Did you see the BBC America documentary, Love Me, Love My Doll about men who own the Real Doll, a life size doll that costs $10,000 and has handy body cavities? I just did and it was disturbing. I realize that part of the creation of this program was to highlight the creepiness of some of the men who own the Real Doll, but even being aware that the producers probably went out of their way to find the most bizarre people possible, it is still a pretty frightening thing to contemplate.
Interestingly enough, I recently attended a conference on Gender and Technology where Prof. Deborah Blizzard gave a talk on the Real Doll and how it might impact society. She argues that the Real Doll might have a negative impact on the way women are viewed by our society and after watching the documentary I am inclined to agree.
The men talk about their dolls as if they are real. They change their faces when they are supposed to be sleeping and dress them for the day, they even put makeup on the dolls. This is all fine in some sense, because it is just grown men playing with dolls. The frightening bit is how the men talk about the dolls in contrast to real women. It is clear that one of the biggest appeals of the dolls is that the men are totally in control of them as opposed to those pesky real human women who have ideas and plans.
Prof. Blizzard is concerned that the submissiveness of the dolls will somehow port over to how men think about women in real life, as if the men might expect or hope that the women they meet in reality will be just as submissive. After watching this program, it certainly seems to be a possibility.
There are not enough real dolls in existence for this to be a problem of any magnitude, but I just wonder if there should be some sort of support group for the owners of these dolls. You know sort of an, "It's fine for women to have their own minds because thinking is good and women are people too," kind of group. One that can get people out of their basements and into the light of day without the fear of the frightening females. Or maybe I'm just a dreamer.
