibility is probably nil, plus they'll have to talk to the woman. With the doll, they can have the ultimate fantasy about a woman come true, and act out all kinds of scenarios that they can't do in real life, such as rape.

It's not just for straight men. Like someone said, they also make male dolls (for the straight women and gay men, I suppose).

[Bravo]

just wait till robot sex dolls, ray.

[Shadow_Ferret]

just wait till robot sex dolls, ray.
With AI? So it can really interact with you? Sort of a 21st Century Stepford Wife.

[maestrowork]

just wait till robot sex dolls, ray.

With AI? So it can really interact with you? Sort of a 21st Century Stepford Wife.

You're right about that. Stepford wives are coming to an adult shop near you.

[Kitty Pryde]

For me, the most interesting thing about the BBC documentary was that, though real dolls are a gross-out subject for practically everybody ever, the filmmakers came to the subject with no prejudice toward their subjects. I would even say they were fairly compassionate toward them. Yes, the real doll owners they profiled were very unusual and could easily be called 'outcasts' and 'losers' and 'weirdos', but the documentary really examines their lives and their psyches and characters to understand why they have this weird lifestyle/hobby/fetish/call it what you will. I originally sat down to watch it thinking, 'this is going to be really gross,' but actually it wasn't (even though i still do think that real doll ownership is pretty gross). I would strongly recommend watching it to almost anyone (over 18!). Guaranteed to open your eyes to people who are different from you.

[Shadow_Ferret]

It was nicely done. Any prejudice was brought by me, not introduced by the filmmakers. And we had trouble watching it because my 8-year-old kept coming in the room.

[maestrowork]

I just saw a movie, Elegy, in which Ben Kingsley (playing a famous author/literary critic) said about art and literature -- they are not the same once people look at or read it. Because people will bring themselves into the work, their own world views, their own interpretations. And 10 years later, the work will be different again because the reader/viewer has changed.

I think that's a really interesting perspective. What the filmmakers do (and that goes with fiction as well, not just documentaries) is very admirable -- they present the story in a non-judgmental way, but it's up the audiences to make their own judgment, and they will. I really like that kind of storytelling.

[brokenfingers]

I find this interesting from a speculative writer's perspective because, over the years, I've heard many people express incredulity at the idea of humans falling in love with robots.

Obviously, it's not so impossible to believe now.