They look like schoolgirls, with pink skin, soft features — but they are not real. These child-like sex dolls are circulating freely on the Internet. While the courts are investigating their sale, a disturbing question arises: could these objects contain pedophilic urges… or, on the contrary, fuel them? Behind the scandal, the full complexity of the relationship between fantasy, crime and prevention is revealed.
The trap of a market just a click away
The case rebounded in Bouches-du-Rhône, with the seizure of a sex doll with the face of a child. A discovery which revealed an underground, insidious trade, often hidden behind the impeccable windows of e-commerce giants. On the Shein site, a chilling ad offered a “male masturbation toy with erotic body and real vagina and anus” whose face and appearance left no doubt as to its pedophile nature.
Alerted, the French authorities demanded the temporary suspension of the platform in France, while “that all of its contents are finally in compliance with our laws and regulations”. The spokesperson for Shein France, Quentin Ruffat, assured RMC: “We will be in total transparency with the justice system.”.
But the reality goes beyond official denials. In a few clicks, other platforms – sometimes hosted abroad – offer dolls with juvenile features, often disguised with hypocritical rhetoric: these products are not representations of children, but simple “fanciful objects”. A linguistic subterfuge to escape the law.
And while the trade proliferates, some put forward a disturbing idea: allowing pedophiles to use these objects would be a way of channeling their impulses. An argument which provokes the anger of child protection associations.
“This little music is nauseating”indignant Laura Morin, national director of the L’Enfant bleu association, in The Parisian. “40% of people who viewed child abuse images then sought to contact a child“, she warns.
False remedy, real danger: the lure of the “outlet”
For some, these dolls would be a way to satisfy their fantasies without harming others. But this view is not only wrong, it can be dangerous. The psychoanalyst and sex therapist Alain Héril is categorical: “Obtaining dolls or going to sites with child pornography content does not prevent the act. Certainly, these photos, videos or objects can serve as an “outlet” for a time, but the impulse will always end up expressing itself..
The scientific data points in the same direction. Research carried out in Europe shows that repeated consumption of child pornography images increases the risk of committing the actual act. According to the sex therapist, “these dolls will enhance the sexuality of these individuals for a time… but they can also give them a form of authorization – to go further”.
On the Internet, advertisements compete with arguments intended to legitimize the use: “Single men”“vaginal or anal use”… Wordings which, under the guise of marketing, normalize the forbidden. “Which can be seen as an implicit encouragement to take action.deplores Alain Héril.
And the illusion of control turns into guilt-free. “By reinforcing this feeling of normality, the doll accredits these impulses”underlines the specialist.
Thus, far from alleviating the danger, these objects fuel a vicious circle: that of the trivialization of crime and the erasure of the moral boundary.
Prevent rather than punish: the urgency of a human approach
Banning these objects is a necessity. But it’s far from enough. The evil is deeper: it is rooted in life journeys, traumas and silences. “The majority of child offenders were themselves abused during their childhood. In-depth work, centered on the place of the child’s body and the notion of consent, therefore seems essential to me.“, explains Alain Héril.
For this therapist, the solution also involves collective speech: “Group therapies are much more effective in preventing and treating these behaviors.”. The challenge is therefore not only judicial, but societal: to identify, listen, support before the irreparable happens.
Behind the screens an invisible fight is being played out – that of prevention, justice and, above all, child protection. Because no impulse can ever justify the exploitation of the most vulnerable.