this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2026
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Child-like sex dolls are being stopped at Australia’s border. They could be an early child protection warning (theconversation.com)
submitted 1 month ago by arbilp3@aussie.zone to c/australia@aussie.zone
31 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Importing these products is illegal. Possession is also a Commonwealth offence carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment.

Available figures indicate the scale is significant, but difficult to track consistently. The Department of Home Affairs recorded 103 detections in 2020–21, 88 in 2021–22 and 29 in 2022–23.

An Australian Institute of Criminology review called for more research in the area, but identified plausible risks involved with owning them, including desensitisation, sexual objectification of children, escalation and use in grooming.

The appropriate response is therefore neither to dismiss these objects as harmless fantasy nor to treat possession as automatic proof of future offending. It’s to recognise them as potential risk indicators that may justify investigation.

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[–] T4peMeasure@aussie.zone 1 points 1 month ago (15 children)

Not every person who possesses or imports a child-like sex doll will go on to become sexually abusive. Current research does not establish a simple causal pathway.

In fact, some scholars found doll owners showed lower arousal to abuse scenarios and lower sexual aggression proclivity than those who didn’t own a doll.

Other studies similarly found doll use was linked to reduced deviant and compulsive sexual behaviour.

I'm finding the above misleading, because the 'studies' linked seems to be about 'adult' sxx toys, not child like sxx toys.

I believe it's quite obvious that there is No positive outcome of those wanting/ owning/ using child like sxx toys. For the sake of the community, they belong behind bars!

[–] GardenGeek@europe.pub 15 points 1 month ago (12 children)

Mixed feelings with this one.

Offenders belong behind bars—so far, so clear. But what do we do with people who haven’t committed any crimes so far? Do we temporarily lock them up for life because of their sexual orientation? That seems to me to be a very dangerous path, both because it drives these people into hiding and because we know where the persecution of sexual orientations has led—and, with fascism on the rise worldwide, where it will lead.

The most effective way to protect children and actually prevent crimes would be to give these people the opportunity to come out and work out ways to live with their orientation (which, like all other sexual orientations, they did not choose) without becoming offenders. However, I doubt that we as a society are ready for that… your comment on this platform itself reinforces my skepticism.

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