[WHY] Why do Koreans love, hate sex dolls?

Home > Why >

Published: 28 Jan. 2023, 07:00 Updated: 28 Jan. 2023, 21:19

[WHY] Why do Koreans love, hate sex dolls?

Lawmakers hold debate about sex dolls during an annual parliamentary hearing in 2019 in Yeouido, western Seoul. [NEWS1]

It’s a full silicon body and available in three height options: 4 feet and 9 inches, 5 feet and 3 inches and 5 feet and 6 inches.

Production takes 30 days.

The Instagram post, which also comes with an image of a half-naked woman, was written by a Korean company selling sex dolls — or as they’re referred to in Korea, "real dolls."

These kinds of promotional posts are ubiquitous on social media, especially after the Korea Customs Service formally lifted a ban on importing full-body sex dolls from Dec. 26.

The permission brought an end to a years-long debate about how much the government can interfere in people’s private lives.

But at the same time, it triggered another dispute that is unlikely to end anytime soon.

Local women’s rights groups, including the National Solidarity against Sexual Exploitation of Women, issued a series of statements and staged protests urging the government to reinstate the ban, arguing that the sex dolls harm human dignity.

Sex dolls at a logistics center in Seoul on Feb. 24, 2021. [NEWS1]

So, what’s going on here?

The Korea Customs Service on Dec. 26 announced that it would officially permit the importation of full-body sex dolls.

The move followed a series of defeats in legal disputes with doll producers.

The rules still ban dolls resembling specific people or minors based on height, weight and facial characteristics.

Dolls with electronic features, such as heating and audio, will require further safety inspections.

Though Korea has no law banning sex dolls per se, the Korea Customs Service had been restricting them by applying Article 234 of the Customs Act.

The act bans the imports of goods “which disrupt the constitution order, disturb public safety and order or corrupt public morals.”

However, debate ignited in 2017 when the owner of a shop selling sex toys sued the Korea Customs Service, which seized a shipment of sex dolls the owner was trying to import into Korea.

Ruling in favor of the shop owner, the Supreme Court ordered the Korea Customs Service to allow the imports, arguing that “sex dolls don’t disrupt the constitutional order” and that the state "shouldn't interfere in one’s private life.”

There have since been 48 similar cases, with the Korea Customs Service losing all but two.

This is not to say that Korea was completely sex-doll free prior to the lifting of the ban.

The Korea Customs Service's official blessing of imports was just one factor among many encouraging the proliferation of sex dolls in the country.

“There was no way to ban them completely as there are domestically manufactured sex dolls and imported upper-torso and lower-torso dolls that were re-assembled locally anyway,” said Cha In-soon, a professor at the Parliamentary Training Office.

Cha added that though the Korea Customs Service repeatedly tried to stop the dolls, "it eventually gave up after the court’s decision.”

“It is just very regrettable that the permission came without establishing specific guidelines on dolls that resemble minors or punishment when the rule is broken.”

People stage a protest demanding a ban on the use of sex dolls in Jongno District, central Seoul, in 2019. [NEWS1]

Why are people so upset?

Sex dolls harm human dignity, especially women, opponents say.

“The recent permission, which was decided by an authoritative government body, is no more than just a signal to encourage people to think of women as a sexual tool,” said Yun Ji-yeong, a philosophy professor at Changwon National University.

“Sex dolls mimic every feature of the female body to the closest detail, such as skin and veins, as male buyers want them to look like real women,” Yun said.

“The inflow of sex dolls will provide excuses to commercialize with sex dolls prostitution and pornography, the two major axes of sexual exploitation.”

A bigger problem emerges as the country has yet to solidly define “minors” as far as sex dolls are concerned.

Though the Korean government bans sex dolls that resemble minors based on height, weight and facial characteristics, standards are ill-defined.

Does a 150-centimeter-tall sex doll resemble a minor? How about a baby-faced doll that is 165 centimeters tall? So far, nobody can say.

An online petition on the Blue House website urging the government to ban imports of sex dolls garnered over 231,000 signatures in 2019. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

In fact, websites that sell sex dolls and promotional posts on social media tout how their products resemble adolescents.

“If the sellers deny they are depicting teenagers, no one can say anything,” said lawyer Jang Yun-mi of the Korean Women Lawyers Association.

“We have neither specific guidelines for sex dolls that resemble minors, nor punishments for cases when lawbreaking is discovered.”

How about the advocates?

Backers say sex dolls are no more than a type of sex toy, and the government has no right to tell people what to do in their private lives.

This tracks with the Supreme Court’s rejection of critics' claims that sex dolls corrupt public morals.

If they are problematic, argued the court, so too are exhibitions that focus on the human body or dolls used in medical lectures.

“A full ban on adult-shaped sex dolls infringes on the constitutionally guaranteed right of individual sexual self-determination,” lawyer Lee Hee-seung wrote in a report.

“We must minimize restrictions on individuals’ sexual self-determination by restricting or punishing people only for using dolls for illegal purposes like sex doll experience rooms.”

Park Chan-woo, a sex doll dealer and also a YouTuber who posts reviews on sex toys, says it’s nonsense to say that sex dolls harm human dignity.

“A sex doll is just a doll, a type of sex toy, that could be very valuable to someone,” said Park.

Park said he once staged a protest, displaying a sex doll and making people vote if the doll really harms their dignity.

“Most of them, nearly everyone, voted that it does not harm their dignity,” Park said. “The video filming the process, however, was deleted by YouTube.”

Park sells sex dolls online. A sex doll on average cost 2 million won ($1,630) to 3 million won, though the price could dramatically rise depending on the features, or for customized productions.

“Sex dolls are also very helpful in reducing sex crimes.”

Officials of Incheon Regional Customs hold a press briefing about a group of people who attempted to bring sex dolls into Korea by disguising them as mannequins in 2017. [NEWS1]

Sex dolls reduce sex crimes? Really?

Scientifically, it's impossible to say.

So far, no studies or scientifically verified experiments have demonstrated the relationship between sex dolls and the number of sex crimes.

But at least one man says the dolls are helpful in reducing sex crimes against women, and even children.

“A man’s sex drive or sexual appetite is just a matter of relieving their libido; it’s not like they want something more after that,” said YouTuber Park.

“If a pedophile can satisfy their sexual urges by using sex dolls that resemble minors or by masturbating while watching an animated show that depicts teenagers, it can prevent child abuse,” Park added.

YouTuber Park once drew attention in 2019 when he staged a protest near Gangnam District, southern Seoul, with a sex doll in a wheelchair.

The doll was holding a banner that read, “Real dolls are a family for someone.”

“The fact that one is born as a pedophile itself is not a sin unless they actually do something to children.”

On the other hand, experts warn that sex dolls could actually increase sex crimes.

“When the use of sex dolls becomes commonplace, it will excite more people’s curiosity,” said Professor Yun.

“People will seek more human-like sex dolls, which will eventually lower the barrier of sex crimes.”

Left, a sex doll fell from an apartment in Incheon in July last year. Right, the sex doll damaged a K3 vehicle. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Are there other concerns?

In April 2021, a so-called "sex doll experience cafe" in Yongin, Gyeonggi, had to shut down just four days after it opened.

Such cafes allow customers to use the dolls in closed rooms.

Behind the closure was the harsh opposition of parents, who together petitioned the government to withdraw the cafe's business license.

“There are three elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school and 11 childcare facilities within 500 meters [0.3 miles] of the cafe,” the petition read.

Article 9 of the Educational Environment Protection Act prohibits facilities with sex-related products like sex dolls or masturbation toys within 200 meters of a school.

However, the law does not apply to facilities outside the 200-meter radius.

A sex doll experience cafe being demolished on June 7 in 2021. [YONHAP]

There is an unmanned sex toy store in Gangbuk District, northern Seoul, around 370 meters from an elementary school, or less than 5 minutes away.

Hanging in front of the door is a large banner that reads, “Minors are forbidden.”

How effective the message is, however, remains unknown.

Disposing of used sex dolls presents more issues.

In March 2021, Seoul Yeongdeungpo Fire Station received a report that a black bag carrying the upper torso of a dead body was floating on the Han River.

The body, which panicked dozens of passersby, was later found to be a sex doll.

About six months ago, a resident of Gonjiam, Gyeonggi, shared online a picture of a half-naked sex doll that he found in a reservoir.

“On closer inspection, I could see fingers and a human figure that had lost almost all its hair,” he wrote. “I literally thought it was an abandoned skeleton.”

The writer was about to call the police when he figured out it was a sex doll.

“The way people dismember and dispose of sex dolls is similar to what murderers do to real dead bodies,” said Professor Yun.

“The lifting of the ban came without considering the side effects or aftermath it will have on society.”

Sex dolls produced by a local company. They cost 6 million won ($4,870) each. [YONHAP]

How do other countries handle this issue?

Sex dolls are legal in most developed countries, excluding some Arab countries, but with stricter guidelines for defining minors, or at least punishments.

Norway specifically bans sex dolls that are shorter than 125 centimeters tall, while the Canadian government strictly bans the possession of sex dolls that look like children at prepubescent ages.

The British government sentences people who sell or buy child-like sex dolls to up to 12 years in prison or an unlimited fine.

A law called the Creeper Act, which bans child-like sex dolls or sex robots, was unanimously passed by the U.S. House in 2018.

Violators face up to 50 years in prison.

“Developed countries, such as Britain, Australia and some U.S. states, have their own laws punishing the possession of child-like sex dolls,” Professor Cha of the Parliamentary Training Office said.

“The government should do a hand’s turn, which is to suggest the minimum standard and guidelines and pass those policies as soon as possible, instead of showing a passive attitude, taking so long to examine the laws and waiting until crime cases become more prevalent."

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]