To be honest, I kinda freaked out when he told me what it actually was. I mean, a soft toy doll version of a sex doll? It actually existed?! I mean, I also had seen some cute, cuddly, life sized dolls in the store. But this one was different – it was a smaller version, kind of like a stuffed toy, but shaped like a woman.
I couldn’t help but feel kind of uncomfortable, not just because of the topic itself, but I also felt kind of sad – especially when I heard how my friend’s family felt about the gift. From what I understand, they saw it as a ‘joke’, something to tease him about being single.
But even if they meant it in good fun, it still felt wrong. I mean, I understand my friend’s family may want to find a companion for him, sex dolls but I felt like these dolls were the wrong way of going about that. It almost felt like they were shaming him for not having found someone yet.
Not only that, but I also thought it was a really weird way to celebrate love and sexuality. Like, sure, it’s fun to have a cuddly version of something, but why would you make something devoted to sex like that?! Especially in a country where we still have a lot of stigma around it.
I imagine how my friend’s family must have felt when they saw this doll. It must have been really awkward. And it’s not like this kind of thing is widely available – usually, it’s not something you pick up just about anywhere. So how did they even come across it, and why did they think a sex doll plush was a good gift?
It made me think that if we put a little bit more thought into how we express love, then maybe people wouldn’t be so weirded out by it. You know, maybe if we stopped thinking of sex and intimacy as something ‘weird’ or ‘dirty’ and started to think of it more like a bonding experience or even just for fun.
My friend said that he ended up giving the doll away to a charity that helps girls in need. I was so glad to hear that he’d done something positive with it, vibrators rather than just throwing it away or something. It was a really nice gesture, and it made me think how important it is to give, rather than expect or take.
At the end of the day, it just made me think that maybe we need to re-examine how we perceive love, sex and relationships. Because it’s definitely not always about what society tells us it should be. Maybe we need to be a little bit more open-minded and understanding about these kinds of things.
So, yeah, that was my experience with the sex doll plush. What’s yours?