The Shrine

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2005/1 ... ex_np.html

No, seriously. I had to get myself alcohol about midway through page 2.

NSFW in terms of content, though there's no pics or anything.

I don't drink alcohol all that much nowadays but I wish I had it right now.

I thought to myself, "It can't be that bad" and, seriously, as soon as I hit the middle of page 2 I got the urge for alcohol as well.

I gotta read this.

What's so bad about that? I've heard of these for awhile now. The guys who have them aren't hurting anyone, so why all the "creepy creepy" disapproval?

Mental wrote:What's so bad about that? I've heard of these for awhile now. The guys who have them aren't hurting anyone, so why all the "creepy creepy" disapproval?

I don't know. It kind of creeps me out, but it's more that I feel bad for some of these guys.

One of the guys was quoted at the end as saying that all men would want one if they could afford it, that then it'd be a normal part of society, and I think he's just kidding himself into thinking that.

To me, a major part of being human is to interact with other people in physical and social ways. Some of the guys with these dolls just like to use them for sexual acts, I am sure. But the ones who use them as a retreat from the world make me feel really bad for them.

Well, it's their choice. And, also, my feeling is, it's hard to know what's best for someone else's life. There may be a lot of these guys who might benefit from socializing more often, and overcoming fears of women if they have them, but there may be guys out there for whom this is actually better.

Honestly, if you're going to do the opprobium thing, there are a lot better targets than the RealDoll owners. 'Course, I don't think opprobium is usually a good way to go about too many things.

Who knows, maybe shit like this prevents women from getting raped? :p

Not out of the realm of possibility.

Might prevent them from getting hit on by guys at bars with few social skills, too.

Masterbation with a $6,500 doll is still masterbation. Except you're less $6,500.

This is creepy/depressing because these aren't sex toys. These are girlfriend replacements.

Oracle wrote:Who knows, maybe shit like this prevents women from getting raped? :p

Or maybe not.

the article wrote:Tucker says pedophiles or doll owners with violent tendencies toward women -- a group that he speculates is a small subset of doll owners -- possibly could use a doll to "rehearse" offending behavior. And while it's not known whether fantasizing about pedophilia or violence leads to action, in the psychiatric community those fantasies are considered very troubling. It would be dangerous for a pedophile to use a young-looking doll, for example, because it would reinforce his fantasies with orgasm.

That's a grand debate with other forms of societally unacceptable pornography as well, and one I wish people would get over their hang-ups about researching - i.e., does masturbating with a non-living representation of something (image or doll) reinforce, or weaken, the desire to act out those fantasies with something living? The Supreme Court heard a case with elements of this a few years ago as it related to hand-drawn images with sexualized children, though I don't know the details.

To me, I don't think that question has a good answer without research. I personally don't think "possibly could" is a very strong scientific statement, and I'd prefer to see more research on the subject before those kinds of claims get made...I think there are some of them tend toward scaremongering, at present.

As far as the girlfriend replacement goes, who cares?

To me, people are different, and notions that we "should" be with someone are not usually worthwhile. If these guys want to buy the newer, better sex dolls, I have no problems with that at all.

The Piers Anthony "Apprentice Adept" series actually goes further with this, and describes a society where robots can actually be made that are indistinguishable from actual humans in terms of appearance and intelligence. The use of these robots as sex partners is a theme that gets touched on briefly. I think it's good reading if people want to actually think on the subject for a bit. Those who just want a new moral panic might want to skip it.

So it's essentially a " 100-pound solid silicone" blow up doll? It's nothing new; those things have been around for decades; they can be bought at gag stores in any local mall. Remember the Bachelor Party scene in American Wedding? Anyways, I only read the first few paragraphs on the cover so I am likely missing something; but if page 2 is so creepy, I don't want to read it before going to bed. =)

Mental wrote:As far as the girlfriend replacement goes, who cares?

To me, people are different, and notions that we "should" be with someone are not usually worthwhile. If these guys want to buy the newer, better sex dolls, I have no problems with that at all.

I think you misunderstand me. I don't find any moral problems with it. I just find the idea of giving up completely on human companionship - which some of these guys have said they've done - immensley depressing. The author didn't address the issue, but I get the impression that these guys don't have close personal friends, either. The comments from "the husbands" betrays a severe lack of social skills which has removed them from a good amount of society. I find that sad.

Kupek wrote:I just find the idea of giving up completely on human companionship - which some of these guys have said they've done - immensley depressing. The author didn't address the issue, but I get the impression that these guys don't have close personal friends, either. The comments from "the husbands" betrays a severe lack of social skills which has removed them from a good amount of society. I find that sad.

I agree. Like I said above, it's possible that some of these guys are just using the doll purely for fun and aren't using it to withdraw from human interaction. A lot of these guys are and it depresses me because it's obvious these guys are missing something major from their lives and they think they can fill the void with a real doll. I don't think they can, not forever at least.

I'd be damned surprised if many of them aren't like what you guys are describing, though, again, I wouldn't want to generalize it to everyone.

But I usually haven't found that finding them sad, or pitying them in any way, helps myself or them or improves my or their lives in the least. Generally it's been rather the opposite. So I will not be doing it, though of course your mileage may vary.

Mental wrote:The Piers Anthony "Apprentice Adept" series actually goes further with this, and describes a society where robots can actually be made that are indistinguishable from actual humans in terms of appearance and intelligence. The use of these robots as sex partners is a theme that gets touched on briefly. I think it's good reading if people want to actually think on the subject for a bit. Those who just want a new moral panic might want to skip it. :)

Well, that's a little different. At that point, robots have some level of sentience, and well, it actually moves and does shit. A RealDoll is basically banging a corpse, and I'm not really down with the whole necrophilia thing.

I prefer sadomasopedobestianecrophilia, myself.

Mental wrote:I prefer sadomasopedobestianecrophilia, myself.

Fucking kittens roughly and killing them in the process while continuing to fuck them after the state of death?

Why not?

Only the absolute cutest of kittens, though. I have standards, after all!

Eric, man, I know it's been a while, but you'll find another woman, bud!

I assume you mean me, right?

Mental wrote:I assume you mean me, right?

Didn't realize you were a brotha LMAO