Chinese online marketplace Temu is selling child sex abuse dolls, torsos and disembodied doll heads marketed for men’s sexual use.

The company, which has faced allegations of forced labour and child slavery, offers heavily discounted products which are typically shipped to customers directly from China. China is one of the biggest producers of child sex abuse dolls in the world.

We’ve discovered a number of child sex abuse dolls on the platform – full bodies, torsos, disembodied legs and heads.

"Men’s sexual entitlement to the bodies of children must be challenged, not accommodated."

In December last year, were invited to join other child protection representatives in a roundtable consultation at RMIT in November with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children, Ms. Mama Fatima Singhateh, as part of her country visit to Australia to learn more on the risks facing Australian children and young people.

Movement Director Melinda Tankard Reist gave evidence, speaking on the negative influence of pornography, how it operated as a grooming tool, and was contributing to a rise in harmful sexual behaviours in young people. Campaigns Manager Caitlin Roper, who wrote a book on sex dolls, prepared a submission on the trade in child sex abuse dolls. You can read it below. 

A video posted to Twitter featuring comments from a US senator defending child sex abuse dolls has gone viral.

In the video, Kentucky state senator Karen Berg claimed that there was “conclusive” research finding access to child sex abuse dolls could prevent paedophiles sexually abusing children.

This is false. I’ve been researching sex dolls and child sex abuse dolls for years, and I’ve written a book on the topic. “Conclusive” evidence that child sex abuse dolls reduce or prevent sexual abuse does not exist. (And I reject that claim completely.) 🧵

vid - @way2muchJRMC pic.twitter.com/WjIWvoJGis

— Caitlin Roper (@caitlin_roper) March 2, 2024

The video attracted significant negative attention, with the senator issuing a statement in response – and ultimately, voting in support of a motion to outlaw child sex abuse dolls.

So what does the research say about child sex abuse dolls? (Content warning - may be distressing for some readers.)

*Content warning- this post contains content that may be distressing*

*Content warning- this content may be distressing*

Child sexual exploitation material, or child sexual abuse material, refers to sexually abusive images of children. It may include photographic or video evidence of the rape, sexual abuse and torture of children and infants.

Virtual or computer-generated child sexual exploitation material is produced without the use of living children, depicting fictional children. Under Australian law, this content constitutes illegal child sexual exploitation material. The Commonwealth Criminal Code prohibits the sale, production, possession and distribution of offensive and abusive material that depicts a person, or is a representation of a person, who is or appears to be under 18. This includes virtual or animated representations of children, as well as child sex dolls.

We have previously exposed major shopping app Wish selling lifelike, child-sized sex dolls marketed for men's sexual use. These products exist to aid users in their fantasies of raping children. 

Australian Institute of Criminology releases report on child sex dolls

The Australian Institute of Criminology has released the report ‘Exploring the implications of child sex dolls’ by Rick Brown and Jane Shelling. The report discusses child sex dolls in relation to the sexualisation of children, as an “escalated form of engaging with child pornography”, the normalisation of child sexual abuse and the risk of grooming.

The authors acknowledge that there is very little empirical evidence on the implications of sex dolls and child sex dolls, and therefore also draw on research on child exploitation material and sex offences in considering the implications of sex doll use and ownership.

Potential Harms: Escalation, Desensitisation, Objectification, Commodification and Grooming

The report documents a range of potential harms associated with the production, distribution and use of child sex dolls.

It is possible that use of child sex dolls may lead to escalation in child sex offences, from viewing online child exploitation material to contact sexual offending.

It may also desensitise the user from the potential harm that child sexual assault causes, given that such dolls give no emotional feedback.

The sale of child sex dolls potentially results in the risk of children being objectified as sexual beings and of child sex becoming a commodity.

Finally, there is a risk that child-like dolls could be used to groom children for sex, in the same way that adult sex dolls have already been used.

There is no evidence that child sex dolls have a therapeutic benefit in preventing child sexual abuse. 

The authors conclude:

It is ‘reasonable to assume that interaction with child sex dolls could increase the likelihood of child sexual abuse by desensitising the doll user to the physical, emotional and psychological harm caused by child sexual abuse and normalising the behaviour in the mind of the abuser’.

We have previously exposed Wish app and Amazon for selling child sex dolls, along with a range of other replica child body parts marketed for sexual use. In response to our campaign, Wish withdrew these items from sale. 

See also:

OPEN LETTER ON THE DANGERS OF NORMALISING SEX DOLLS & SEX ROBOTS

Child sex dolls removed from online store Wish

Against her will’: Amazon sells exploitative books glorifying rape and sexualising children