Cyber brothels – which like traditional houses of ill repute provide sex, but now with robots – are opening around the world, including one now in North America, and, because legislators have not taken any action, they are completely legal and cannot be shut down, even though experts worry that they will encourage child abuse as well as the rape of adult human prostitutes, notes public interest law professor John Banzhaf.
The most recent cyber brothel – one offering the world’s “Most Beautiful Silicone Ladies” – is opening in Toronto, Canada.
It follows the opening of similar and very successful brothels featuring sexbots instead of human prostitutes in Gateshead, England; Dortmund, Germany; Amsterdam, Holland; Vienna, Austria; Barcelona, Spain; Moscow, Russia; and recently in Paris, France.
Paying for sex is illegal in France under a law passed in 2016, but the law only applies to sex with human prostitutes, not realistic silicone robots who perform the same function.
Oddly, in more traditional brothels which offer sex with live women, but which have added a few sexbots to test the interest of patrons, many men prefer sex with a non-human robot partner.
The same legal situation applies in most states of the U.S. which have laws criminalizing sex, or even sexual stimulations at massage parlors, with human prostitutes.
But aside from the traditional moral concerns about brothels generally, legislators may not see much need to update laws to prohibit brothels which offer sexual interaction with robots, not human beings.
However, there are additional concerns which legislators should at least consider, suggests Banzhaf.
For example, the owner of the world’s first sex doll brothel has reported that he has been bombarded with what he calls “sick requests from perverts who want to act out rape fantasies and even paedophile abuse.”
Although he advertises that his establishment caters to all preferences, and fulfills men’s “wildest fantasies” for $89 per one hour session, he says some vile requests have gotten out of hand.
As he puts it, “some customers prefer the service because they have a rape fantasy.”
In this regard he is probably referring to the fact that manufacturers of these sex dolls are now able to program them to act as if they are being raped, rather than their usual “personalities” where they can be programmed to act as if they willingly embrace sex, or behave like curious innocent virgins.
Another perhaps more serious concern is that “sickening sex dolls designed to resemble children are also in demand. In this market there are lots of suppliers that sell dolls that look like children. There exist dolls that are small and look like children,” the sex entrepreneur says.
While some have suggested that sexbots which act like they are being raped, or very closely resemble young children, could be used to treat rapists and pedophiles by letting them act out their fantasies in an apparently harmless manner, many experts disagree.
They argue that such establishments would give men who might have certain urges the opportunity in a secret and low cost way to try out these different perversions, and, if they enjoy themselves, they are likely to remain unsatisfied with the dolls and graduate to raping adult women and young children.
Legislators may want to ask themselves whether their city or state really wants to make it easy for young teens, emotionally disturbed individuals, and those already experiencing bizarre sexual urges the opportunity – at low cost and with no risk or public exposure – to take a test drive with a sexbot, and perhaps move on to the real thing once they tire of play acting with a doll.
At very least, legislators may want to recognize these potential problems with permitting establishments offering sex robots for use by the general public, and hold hearings to get input from experts such as psychologists and psychiatrists, sex crime investigators, doctors who treat pedophiles and rapists, and others who may have concerns and/or opinions regarding these matters.
That’s because it’s obviously much easier to prohibit the opening of an establishment which offers sexbots – or at least sexbots which look and act like young children or women being raped – than to allow such an establishment to open up and then to try to shut it down, Banzhaf notes.
