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Real Dolls: Love in the Age of Silicone Meghan Laslocky -- 10/17/2005  [ 1 ][ 2 ][ 3 ][ 4 ][ 5 ][ 6 ][ 7 ][ 8 ][ 9 ][ 10 ][ 11 ][ 12 ][ 13 ][ 14 ][ 15 ][ 16 ][ 17 ][ 18 ][ 19 ][ 20 ][ 21 ]Research has shown that people with autism have face recognition problems, frequently manifested in difficulty understanding facial expressions. (A part of the brain called the fusiform gyrus is responsible for face-processing, and among autistic people, the area doesn’t activate normally.) Could men with autism be attracted to objects like Real Dolls because there is less of a threat of misinterpreting facial expressions, or because they aren’t turned off by the absence of facial expression as normal men might be? Asperger’s Syndrome -- or any other neurological or psychological diagnosis for that matter -- remains just one possible explanation for why certain men might be particularly drawn to Real Dolls. On the whole, doll love lies on virgin ground. Off to Meet the Master McMullen sits on a black futon in his showroom, surrounded by Real Dolls. On a shelf, two tiny Real Dolls -- a man and a woman -- embrace, the man with a pinkie-sized erection. McMullen plans on producing more mini-dolls like these for artists to use as models. But, as usual, men want to know if they can have sex with the minis. Some people fantasize about being a giant, or having a pixie lover, McMullen says. He’s heard it all before. But years of trading in silicone fantasy hasn’t worn him down and there are always new frontiers to be explored. Soon, a big-butted, voluptuous Body 10 will debut, modeled after an erotic cartoon character called Druuna that has many Hello Dolly fans. “That seemed to be the one thing everyone was interested in,” he says, adding that he finally has figured out how to make a doll curvier but still keep her weight down. And there are other innovations on the way. Bodies that have detectable rib cages, backbones, and clavicles. A removable, interchangeable vagina system, for ease of cleaning and sensory variety. Wireless animatronics to enable facial expressions. But fear not the Stepford paradigm, McMullen has no plans for Real Dolls to go robotic. While he concedes that the concept of an android love doll is in theory attractive, the technology isn’t advanced enough, yet, to shoehorn a robot into a Real Doll. McMullen doesn’t think that is what his customers want anyway. “I think a lot of people like the fact that it’s just a doll. I don’t see the dolls walking and talking. I don’t see them doing domestic stuff around the house. Keep your love doll in the bedroom.” And, he says, those without dolls in the bedroom -- specifically those with spouses and families -- should keep their judgments to themselves. “It is not weird,” he exclaims after recounting expressions of gratitude from men, including a burn victim who thanked him for giving him back a piece of his life and a paraplegic who just wanted a body beside him at night. “What if you lived all by yourself, and what if you didn’t want or couldn’t have a relationship, and you were just lonely, and you just wanted to feel that contact? You can’t possibly identify with that person because you’ve never been in that situation. To feel contact, to feel a body next to you, is a human need.” end of page 22 [ 22 ] read more ... [ 23 ] |
