Sex dolls can curb the impulses of adolescents with special needs

Republican lawmakers are planning to ban such dolls

San Francisco — September 30, 2019 — Sex dolls could be used by young adolescents with special needs, who are otherwise liable to act out sexually in harmful ways, according to special educator and researcher Melissa Delapp.

"I worked with adolescents who may have the sex drive of a teenager, but the social presence of a much younger child. Providing them with outlets for their sexual feelings is potentially essential in providing an appropriate baseline for what intimacy looks like" Delapp said.

Sex dolls with the physical appearance of adolescents are available for sale, but Republican lawmakers have introduced a bill that would see these dolls banned. Similar bans have already been passed in Florida and Tennessee, and another is pending in Kentucky.

"We can't blame these children for responding to their sexual impulses," said Delapp, who is collecting data for a doctorate in special education. "But if we don't help channel those impulses towards positive outlets, other students and staff are put potentially at risk."

Jeremy Malcolm, Executive Director of child protection organization Prostasia Foundation, said, "These objects are confronting, but if they could be used in the management of harmful sexual impulses and save real victims from harm, then banning them is the wrong approach."

This week the Foundation launches a new certification program titled "No Children Harmed," that sets voluntary standards for sellers of sex dolls. The program aims to address concerns that lawmakers have raised about such dolls, while avoiding the need for banning them which would interfere with their use for clinical and research purposes.

The organization is also raising money for research to further investigate and document anecdotal reports about the therapeutic properties of the dolls in special education and in child sexual abuse prevention.

For further information, please contact:

Jeremy Malcolm (Executive Director)
+1 415 650 2557 – [email protected]
Prostasia's website: https://prostasia.org

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