Sex toys are nothing new but sex dolls have gone absolutely mainstream thanks to a growing number of “collectors” who have stepped out of the shadows to show off their dolls – er, ladies – to the world. Technology has also helped to make sex dolls more mainstream with technology that borders on the surreal in terms of creating realistic dolls.
Sex dolls have been a part of human history since the earliest times, with representations of synthetic sexual partners dating back to before recorded history. One of the oldest representations – and perhaps one of the most well-known – is the myth of Pygmalion, which is a part of Ovid’s Metaphorphoses, a collection of several different myths the poet recorded in the 8th Century.
The story of Pygmalion is simple and has been recreated several time throughout history. In the original, Pygmalion carves a statue so beautiful he falls in love with the statue. During a festival celebrating the goddess Aphrodite, Pygmalion makes a wish for a bride “the living likeness of my ivory girl”. When he returns home, he kisses his statue and, lo and behold, she comes to life.
This may be the earliest reference to a sex doll, but it’s hardly a rare sighting. Every culture in the world has a history of sexual surrogate dolls with a long history. French and Spanish sailors commonly used cloths to create dolls they then referred to as dame de voyage (the French) or dama de viaje (the Spanish) both of which translate as “travel lady”. Dutch sailors also used these sex dollans and actually traded them so frequenty with the Japanese that today modern-day Japanese men still refer to sex dolls as “Dutch wives”.
The modern sex doll, however, comes from Germany where a small plastic doll named Bild Lilli was marketed and sold in the 1950s. This doll was pin-up inspired and eventually went on to inspire the first American Barbie Dolls. But at only 11.5 inches tall and fashioned from hard plastic, Lilli wasn’t the true sexual companion so many men were looking for.
Fast forward to the swinging 1960s and you soon find blow up dolls being advertised in the back of magazines and adult stores. These blow up sex dolls still weren’t exactly what people wanted but they sold like crazy for years – partly bought as gag gifts but also bought for their intended purpose.
The world of sex dolls took a giant leap forward in the 1990s when an artist named Matt McMullen started documenting his effort to create a human-size and lifelike mannequin by using silicone. As he posted updates on his website, he began getting emails asking if the mannequin was going to be anatomically correct. As these emails grew in volume, McMullen realized he had stumbled on an idea with more than just artistic merit and the now infamous RealDoll was born. The first RealDoll took the world by storm simply because they genuinely look absolutely real. The dolls have become so popular that other companies now offer similar options and entire community of businesses have cropped up offering help with both cleaning and repairs of the dolls.
Today, RealDolls are sold all over the world and the company has become the leader when it comes to the creation of authentic dolls. Men from all over the world are willing to pay the $7,000 price tag for each doll plus shipping which, for those living in other countries, can sometimes double the price of the doll.
The future of sex dolls looks bright – and a bit complicated. As technology improves, more and more men are turning to these sexual surrogates not only for the physical release they crave, but also the companionship they want. Could dolls and robots become the next idea for the “perfect” girlfriend? If the past is anything to go by, it certainly looks that way.
