RealDoll

A RealDoll with face #11

The RealDoll is a life-size sex doll (also considered a mannequin) manufactured by Abyss Creations in San Marcos, California, and sold worldwide. It has a poseable PVC skeleton with steel joints and silicone flesh, which is the state-of-the-art for life-like human body simulation.

Details and History

The RealDoll is 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 more realistic silicone. In June 2009, Abyss Creations switched from tin cure silicone to the much better quality platinum (medical grade) silicone, which resulted in dolls that are much 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 classic female bodies and 16 classic female faces. 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 debuted with two female bodies and three female faces and has since grown to nine female faces. Two new female bodies are in development.

"Charlie", the first male RealDoll, was retired in 2008 and replaced with two male bodies featuring the interchangeable face system that the female dolls have long enjoyed. While there are still fewer male options to choose from (two bodies and three heads) new options will continue to be added in the future. "Shemale" 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 and computer controlled speech feedback. These expensive options are no longer available, but RealDoll creator Matt McMullen has stated a desire to keep working in the areas of robotics and electronics.

Use of RealDolls is not exclusively sexual. Some owners use the dolls merely as stand-ins for human models in photography or other visual art. Some owners also use the dolls as non-sexual companion substitutes, rarely (if ever) having intercourse with them. Still other owners buy the dolls simply because they consider them to be beautiful works of art.

Most RealDoll owners are men but some women own them too, and they are shared by couples as well.

RealDolls are shipped to nearly every country in the world, with the majority in the United States. The three largest international markets are Germany, Australia, and the United Kingdom. To date, over 4000 dolls have been created and shipped.

In popular culture

• The mainstream film Lars and the Real Girl stars a RealDoll as a second main character. There is an extensive scene showing the RealDoll.com website.
• In an episode of The Larry Sanders Show (season 6, episode 1, "Another List"), Jon Stewart guest-hosting for Larry, talks about the doll in one of the monologue jokes, suggesting that co-host Hank Kingsley trade in his old doll and then goes on to suggest that people can save the $5,000 price of the doll and instead go out with Tori Spelling.
• Talk-radio host Howard Stern has given a personal endorsement of the product after an on-air test.
• The doll was featured on HBO's Real Sex show where a couple was filmed having a ménage à trois with one of the mannequins.
• Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil showed off his RealDoll in an April 2005 episode of MTV Cribs.
• Glamour and high fashion photographer Helmut Newton also 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.
• In a June 2003 article, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Kenneth Baker described a photograph of the RealDoll "Rebecca" by Bay Area photographer Elena Dorfman as "an image of eerie, Vermeer-like stillness that brings us almost cheek to cheek with a silicone beauty. Freckles of imperfection or wear in her synthetic skin induce an improbable refracted sympathy for her unseen owner." The owner of "Rebecca" and a handful of other RealDolls uses photographs of his dolls to construct visual narratives.
• A RealDoll played the central role in the 2002 French sex farce Monique, featured a RealDoll as Monique, for whom a husband undergoing a mid-life crisis develops an overwhelming passion.
• 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.
• In an episode of Nip/Tuck, Sean has sex with a RealDoll made in the image of Kimber Henry.
• An episode of "My Strange Addiction" features a RealDoll owned by a man nicknamed as Davecat.
• An Adult Sex Comedy titled "Regarding Jenny" by Maddy G Productions features a RealDoll in the lead role.
• The opening credit sequence of the film "Surrogates" was shot at the Abyss Creations factory.
• RealDolls have appeared in episodes of "CSI: New York" (season 5, episode 4: Sex, Lies, and Silicone), "My Name is Earl", "Reno 911!", American Dad - Erica (Season: 5 Episode: 13: May the Best Stan Win), and several others that have not yet aired.
• Most of the discussion in episode 21 of the comedy podcast "Roderick On The Line" centers around hosts Merlin Mann and John Roderick (musician) discussing the variety and options available for purchasing a RealDoll.

See also

• Agalmatophilia
• Galatea
• Gynoid
• Pygmalion
• Robot fetishism
• Sex doll
• Uncanny Valley
• Technosexual
• Weird Science

References

• Laslocky, Meghan (17 December 2005). "Just Like a Woman". salt. http://www.saltmag.net/display.php?article_id=240&author_id=94. 
• Scott, Lisa (22 February 2006). "Flexible friendship". Metro. http://www.metro.co.uk/lifestyle/10322-flexible-friendship. 
• Lane, Michael (15 June 1999). "Real Doll". Monk Magazine. http://www.monk.com/display.php?p=People&id=38. 

External links

• Official website
• 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
• Internet Archive page cache of Realdoll website offering robotics and interactivity features, 21 September 2003