Wow, aren’t we humans weird: sex dolls and AI writing! One to pleasure ourselves, one to express ourselves, yet both offer a form of escape. Bravo on staying so studiously neutral on the dolls; that was effective.
This was fascinating! I especially appreciate the kindness and generosity of the artist. Relationships with humans are difficult, so I get the impulse to partner with a doll. I do have a question though. How do the dolls reflect real life biases? For example, all the dolls seemed white (or at least light skinned) and thin. Just curious if there’s any discussion around / awareness of that? Maybe it’s something your students noticed too?
Thanks again for introducing me to this interesting world.
I'll ask Benita about the white and thin dolls. I do know that Abyss Creations has a large pallette of silicone colors, and they do their dolls bespoke. I read somewhere that they did one in a devilish red, for a price, of course. If you're bold and not at work, you can see the options on their website. There are 42 different types of nipples, for example, but that's perhaps TMI.
The constrained market might partially account for the lack of representation. Annual output from Abyss is in the mid-100s. And they ain't cheap -- more than what I normally pay for a car. About $15 grand! So there's quite an investment, which significantly narrows the buying population to begin with.
Benita responded. She's charming online, by the way. "Dolls comes in all colours and sizes, i’ve seen them with belly fat, freckles, elf ears 🤷♀️ When buying a doll you choose between different bodies (I think they have 5 options in height and weight) and from there you choose everything, from eye shape and colour, skin colour, size of breasts, vagina etc… I’ve seen brown and asian dolls to, have a whole series of just different faces."
One detail that interested me was the general appearance of the dolls, too. The "RealDoll" is silicone and quite life-like. But there are other dolls that are called "teddy-babes." In the pictures they appear as if they're made of cloth with painted features (lips, eyes). They designed for hugging and sleeping with. The picture of Chris sitting with his two dolls shows one of these on his left.
One other thing. The whole Kardashian Made-In-Surgery body shape is said to be an attempt at the "ideal female" form, according to Abyss. One of my students this semester is investigating influences of technologies (especially social media) and concepts and standards of beauty. We've had 'em of course for a long, long time, pre-dating the Internet, but they have been shaped and refined by technologies. Media, naturally, but also ways of shaping and taming the unruly flesh.
Thanks, Bryn. It is heartbreaking. My Bond Girl Bride and I talked about this post a bit, and she asked if I would order up a doll if anything happened to her. Nope. I know I would be lonely, and she agreed she'd be lonely if anything happened to me. But we do have a large circle of acquaintances. A few friends. We're rather isolated in the place we live, but I wouldn't say we're lonely. Or as devastatingly lonely as perhaps these men have become. For me, I think a doll would amount to a great sign of isolation rather than a sufficient remedy of it.
Wow, aren’t we humans weird: sex dolls and AI writing! One to pleasure ourselves, one to express ourselves, yet both offer a form of escape. Bravo on staying so studiously neutral on the dolls; that was effective.
This was fascinating! I especially appreciate the kindness and generosity of the artist. Relationships with humans are difficult, so I get the impulse to partner with a doll. I do have a question though. How do the dolls reflect real life biases? For example, all the dolls seemed white (or at least light skinned) and thin. Just curious if there’s any discussion around / awareness of that? Maybe it’s something your students noticed too?
Thanks again for introducing me to this interesting world.
I'll ask Benita about the white and thin dolls. I do know that Abyss Creations has a large pallette of silicone colors, and they do their dolls bespoke. I read somewhere that they did one in a devilish red, for a price, of course. If you're bold and not at work, you can see the options on their website. There are 42 different types of nipples, for example, but that's perhaps TMI.
The constrained market might partially account for the lack of representation. Annual output from Abyss is in the mid-100s. And they ain't cheap -- more than what I normally pay for a car. About $15 grand! So there's quite an investment, which significantly narrows the buying population to begin with.
Benita responded. She's charming online, by the way. "Dolls comes in all colours and sizes, i’ve seen them with belly fat, freckles, elf ears 🤷♀️ When buying a doll you choose between different bodies (I think they have 5 options in height and weight) and from there you choose everything, from eye shape and colour, skin colour, size of breasts, vagina etc… I’ve seen brown and asian dolls to, have a whole series of just different faces."
One detail that interested me was the general appearance of the dolls, too. The "RealDoll" is silicone and quite life-like. But there are other dolls that are called "teddy-babes." In the pictures they appear as if they're made of cloth with painted features (lips, eyes). They designed for hugging and sleeping with. The picture of Chris sitting with his two dolls shows one of these on his left.
One other thing. The whole Kardashian Made-In-Surgery body shape is said to be an attempt at the "ideal female" form, according to Abyss. One of my students this semester is investigating influences of technologies (especially social media) and concepts and standards of beauty. We've had 'em of course for a long, long time, pre-dating the Internet, but they have been shaped and refined by technologies. Media, naturally, but also ways of shaping and taming the unruly flesh.
Fascinating. And also, a bit heartbreaking. I loved reading this, Mark.
Thanks, Bryn. It is heartbreaking. My Bond Girl Bride and I talked about this post a bit, and she asked if I would order up a doll if anything happened to her. Nope. I know I would be lonely, and she agreed she'd be lonely if anything happened to me. But we do have a large circle of acquaintances. A few friends. We're rather isolated in the place we live, but I wouldn't say we're lonely. Or as devastatingly lonely as perhaps these men have become. For me, I think a doll would amount to a great sign of isolation rather than a sufficient remedy of it.