Can you imagine how many silicone dolls are sold in a year?
According to the 2020 Jingdong Adult Products consumption Report, in 2020, the sales of silicone dolls in China were about 600,000, with an average of 50,000 sold per month, and about 2 million in the world.
In addition, as families spend more time at home due to the pandemic, sales of physical dolls have multiplied.
Despite the hot market, silicone dolls are rare in daily life. Sellers are unanimous in pledging secrecy, and buyers are secretive about it. Silicone dolls seem to exist in a virtual online world.
More than 90% of the consumers who buy dolls are men, and men between the ages of 22 and 55 are the most important buyers.In the early days, dolls were seen more as sex objects.
The friends of the doll are divided into two categories, one mainly relies on the doll to solve the psychological needs, only the doll as a human doll, like to dress up the doll, or role play, taking pictures of the doll is their favorite.Some of these people are looking for spiritual sustenance, and some are childless couples who buy a doll to raise their daughter; Some are elderly widowers who rely on dolls to remember their dead wives.
Another kind, the main focus on solve the physiological needs. More users are both needs.Yang Dongyue, the founder of Tiace, said that in addition to single people, 30 to 40 percent of those who solve their physical needs have girlfriends and families.
There is also a group of people who rely on silicone dolls to solve their physiological needs, which are disabled people and elderly people living alone who are difficult to meet their needs in normal social life.
Oriental Industries, a well-known Japanese adult doll manufacturer, launched its first “advanced sex doll” “Smile” in 1977, with the purpose of facilitating the use of such people. At that time, there were only sex dolls in the Japanese market, and the main users were the disabled and the elderly living alone, but the sex dolls were large and difficult to fix, and there were many difficulties in using them. At that time, “smile” was worth a lot of money, and Oriental Industries also set up a discount system for people with physical and mental disabilities to reduce the burden for such people.
Although the public adds a “sex” filter when looking at the silicone doll, in fact, the silicone doll is not only this label, in addition to adult products, it is also a lot of sustenations.
Because the doll has no personality and no soul, compared with real people, it saves a lot of trouble in communication; On the other hand, the appearance of the doll is carefully developed by the manufacturer, each has a perfect body and face, and some manufacturers also provide customized services, can make special dolls according to the hobbies of customers, and only need to spend money to hold a “dream lover” who is obedient to you.
So although the silicone doll is as an adult product came out, but now, the silicone doll has more companionship significance.
Silicone doll manufacturers have calculated that among their buyers:
About 40% of people use physical dolls as purely sexual objects;
Another 40% are willing to treat physical dolls as “lovers”, exerting affection and desire on them to satisfy the two-way companionship of soul and body;
In addition, there are about 20% of people who buy it as a pure large hand.
Yang Dongyue also feels that what his buyers need more is a humanoid partner exclusive to themselves, and the psychological needs are greater than the physiological needs.
Wei Wei (not his real name), an educator, owns three physical silicone dolls that are his personal emotional zone, while his girlfriend owns a dozen dolls. Unlike Wei Qi’s emotional needs, his girlfriend likes to dress up the doll, including matching clothes, hair and make up.
After his wife of 20 years died of cancer, Li Xiang (not his real name) found himself in an awkward situation where he could not get over his sadness, did not want to find a new partner, and could not resolve his normal desires. By chance, he learned about the doll experience Hall, where he found the outlet of desire and emotion. Li Xiang felt that this way, while preserving his dignity in front of his children, without wearing moral shackles, and without being accountable to anyone, was just right for him in his late 50s. He often wears his wife’s clothes on the dolls: “It’s like being young again.”
Wu Tong (not his real name) is a young man in the financial industry, many love has not been successful, single, eager for heterosexual partners, but has not found her heart. The silicone doll made him feel relieved, he chatted with the doll, danced with the doll, and let the doll work with him.He recommended silicone dolls to the men around him, including divorced, long-term separated, friends with psoriasis and low self-esteem for many years, and classmates suffering from depression. “They are normal people who have emotional and sexual needs, but not all of them can get them in reality. Nothing can change this freedom without stealing, robbing or being responsible.”
Tao Bao is a northeast girl, voice actress, cosplayer, she named her doll “Sweet Cat”, and raised her as a daughter. For her, “Sweet cat is not a lifeless toy, but an emotional partner. Even just talking to it can relieve a lot of stress,” said Tao Bao, who is autistic. Having Sweet Cat with her and knowing it is always there, “makes me feel secure and not so lonely.”
In the view of Tong Li, an expert in sex education and a psychologist, silicone dolls are just a replacement and satisfaction of real life, more inclined to the possession and control of a person. The owner of the doll may be frustrated in real life, have difficulty in establishing a good real relationship, or have some psychological needs that cannot be met in real life, and need to satisfy this part of the fantasy in a virtual world.
Some people may not be able to express their desires with real partners, so they choose to get satisfaction from dolls. Although the doll can not replace the real person, but can achieve part of the emotional satisfaction, and even repair the pain, repair the loss, to meet part of the psychological desire.
Psychologist Aaron Ben-Zeev, Ph.D., has written that intimacy is much more than sex, and its most important feature is meaningful, lasting, and friendly parity that feels unique and irreplaceable. Sexual encounters are brief and superficial in nature, and it doesn’t matter who the partner is, and can even be imagined.
So, turning to a doll or robot partner doesn’t have a negative effect on sexual satisfaction, but intimacy is sustained and deepened by positive imagination rather than pure fantasy, such as imagining metal or plastic as unique, irreplaceable and important beings.
He says relationships between humans and dolls or robots could be meaningful. Dolls are indeed cherished by their friends because they bring purpose and happiness to their lives.