BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Outrage over sex dolls made to look like children has taken the internet by storm after the manufacturer claims the dolls help prevent child molestation.
In a recent interview, Trottla Founder Shin Takagi says he creates anatomically correct sex dolls that resemble children to help prevent those who have sexual urges towards children from actually committing a crime. Takagi started manufacturing the dolls 10 years ago and claims to have clients from all over the world including the United States.
Attorney and former counselor Florina Altshiler says there are psychologists who agree the dolls could deter some people from acting out their impulses with children.
"Both watching and engaging are absolutely illegal, but those people who enjoy watching perhaps may actually be helped by a doll because it's not actually child pornography, it's a doll, to curtail that desire by acting with a doll," says Altshiler, an Attorney with Russo & Toner, LLP who has handled sex abuse cases in the past.
The CDC reports that more than 300,000 children were sexually abused in the United States in 2012. The publication Psychology Today says treatments for pedophilia may include cognitive-behavioral therapy and medications, but research also shows changing the thoughts and actions of a pedophile is difficult to do.
"I personally don't believe that a doll would help prevent somebody who's already acted physically from acting physically. That urge is a very difficult urge to suppress and can't be suppressed with a doll," Altshiler said.