Sex dolls are becoming more humanlike than ever and exploding in popularity, raising a moral and ethical question: Should they have rights just like real humans?
Increasingly lifelike facsimiles of women, even made to order thanks to three dimensional printing, are creating a flourishing market as the world incrasingly goes digital.
The global market in 2025 was estimated to be $6.6 billion, and it’s projected to more than double to $13.4 billion by 2033, according to a 2026 market analysis.
While China, which is pioneering robotics, would seem to be a likely candidate to lead the market, the largest share, 34.4%, was in North America. Market growth is expected to be driven by improved purchasing power and rising living standards in developing economies.
While the issue of sex doll rights seems like a philosophical debate at this point, there are laws already on the books in many countries that outlaw possessing sex dolls that resemble children.
Still, the point was driven home by a recent incident in Australia where police briefly believed a sex doll found in a suitcase was a real human murder victim. The doll had “bruises” painted on and rain-matted hair, according to the UK’s Guardian newspaper.
The incident had all the makings of a prank, perpetrators unknown. But Johannes Fuss, chair of forensic psychiatry and sex research at the University of Duisburg-Essen, told the Guardian the incident raises red flags, nonetheless.
“The disposability and desecration of the female form in these contexts cannot be viewed entirely in isolation from broader cultural hostilities toward women,” he said.
There is even a scientific term for it — anthropomorphisation — meaning giving human traits, emotions, physical forms, or intentions to non-human things like animals, objects, or the weather.
Fuss and researcher Jeanne C Desbuleux, have been studying the issue, but so far have drawn no conclusions, the doctor says.
We currently lack robust longitudinal data to definitively prove whether such doll use is protective or, conversely, is a behavioral stepping stone that increases real-world offending risk.
“I think we urgently need research on this question as more and more technologies enter the market to simulate human sexuality,” Fuss says.
The idea of robot rights is not a new one; it’s been a popular theme in movies since the 1950s.
Author Isaac Asimov wrote nine books under the collective title “I Robot” that explored the ethics of artificial intelligence in humanoids. One trigger was a robot’s growing self-awareness, a quality that defines humans.
Most recently, the 2025 movie “Companion, directed by Drew Hancock, explores the relationship between a man (Jack Quaid) and a sex robot, (Sophie Thatcher) who is unaware she’s a robot. When her boyfriend tries to return her to the manufacturer, all hell breaks loose as the robot turns vengeful. (check out the video below)
Perhaps, one of the most famous and disturbing movies was “The Stepford Wives.” The 1975 satirical psychological thriller, directed by Bryan Forbes is about an affluent Connecticut town where men murder their wives and replace them with robot facsimilies.
The movie was fiction but the frission between real-life women and sex dolls is real, although reactions are mixed.
Some women consider using a substitute for human interaction as a red flag, noting that it bypasses consent, mutual communication, and genuine emotional vulnerability.
On Reddit discussion forums some women say deep emotional attachment to a doll is bizarre or creepy.
In a 2022 book, “Sex Dolls, Robots and Woman Hating: The Case for Resistance,” author Caitlin Roper, asserts that sex dalls are “replica female sex slaves.”
“There’s an understanding, in the case of child sex abuse dolls, that their use extends to the harm of actual children. This same recognition of harm does not extend to adult women dolls. Women are being reduced to a set of penetrable orifices,” she told the Guardian.
Perhaps not surprisingly, women who own male sex dolls report different feelings.
They say male sex dolls allows them to enjoy sex on their own terms without compromise, moods, or expectations. They provide a low-stakes environment to explore fantasies or learn physical preferences without feeling rushed or judged.
But as sex dolls become more realistic, they are increasingly being imbued by their partners with decidely human traits.
Lifelike sex dolls are now increasingly available. One company says it’s intoducing a model this year with personality traits, such as “spiritual” or “insecure” – that can be programmed from an iPhone. “She’s far more than a beautiful body. Harmony listens to you,” the website reads.
The new doll, named “Harmony” also has an AI vagina; actually “an electronic insert that pairs via Bluetooth to the X-Mode App.
“It detects touch, movement, and speed, transitioning naturally from mild arousal to climax, with synchronised vocal responses that make every moment feel real,” the company claims on its website. (See the video)
A Singapore sex tech company called Lovense claims its sex doll, “Emily,” is fully customizable through AI. Her modes include “co-worker,” “gym crush” and “tradwife,” and she remembers past conversations, according to the Guardian.
A Los Angeles company will model a customized doll head based on photos of a real person.
The debate begs a particular question: What do you do with a sex dolls when it’s broken or no longer wanted?
Reddit actually has a forum that offers sex dolls for adoption. Many, however, have been damaged and seemingly abused. And, it’s given rise to a whole new industry… sex doll disposal services.
Keith Girard has four decades of experience as an award-winning reporter, editor-in-chief, and senior media executive. Keith’s career began in Washington, D.C., where he was a reporter for The Washington Post and a contributing editor for Regardie’s and Washingtonian magazines. He also worked as a writer/producer in CNN’s Washington Bureau and has written non-fiction books on the U.S. Marines in the Gulf War and Donald Trump and two novels, “The Heidelberg Conundrum” and “The Curse of Northam Bay.”