Child Sex Dolls: Why Aren't They Illegal?

  • Sunday, 15 September 2024
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Massachusetts State Police say a Shirley man is facing charges after online sales site eBay notified them he purchased a sex doll the shape and size of a child. The dolls are not illegal, and the man, Sean McClure, 48, a third-degree registered sex offender who spent 10 years in prison for multiple counts of child rape,


Instead, the doll led police to his stash of child pornography. McClure faces charges of possessing child pornography.


McClure's arrest raises larger questions about whether the dolls should be illegal.


Federal lawmakers are following in the footsteps of the United Kingdom and Australia, which have banned the import and distribution of child sex dolls.


"There's only one reason to have these dolls," said Rep. Dan Donovan, a Republican from Staten Island. This is to fulfill some fantasy someone has about having sex with a child or baby.


Donovan is pushing a bill that would follow in the footsteps of the United Kingdom and Australia and ban the import and distribution of child sex dolls. But his proposal would not ban doll ownership.



"Right now, child sex dolls are proliferating primarily through international manufacturers," Donovan said. "My bill will stop these dolls from having access to pedophiles, and that's the goal." Regulating interstate commerce is clearly within the purview of Congress, so that's the path I've chosen to take.


Child sex dolls are manufactured overseas and then imported into the United States. McClure is believed to be the first local case involving a doll to be arrested and prosecuted.


These dolls are not covered by child pornography laws.


"The definition is there. This is not a child, "said Carlos Cuevas, an associate professor of criminology at Northeastern University. He wants a complete ban on the dolls and says Donovan's proposal doesn't go far enough.




"There are so many ways you can give someone a doll without getting caught," he said. "Once it's in their hands, that's the problem."


Donovan's office said it was not pushing to make possession of the dolls illegal because of First Amendment concerns.



"We ban a lot of things that can cause harm rather than actual harm," Cuevas said. "Drunk driving laws. Drunk driving is illegal because it may injure or kill someone.


There is no shortage of what are often called "love dolls" for sale. They are placed on the slide with toys or snacks.


In recent months, NBC10 Boston investigators found that they had been promoted on YouTube, eBay, Amazon - even Pinterest. Under recent public pressure, shopping sites have become more aggressive in removing listings. But there are some simple solutions.


We asked one eBay seller if the dolls they advertised with adult specifications could be customized for kids. They tell us that it can be "tailored to your preferences."


eBay said in a statement that it could not comment on the specific details of McClure's case.



"However, no company, including eBay, should tolerate its platform being used for nefarious reasons," the company said in a statement. "We regularly work with law enforcement to support them in their criminal investigations. We will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that eBay is a safe and reliable platform for all our customers."


"eBay has implemented blocks and filters to keep prohibited items, including child-sized sex dolls, out," the company continued. "Sellers sometimes bypass these filters, so we also conduct regular manual sweeps to identify and remove these prohibited items." We take our policies very seriously, and sellers who violate them, including circumventing our filters, will be restricted or suspended.


Cuevas says it is time to put in place legal safeguards. Sex doll technology has risen to a new level with adult sex robots, and he warns that children's versions may soon make their way to the United States, fuelling dark desires.



"Most of these people have already seen child pornography and may already have personally committed crimes," he said. State police began investigating McClure after eBay informed their cybercrime unit that he had paid $700 to an overseas seller, specifically a doll that was the height and weight of an average 8-year-old girl. Investigators suspect a sex offender convicted of raping a child possessed child-sized sex dolls.


A short time later, they received a search warrant for his home, where state police, Shirley Police and agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security found a cache of child pornography, according to state police.


McClure is being held on $20,000 cash bail. Rachel Perlman, an assistant district attorney in Middlesex County, told Judge Margaret Guzman that the district attorney's office is pushing to prosecute McClure on the Superior Court charges.


The U.S. House of Representatives recently unanimously passed Congressman Donovan's bill. The U.S. Senate has yet to hear the bill.

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