Seven Sex Doll Myths
Now that the modern sex doll has been around for decades, sufficient time has passed for several myths to have sprung up around them – persistent myths that not only obscure their historical origins, but affect their care and maintenance, which can be genuinely harmful for the dolls themselves.
In this article, we dig into seven common myths that you will read about sex dolls, especially in various doll related forums, blogs and even many retailer Websites. Once these ideas get mentioned a few times online by “authorities” on our poor synthetic friends, they’re spread across the Web, and become accepted as fact.
Join us as we bust a few of the biggest myths about sex dolls that we’ve come across.
Myth #1: Sex Dolls Were Invented by Sailors
Ah yes, the story of the famous dames de voyage that almost every single doll dedicated Website likes to tell. It’s such a romantic tale.
Lonely European sailors, suffering from scurvy and solitude, allegedly fashioned the very first love dolls for themselves, several hundred years ago, out of straw, blankets, clothing and anything else they could sew together. According to the story, they even used to share the dolls amongst themselves, which doesn’t sound very sanitary.
Due to the viral nature of ideas on the Web, this fabrication (excuse the pun) was largely considered canon, until a researcher called Bo Ruberg started looking into it. It’s amazing what you can find if you ask simple questions like “Did this actually happen?”, and start digging. The result of Ruberg’s research is their book Sex Dolls at Sea, a fascinating read that soundly debunks the dames de voyage myth.
The basic fact is: There is no historical record whatsoever that European sailors ever made life sized dolls for themselves, for sex or otherwise. It was made up out of error, and persists because people think it sounds cool.
One of the first actual mentions of sex dolls is quite interesting though. Of course, it was the French, who were making poupées sexuelles out of rubber around the Belle Epoque era, until the First World War ruined everyone’s fun.
Myth #2: Sex Dolls Are Only For Sex
A lot has been written and said about the non sexual benefits of sex dolls, but the reality is that the majority of people only see them sexually – and it’s purely for semantic reasons only, since many of the dolls we sell resemble artistic sculptures or fashion mannequins.
While a lot of people would probably enjoy owning a life sized doll of their own, what prevents them from purchasing one is the belief that the relatively high cost of ownership would only be paid by somebody who needed one for sex, a high cost that’s too much of a barrier for anyone wanting a life sized doll for anything else.
Thus, sex is considered to be the primary motivating factor for the purchase of our dolls by both doll lovers and the general public.
Through this glass wall lies myriad uses, from artistic muse, to a comforting presence, to a movable, dynamic sculpture whose appearance and aesthetic can be changed in minutes. During the late 90s, even Realdoll.com had one of the use cases listed on their Website being for “hipsters to have on display”.
Myth #3: White Clothes are Safe, Black Clothes are Dangerous
This particular myth started with the massive amount of doll owners buying their dolls’ clothes from either large online retailers like Ali Express or Temu, or various fast fashion brands. The resulting stains on sex dolls prompted the question “do sex dolls stain from clothes”, which led to the reductive opinion of dark clothes bad, light clothes good. It’s a little more complicated than that, though.
If you buy your clothes from any of these places, or if you dress a sex doll in fast fashion, it’s not only the danger of black clothes staining your doll, but toxic chemicals could also harm the surface of the doll’s skin. Even white clothes from fast fashion outlets can contain bleaches and chemicals that can degrade the doll’s surface, or even create stains.
Black clothes can also be perfectly safe, if they’re from a brand that practices sound manufacturing processes, including proper dyeing of fabrics. Natural fabrics are safer, such as wool or cotton. For synthetics, viscose often has the best results.
Of course, you should always, always, always wash and thoroughly dry any clothes you purchase for your doll, and test the fabric on an inconspicuous area of the doll, but if you buy from a reputable source, there’s no reason you can’t experiment with that black wool sweater or pair of black stockings.
Myth #4: Silicone is More Durable than TPE
The myth about silicone being more durable than TPE is part of the years’ long silicone vs. TPE durability debate. Make no mistake: All sex dolls are meant for careful use by their humans, whether they’re made from silicone or TPE. The automobile analogy comes to mind of the “one careful old lady owner who only drove it to the shops and back” as opposed to taking the car off road every weekend.
Where the myth takes hold is this belief that is almost universal that silicone is a magical material that can take anything. The fact is that silicone is more “brittle” than TPE, can’t be stretched as safely as TPE can, and doesn’t absorb shock as well.
Yes, you should always treat your sex doll with care, no matter what they’re made of, but TPE, by its soft and bouncy nature, can take a few more knocks than silicone can. You will find this mentioned on a very select few sex doll retailer sites, but the enduring myth is that the opposite is true.
Myth #5: Sex Dolls are Medical Grade
This is one you see claimed a lot. The practice of referring to sex dolls as being made of “medical grade silicone” or “medical grade TPE”, or even being described outright as “medical grade silicone sex dolls” is so widespread amongst a lot of retailers worldwide that it seems to be an industry norm.
Some retailers may say that they don’t explicitly claim that the dolls themselves are fully medical grade, however this practice is known as using “weasel words”, which may make a silent, indirect implication. Even sex toy retailers have been known to use this tactic to make their dildos or pretend vaginas seem like they’re some kind of medical apparatus.
Imagine a cafe selling a BLT sandwich and mentioning that it’s made with “vegan ingredients”, despite the sandwich containing bacon and butter. It’s pointless, and would only be for the purposes of some kind of misdirection or distraction.
Even though our sex dolls are safe for use (outside rare people with specific allergies), we still don’t make these implications ourselves, because it’s simply not true for any doll that exists in the world.
The very base materials, such as the basic silicone compounds or original TPE, may be medical grade, but a lot goes into the manufacturing process of the dolls before they are complete, which disqualifies them as being a finished medical grade product under USP Class VI, ISO 10993, and FDA 21 CFR 177.2600.
Softening agents are added, skintone pigments are mixed into the materials and the surfaces of the dolls are also painted with other details. Once you add anything to the base material, even if it was medical grade, these additions strip away its medical grade status.
Myth #6: Fixed Vaginas are Better
The fixed vs. removable vagina debate is one that’s been going on for a long time in the sex doll world, and we’ve even written a whole article about it, but the fixed vagina team seems to be winning.
For a while, dolls with fixed vaginas were very unrealistic, with gaping holes for entry that would appear when you spread the doll’s legs. Removable vaginas used to appear slightly more realistic simply because the outer edge of the insert would (slightly) resemble a vaginal vestibule.
Things have changed with new technology, though, and many of our brands have upped their game since I first wrote the article about it, resulting in very realistically sculpted labia. Even the legs can now be spread on many models without the previous gaping problem.
So why aren’t they “better” with this new tech? It’s unavoidable on some models, such as the Zelex SLE dolls, who only come with fixed vaginas, but I still maintain that the ability to replace a vagina with an insert still has its merits. Things have changed over the years with vagina design, but only so far as fixed or removable vaginas are now neck and neck, with neither being inherently better.
Myth #7: Silicone Sex Dolls are More Realistic
We finish the list with another point from the silicone vs TPE debate, and it’s a very widespread belief that silicone dolls are more realistic than those made from TPE.
Don’t get me wrong, we love our silicone dolls, and so do the people who have them. “Realism”, though, is a loaded term for sex dolls.
Visually, many claim that silicone dolls are more realistic looking, but this is due largely to the level of paint that a silicone doll, especially the head, can take. Paint and makeup tend to not last long on TPE dolls, even S-TPE dolls with realistic body painting, so the implication exists that “more makeup = more realism”.
It’s true that silicone dolls can have more surface detail also, but advances in sculpting technology has also led to TPE dolls having surface texture (before paint and makeup are applied).
How much does this matter? I like to use the analogy of a movie shot on film vs a movie shot on 4k. A silicone doll is like 4k footage. It’s raw, sharp, clear and extremely detailed. This means that any mistake, or unreal detail, is amplified because of its high fidelity.
TPE, on the other hand, is like a movie shot on old 35mm film. People who watch these movies willingly suspend their disbelief – with some even preferring the softer edges of the subjects in the frame. The movies appear more organic, and the image’s softness can also obscure special effects that might appear less real when viewed at 4K.
Meanwhile, TPE ( and especially S-TPE) are still the gold standard for softness, which contributes greatly to the physical experience of using a sex doll.
“Realism” can be perceived visual realism or perceived tactile realism, and depending on your expectations, either silicone or TPE can achieve at least one of those things over the other, which means neither is “more” realistic overall.