Our society’s beliefs about how child sexual abuse is perpetrated shape our response to it. When those beliefs don’t reflect reality, we cannot expect that our response will be effective. Yet because it is such an emotive topic, members of the public often resist having their false beliefs challenged, and are suspicious of the motives of those who attempt to do so.

Nevertheless, there’s one group of courageous individuals who constantly strive to uncover the truth about child sexual abuse and those who perpetrate it, without shying away from the controversy that their research generates when it challenges false assumptions. Many of them come together each year at the annual conference of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA). Prostasia Foundation was represented at this year’s conference, which was held last week in Atlanta.

At our session, titled “Exploring and Understanding the Experiences of People Who Own Sex Dolls,” Prostasia Advisory Council member Dr Craig Harper presented outputs from the first scholarly research to directly address the assumptions behind laws that would ban sex dolls, on the pretext that such dolls (especially those considered to have a “childlike” appearance) are a gateway towards child sexual abuse.

Whereas laws such as the pending JUSTICE Act assert that sex dolls “lead to rape,” the initial results of this new research suggest that these fears are groundless. The doll owners surveyed expressed a clear understanding that consent was required when having sex with a real partner, even though it wasn’t needed when using their doll as a sex toy. There was also found to be no link between doll ownership and sexual aggression, nor to paraphilias and disorders such as sadism or psychopathy that would make an individual more inclined towards rape.

Our Executive Director Jeremy Malcolm presented on why laws based on these false assumptions about the link between sex doll ownership and sexual offending make for bad law, as well as bad public policy. He pointed out that the laws are an attempt essentially to criminalize harmless, private, sexual behavior and thoughts—which sets a dangerous precedent for other sexual minorities. It also diverts scarce enforcement resources away from the investigation of crimes of sexual violence, by scapegoating a misunderstood sexual minority who pose little risk towards real children. Such bans also face the likelihood of being found to contravene the first and fourteenth amendments of the U.S. constitution.

Despite these problems, the raft of new doll bans that are unfolding in legislatures and courthouses in the United States and around the world are having a broader “chilling effect” on the doll community and the industry that supports it. Don Delano, manager of the doll company Mon Amour Toujours explains:

For many individuals using the device for intimate purposes the smaller sized models are most convenient as they are lighter in weight than taller models, easier to move around and take up less space when storing. As media outlets increasingly gave attention to arrests of individuals in European countries who illegally imported smaller models along with the introduction of the 2017 CREEPER Act in Congress, my sales of smaller models, regardless of size and appearance, slowly diminished. Even though no there is no federal ban on smaller models and only recently state bans in Florida and Tennessee have been established just this year, fear of arrest discourages many buyers, regardless of which state they live in, from committing to a purchase.

Current laws banning such products are “feel good” laws which do not take into consideration whether they do any good at all. To date there is no published evidence-based research that indicates these devices will, as some law makers believe, have a reinforcing effect on pedophilic ideation. Let’s give credit where credit is due and commend the many who make healthy choices when it comes to expressions of sexual desires and fantasies rather than condemn them for abusive actions, they have not committed nor intend to commit.

Prostasia Foundation’s recommended approach is to address the perceived risks of sex dolls ownership through a flexible, self-regulatory approach, rather than through laws that perpetuate false stereotypes and play to the fears of an uninformed public. Our No Children Harmed certification program, which we soft launched last month, exemplifies this approach, and it already includes two sex doll companies (including Mon Amour Toujours) among its first members. Among other requirements, members agree that any real human models used in designing dolls will be adults, and that purchasers will be reminded that consent is essential when having sex with a human being.

Many thanks to ATSA for providing us with a forum to present our research and policy analysis to an informed and welcoming audience. We hope to also be able to attend the next conference of ATSA’s New York chapter in May 2020, to continue this important and controversial dialogue.

This month we launch our biggest annual giving campaign of the year: Giving Tuesday 2019. We welcome your contributions throughout the year, but at this time they are especially important, as we develop our strategies for 2020. Will we be able to count on your support? Here are our three campaign goals:

1. Pay our blog contributors fair market rates. Until now our society has largely ignored the voices of marginalized populations, especially those that are sexually stigmatized, when developing child protection laws and policies. That’s why such laws and policies have frequently caused harm to LGBTQ+ people, sex workers, abuse survivors, and professionals working to prevent offending and reoffending. One of our objectives at Prostasia Foundation is to amplify the voices of these excluded groups. But we can’t do that without hearing from them in their own words, and that’s why we want to make it easier for them to express themselves through our blog. Becoming a paying market will make our blog more diverse, and bring new allies into our community.

2. Bring transparency to child protection. There are so many unanswered questions about the opaque and unaccountable manner in which governments, companies, and large nonprofits collaborate towards the removal of Internet content suspected of depicting child sexual abuse. Swiss authorities have complained that 90% of the images referred to them by government-linked U.S. hotline NCMEC turn out to be innocent. This year we developed a questionnaire to Internet platforms, national hotlines, and the software vendors they work with, in the hope of writing a report to expose exactly what is being censored, why, and by whom. But we haven’t yet been able to convince any major donors of the importance of this work, and this has impeded us from completing it as originally planned. So we’re turning to you to support the publication of this investigative report as one of our headline activities for 2020.

3. Storytelling and dialogue to reduce offending. There is no single cause of sexual offending against minors, and no such thing as a typical offender. But one of the few common factors that links a majority of these crimes is that they are perpetrated by men and boys. During 2020, we intend to develop and host a professionally facilitated storytelling and dialogue summit, which will enable men of diverse backgrounds and sexualities to open up to each other about how they live their lives in ways that are healthy and respectful of minors. The methodology that we will be using has an impressive track record—but it isn’t free. Your donation to our Giving Tuesday campaign will help us to raise the funds to license and implement this groundbreaking prevention program.

Our next public event on December 5 is the third in our series “Safewords and Red Lines,” which dives deep into the much neglected topic of child safeguarding and the consensual kink community. For this third event subtitled “Expressing concern without kink-shaming,” we’ll be returning to an online webinar format—and better yet, it’s free!

The event will provide attendees with practical advice about what to do when they have concerns about their own participation in taboo scenes, or about the mental state and intentions of their scene partners. They will learn how to express and enforce their limits, how to ensure that they and their partners don’t cross any ethical lines, and where to turn when legitimate doubts and questions arise.

Chloe, 30 from Oakland is a member of the consensual kink community who has registered for the event. She said, “I've realized that everyone has a different moral code, which is defined by their personal journey. I like to try to understand what that is for each person, because it helps me to understand the sort of person they are. However, it isn't their moral code that tells me about what sort of person they are, but rather if they stick to them and work to uphold them.”

Like each of our other Safewords and Red Lines events, those who attend this third event in our series can be assured that their contributions will be kept private, and that the discussion will be shame and stigma-free. Unlike previous events, there won’t be any prepared presentations, but rather an open, “fireside chat” discussion, in which we encourage you all to participate actively.

The only way to get the link to participate in this webinar is to register beforehand. The first five participants to register using the link below will go into the draw to receive a free Prostasia Foundation t-shirt, which will be drawn at the event! For your best chance at winning, register today.