Have you heard about the controversy where dolls depicting small children are sold as sexual objects?

[Tarifa]

Shein in France has banned the sale of dolls depicting small children as sexual objects. The dolls are a representation of school girls who are clearly under age. They are obviously aimed at an adult male public.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cddrg70pj1mo

It raises al least three important questions:

1. How come they were even put up for sale? Does this platform, or any other retail platform, not have strict controls in place as to guarantee all items sold are legal?

2. These dolls are illegal in Europe, but apparently legal in Japan and maybe in other countries as well. What does that say about these societies? I would assume child protection is primordial in any modern society, regardless of cultural aspects.

3. There must have been a previous market research as to the viability of this type of product. Manufacturers will not venture into design and manufacturing costs if they are not 100% sure clients will want to purchase them. Who is at fault, the manufacturer or the purchaser?

[Screenwriter]

The manufacturer is looking to make money. It doesn't care how, and these manufacturers know they have a market in selling childlike, life-sized, sex dolls. Both are guilty. But I'm going to assess that the manufacturer is more at fault.

People whose paraphilia is aimed at sex with children seem to be sexually miswired and even with therapy cannot seem to stop wanting sex with children. The best they can do is to not re-offend. This doesn't mean they stop the desire.

Offering a plastic substitute will inflame desire, not snuff it out. The plastic doll will not satisfy a molester's desires. The dollmaker is all kinds of wrong.

[CupcakeTheDestroyer]

Reminds me of how Real Dolls had the same controversy for selling what was obviously a doll modeled after a male or female child. The thing is companies like that don’t make those kinds of products without demand for it. I can understand why the average person would be disgusted by it, but frankly? Banning them doesn’t solve the problem that buying them is a symptom of. It just tells those who would buy them to do so in secret, or find another outlet. Just hope their choice of outlet isn’t an actual child.

[KishasDarling]

Hadn't heard of this, but that's quite disturbing.

[ClassicDropout]

Haven't heard of this but that's fucked. The manufacturer is 100% at fault though for the same reason that consumers aren't at fault if they watch movie or TV show that was streamed illegally. Sure, you can make the moral argument that you shouldn't watch pirated stuff, but moral arguments dont mean or accomplish anything. There's a gray area if the items are actually illegal in your country, but at least where I'm at its not illegal to have a sex toy even if its distasteful.

[jshm2]

Lol, it's a nothing burger, and just pearl clutching due to the Epstein debacle making everyone tilt at windmills.

The dolls were just that... dolls. That they looked "childlike" was an interpretation by some people.

[Anonymous]

The thing that is most disturbing is that there is a market for this. Yes, the people selling them are garbage, but they wouldn't be selling them if a significant number of them weren't being bought. It sickens me that there are so many sickos out there that are into that sort of thing.

[msc545]

In many societies, such as the United States, children are not nearly as important as money.

[sage2021]

No, and I really didn't want to.