The RealDoll is a life-size sex doll (also considered a mannequin) manufactured by Abyss Creations, LLC in San Marcos, California, and sold worldwide. It has a poseable PVC skeleton with steel joints and silicone flesh.
Details and history
The RealDolls are designed to recreate the appearance, texture, and weight of the human female and male form. Their primary function is to serve as sex partners. This activity can be accompanied by certain preparations such as dressing them up in different types of clothing, changing wigs or makeup, and even adjusting body temperature by use of electric blankets or baths.
Early prototypes were made from solid latex with an interior skeleton, but construction of the outer material was later switched to silicone. In June 2009, Abyss Creations switched from tin cure silicone to platinum silicone, which resulted in dolls that are less prone to tears and compression marks than older RealDolls.
The current incarnation of the female RealDoll product was introduced in 1996. In 2003, Abyss introduced the "Face-X" system, allowing any face to be interchangeable with any body. Multiple faces can then be attached one at a time to a single doll by the owner. As of 2011, there are nine female bodies and 16 female faces in the first product line. In 2009 the RealDoll 2 was introduced, which feature removable inserts for the mouth and vagina and faces that attach by magnets instead of Velcro. The line started with two female bodies and three female faces and as of 2013 offers ten faces and three bodies. Another female body is in development.
"Charlie", the first male RealDoll, was retired in 2008 and replaced with two body types and three head types. "Transgender" dolls may also be purchased from the company, although these must be custom ordered. Abyss also sells silicone toys such as female torso products and dildos among other offerings.
For a time, the company also offered customizations such as robotic hip actuators, finger skeletons (instead of the usual finger wires) and computer-controlled speech feedback, but these expensive options are no longer available.
In popular culture
- On the Family Guy episode "Boopa-dee Bappa-dee" the Griffins pose as RealDolls in order to re-enter the United States. Additionally in the episode "Take a Letter" Cleveland reveals that a large empty warehouse at the post office is in preparation for the near future when RealDolls a popular mail order item.
- The mainstream film Lars and the Real Girl features a RealDoll as second main character.
- Glamour and high fashion photographer Helmut Newton photographed RealDolls. A sample can be found in his autobiography. Playboy magazine reportedly refused to publish Newton's RealDoll photo shoot, considering it too weird, according to his account.
- A film entitled Love Object starring Desmond Harrington was released in 2003 that deals with a lonely man's purchase of a RealDoll that may be more real than he thinks.
- Nick Holt's Guys and Dolls television documentary for North One Television (renamed "Love Me, Love My Doll" for broadcast on BBC America) follows the lives of four men who live with RealDolls.
- Several lifestyle magazines featured reports focusing on people who own RealDolls.
- Dave Hockey's All Dolled Up documentary
- RealDolls are mentioned in the lyrics of the song 'Crockpot' by American rock band Slothrust.
See also
- Agalmatophilia
- Galatea
- Gynoid
- Pygmalion
- Robot fetishism
- Sex doll
- Uncanny Valley
- Technosexual
- Weird Science
References
External links
- Official website
- Internet Archive page cache of Realdoll website offering robotics and interactivity features, 21 September 2003
- Lane, Michael (15 June 1999). "Real Doll". Monk Magazine.Â
- Feature story on Real Dolls by writer Peter Hossli
- "Real Dolls: Love in the Age of Silicone" By Meghan Laslocky
- "Deconstructing RealDoll", Meghan Laslosky, On The Page Magazine, Issue 11, Summer 2004
