Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson is sponsoring a private member's bill to ban childlike sex dolls in the UK, closing a legislative gap that currently allows ownership despite import bans. The Home Office has branded these dolls 'vile', and they are already illegal in countries like Australia, Germany and South Korea.
What are childlike sex dolls?
Childlike sex dolls are anatomically correct, life-size dolls made to look like pubescent and prepubescent children, with vaginas, anuses and mouths designed to fit an adult penis. Importing them, currently manufactured in places like China and Japan, is already prohibited under UK customs legislation for importing obscene material, but there are no explicit laws around ownership, leaving a loophole for blackmarket UK sales.
MP's motivation and proposed law
Munira, the Lib Dem Education, Children and Families spokeswoman, said that as a mother to two small children she was 'disgusted and horrified' that these dolls exist and are legal in Britain. 'It's all about protecting children, that's why I'm doing it,' she said. 'It's a horrendous issue to work on, to talk about, to investigate, and people have said to me… do you really want to be named for this issue? One of the reasons I'm in Parliament is to protect and make life better for children, and this is clearly a dangerous gap that we've got in our legislation.'
The draft law would allow police to seize these dolls, and anyone found guilty of possessing one could face prison time as well as monitoring. The proposed ban is motivated by a long-held concern that the use of these for sexual pleasure could contribute to an escalation in damaging behaviour to children in reality.
Expert and research perspectives
Sexologist and CORST psychotherapist Becky Crepsley-Fox told Metro this is certainly an important issue. 'With any kind of harmful sexual behaviour, one of the biggest concerns is escalation,' she explains. 'The worry is that a fantasy involving children could, over time, edge closer to acting on it. We can't choose who we're attracted to – but we can choose what we do with those attractions. Not feeding a fantasy, rather than rehearsing and reinforcing it, is one way to stop it gathering momentum and taking up more mental space.'
Research by Rick Brown and Jane Shelling for the Australian Institute of Criminology concluded: 'Despite a lack of robust evidence in relation to child sex dolls, there is reason to suggest they may lead to societal harms through a number of different mechanisms. They may bridge the gap between fantasy and reality by allowing potential offenders to move from the virtual to the physical world.'
The issue made headlines in 2017 when David Turner, a former school governor and church warden, was imprisoned for 16 months for importing a 3ft childlike sex doll from China. Officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) searched his home in Ramsgate, Kent, discovering two more of these dolls. Analysis of his computers revealed he had also downloaded more than 34,000 indecent images of children.
Prevalence and support for ban
Becky says that while it's hard to know exactly how prevalent paedophilia is in the UK, around 4% of men in a comprehensive study of 9,000 reported some sexual fantasy involving children. However, only 0.1% described it as their sexual preference. 'A fleeting fantasy is more common than a fixed attraction, and neither is the same as acting on it,' she explains. 'The scale of actual offending, though, is stark. In the past year, police in England and Wales recorded more than 38,000 child sexual abuse image offences – over 100 every single day, and only the cases that come to light.'
Becky explains that there are two camps within sexual therapy when it comes to this proclivity. Some believe everything that 'feeds a sexual interest in children should be shut down', while others think using these dolls in a certain environment could stop people acting on the urge. 'I personally don't like the idea of it,' she says. 'The notion that you can safely feed a sexual interest in children sits very uneasily with me, so I think these dolls should be banned. Not because a ban is a magic fix, but because as it stands, someone can own one with no consequence.'
Becky supports the ban in tandem with other methods in order to keep children safe and protected. 'What actually prevents harm is people getting help before they ever act – and that's far more likely when reaching out doesn't mean instant condemnation,' she adds.
Anyone frightened by their own thoughts can contact the Stop It Now helpline (0808 1000 900), run by the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, or StopSO (stopso.org.uk), a UK-wide charity whose trained therapists work with people at risk of offending before thought becomes action. Both are confidential and exist for exactly this purpose.
The Bill is due to have its second reading in the House of Commons, but needs government support to become law.
