Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson is spearheading a private member's bill to outlaw childlike sex dolls in the UK, addressing what she calls a 'dangerous gap' in legislation. The dolls, which are anatomically correct and designed to resemble prepubescent children, are currently legal to own in Britain, even though importing them is already prohibited under customs laws for obscene material. The proposed law would make possession an offence, allow police to seize the dolls, and impose penalties including prison time and monitoring for offenders.
What the Bill Proposes
The bill aims to 'make certain acts involving child-like sexual abuse dolls an offence; to make provision for the seizure and forfeiture of such items; and for connected purposes.' Wilson, the Lib Dem Education, Children and Families spokeswoman and MP for Twickenham, said she was 'disgusted and horrified' that these dolls are legal, especially as a mother of two young children. 'It's all about protecting children, that's why I'm doing it,' she said. 'It's a horrendous issue to work on, to talk about, to investigate, and people have said to me… do you really want to be named for this issue? One of the reasons I'm in Parliament is to protect and make life better for children, and this is clearly a dangerous gap that we've got in our legislation.'
Concerns Over Escalation
The ban is driven by fears that using such dolls for sexual gratification could lead to real-world harm against children. Sexologist and CORST psychotherapist Becky Crepsley-Fox told Metro, 'With any kind of harmful sexual behaviour, one of the biggest concerns is escalation. The worry is that a fantasy involving children could, over time, edge closer to acting on it. We can't choose who we're attracted to – but we can choose what we do with those attractions. Not feeding a fantasy, rather than rehearsing and reinforcing it, is one way to stop it gathering momentum and taking up more mental space.'
Research by Rick Brown and Jane Shelling for the Australian Institute of Criminology concluded: 'Despite a lack of robust evidence in relation to child sex dolls, there is reason to suggest they may lead to societal harms through a number of different mechanisms. They may bridge the gap between fantasy and reality by allowing potential offenders to move from the virtual to the physical world.'
Past Cases and Prevalence
The issue gained attention in 2017 when David Turner, a former school governor and church warden, was jailed for 16 months for importing a 3ft childlike sex doll from China. Officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) searched his home in Ramsgate, Kent, and found two more dolls. His computers contained over 34,000 indecent images of children.
Crepsley-Fox noted that while exact prevalence is unknown, a comprehensive study of 9,000 men found around 4% reported some sexual fantasy involving children, but only 0.1% described it as their sexual preference. 'A fleeting fantasy is more common than a fixed attraction, and neither is the same as acting on it,' she said. 'The scale of actual offending, though, is stark. In the past year, police in England and Wales recorded more than 38,000 child sexual abuse image offences – over 100 every single day, and only the cases that come to light.'
Support for the Ban
Crepsley-Fox acknowledged two camps in sexual therapy: some advocate shutting down anything that feeds a sexual interest in children, while others suggest controlled use might prevent acting on urges. She personally supports the ban, saying, 'I personally don't like the idea of it. The notion that you can safely feed a sexual interest in children sits very uneasily with me, so I think these dolls should be banned. Not because a ban is a magic fix, but because as it stands, someone can own one with no consequence.'
She added that prevention comes from people seeking help before acting, and helplines like Stop It Now (0808 1000 900) and StopSO (stopso.org.uk) offer confidential support. The bill is scheduled for its second reading in the House of Commons but requires government support to become law.
