Australia seizes 18 shipments of life-like child sex dolls
Australian border authorities say 18 shipments of the dolls have arrived in the country since 2013
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Your support makes all the difference.Australian authorities have seized 18 shipments of child sex dolls since 2013.
The possession of the dolls is banned in the country but their Japanese designer claims he is an “artist” helping to prevent paedophiles from offending.
The anatomically correct dolls - which resemble children as young as five - have movable joints and come with heating instructions, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Shin Takagi, the founder of the Trottla, said he set up the company to help him fight his own sexual urges and claimed his designs help to channel “desires” away from children.
In an interview with The Atlantic earlier this year, he said: “We should accept that there is no way to change someone’s fetishes.
“I am helping people express their desires, legally and ethically. It’s not worth living if you have to live with repressed desire.”
He claimed his customers thank him for saving them from committing a crime.
He said: “I often receive letters from buyers. The letters say, ‘Thanks to your dolls, I can keep from committing a crime.’
"I hear statements like that from doctors, prep school teachers—even celebrities.”
But experts have disputed whether dolls act as a deterrent and some have warned that the dolls normalise the sexualisation of children.
A petition launched in Queensland, Australia last year has been signed by over 60,000 people calling on the regional government to ban their sale.
A Department of Immigration and Border Protection spokeswoman told the Herald: "The Australian Border Force works closely with the Australian Federal Police and state police agencies to target and seize this objectionable material at the border, and bring before the courts those that seek to possess or are in possession of a child sex doll".
They said they are treating the issue “very seriously”.
There are treatments available for paedophilia, including cognitive behavioural therapy and chemical castration. Analysis by the Mayo Clinic found they “do not change the paedophile’s basic sexual orientation towards children”.