The Perfect Paramour: Predicting Intention to Own a Sex Doll

We conducted a survey of U.S. respondents using Survey Monkey in July of 2021. Our primary interest was in predicting interest in owning a sex doll. The sample consisted of 569 respondents, roughly split between men and women. The response variable was respondents’ perceived chances of purchasing a sex doll in the future, on a scale from 0 to 100%. On the whole, men were more likely to intend to buy a sex doll: average estimated percent chance of buying a doll was 18% for males and 12% for females, a significant difference. However, fully 47% of men and 37% of women expressed some chance that they would buy a sex doll at some point in the future. The largest gender differences in perception of advantages/disadvantages of men or women owning dolls were that women were more likely to say they lead to objectification of real women and men were more likely to see an advantage for women in that they could engage in sexual practices with it that a real man/woman might object to. A multivariate model using Tobit regression revealed that gender, age, relationship status, and perceived advantages/disadvantages in owning a doll were all significant predictors of intention to own one. Aside from the aforesaid gender difference, intentions of buying a doll were higher for younger individuals and the unmarried, regardless whether the latter were in a romantic relationship already. For men, only perceived advantages were related to intentions to own a sex doll. For women, both perceived advantages and disadvantages of ownership influenced their intentions. Surprisingly, the overall gender difference in intended sex-doll ownership was comparatively small relative to other effects. Hence, future research should take a more gender-balanced approach to the study of interest in sex dolls.