Sex Doll as a New Form of Transitional Object

Sex dolls are passively jointed human-like structures. Their limited but non negligible dissemination may suggest future new modes of sexual and affective relationships with sex robots. Understanding the quality of the relationship between a owner and his/her sex doll could help us to anticipate the social consequences of future sex robots. In this framework, we propose, from available testimonies reporting a large range of behaviors including sexual relationships, destructive behaviors, or installation of the doll in the daily life of the owner, or romance with the doll generally expressed by photographies, to interpret the sex doll as a new form of transitional object in the words of Winnicott. Moreover, the hyper-sexualized appearance of the doll makes easier its fetishization as a "labor of signification" according to Baudrillard’s semiotic theory. If to cherish a transitional object in adulthood can be an indicator of depressive syndromes or borderline personality disorder, no emotional disorder is necessary linked to its private use. Further studies about sex dolls and robots could so take advantage of work that was already done with other forms of transitional objects for adults.