Dozens of sex dolls designed to look like children have been seized by police across the United Kingdom in the past year. One therapist suggests they can be an effective treatment for people who have urges to molest kids.
“For someone who has an exclusive attraction to children, there is no legal way for them to satisfy their desires," said Juliet Grayson to Britain's Independent. Grayson is a licensed therapist who heads a U.K. charity called Specialist Treatment Organization for the Prevention of Sexual Offending.
Her controversial stance comes after police in the U.K. announced that they've seized 123 child sex dolls since March 2016 as part of an ongoing special operation. The dolls — which have lifelike designs, weigh as much as a typical child and are made of silicon material — can cost about $1,000 each.
According to the BBC, law enforcement officials called the illegal dolls a "relatively new phenomenon."
Grayson said she doesn't think these dolls should be made available to the general public. She feels the dolls should be prescribed by doctors and therapists to people who show a sexual interest in children.
Grayson isn't the first person to suggest using such devices to curb pedophilia. A January 2016 article in The Atlantic weighed the question, featuring viewpoints from both sides.
A researcher at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine told the magazine he believes the dolls would do more harm than good. Peter Fagan said he thinks child sex dolls would have a "reinforcing effect" on the users and could lead them to act upon their urges with "greater urgency."
Clint Davis is a reporter for the Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @MrClintDavis. Keep up to date with the latest news by following @ScrippsNational on Twitter.
