Love Me, Love My Doll?

So, I was up way too late again last night and bumbled across a documentary on BBC America called "Love Me, Love My Doll" about men who have life size "Real Doll" companions.

Weighing in at a paltry 100lbs, these dolls exemplify the ideal that most men find attractive. That ever inviting Playboy Bunny Pamela Anderson type girl with large unrealistic breasts, super flat stomach, no stretch marks, and not one ounce of cellulite. The dolls even have human pubic hair. Mind you they are not cheap. Each dolls costs approximately $10,000. One man had NINE (9) dolls!

The men depicted in the documentary didn't feel that they could attract real live human women. Some had completely given up on human women altogether. These men felt they were not very attractive. One man blamed his bad skin, hair and teeth on his inability to garner the attention of women. The men were shy, awkward, a bit eccentric and a couple were down right crazy. These men not only have sex with their dolls, but they bond with them. They cater to them. The dolls have names. The men groom them, dress them, pose them, take pictures with them, shop for them. They love their doll(s) and even have websites devoted to showing them off.

After seeing the show, I began to think, "I wondered why it was OK for a man to completely give up on humanity and take refuge in a doll? Why not look for a woman on par with himself?" Why not look to himself and wonder what little baby steps he could take towards humanity...towards finding a real woman? So, you're a little shy and you don't look like Brad Pitt. So, what! Why is it that men that look like Shrek want a woman that looks like Pamela Andeson? What's wrong with women in their own league...someone more easily attainable? Maybe it's not even about what she looks like? Maybe it boils down to trust and vulnerability. You can let your guard down with an inanimate object. A doll won't let you down. They won't cheat on you. They won't lie to you. They won't give you crabs.


It wasn't until I read more about this phenomenon in the Salon.com "Just Like A Woman" article that I learned of the more sinister side of this issue. Those men who mutilate their dolls. Men who, quite literally, rip them limb from limb. Men who do horrid unspeakable damage to their body...dolls with broken jaws, gapping vaginas, dangling breasts. Some men have the audacity to take their doll in for repair over and over again. *sigh* Better a doll than a human being, I suppose.

The office manager at Real Dolls mentioned that she gets all kinds of requests from men seeking special dolls. Some men wanted pregnant dolls. *gasp* Then, I began to wonder, "What if these men were so enamoured of their dolls that they wanted to experience pregnancy with a doll? What if he wanted to have baby dolls?" Then, the gruesome thought of ped*philes buying child dolls. On the one hand, it might save a real child from being m*lested, but the thought of a ped* buying child dolls is still equally disturbing. Real Dolls does not offer child dolls. Fortunately, the creator of Real Dolls does not entertain such requests.

Reading further in the Salon.com article, I found that not all men regard their dolls in such a romantic fashion. Some men (and the rare woman) simply use the dolls as a stop gap measure in between relationships. For some the dolls are no more than a sex toy that can be put away at anytime. Try hiding that one in your nightstand drawer. LOL!

Why don't we all just give up on each other and buy dolls? HA! Not me. There's nothing like being able to lay your head on his chest and hear his heartbeat. Feel his hands on the small of you back. Nothing can replace real intimacy.