When people think of sex dolls, they often picture the inflatable blow-up dolls popular in the 1970s. However, modern fabrication methods using TPE and silicone have led to fully customizable dolls with poseable skeletons that look and feel ultra-realistic. Today, people are more likely to mistake a high-end sex doll for a real person.

Sex dolls have a long history that dates back to ancient Greece, where men fell in love with sculptures. Praxiteles was the first to sculpt a full-size nude statue, and it was said that a young man was so taken aback by the sculpture that he ejaculated on its leg and stained it. In the 3rd century AD, a man from Selymbria was so in love with a statue of Aphrodite that he locked himself inside her temple for some alone time.

During the 1500s, sailors crafted dolls made from cloth and leather for companionship, which were called “Dutch wives” in English and are still referred to as such in Japan. These may have been among the first dolls ever designed for sexual purposes.

It wasn’t until the early 1900s that dolls began to be mass-manufactured, with French catalogs featuring life-like dolls made from plastics and rubber around 1904. These dolls may have been the first to feature life-like genitalia and even included a tube through which oil could lubricate the vagina. In 1918, artist Oskar Kokoschka commissioned the first custom doll for companionship after a split with his love, Alma Mahler.

Despite the popularity of inflatable vinyl, latex, and silicone sex dolls in America during the 60s and 70s, it wasn’t until 1987 that they were allowed to be imported and sold in the United Kingdom. High-end silicone sex dolls hit the mass market five years later, and since then, major improvements in material and manufacture have taken place to give us today’s TPE and platinum silicone dolls.

As technology continues to improve, AI and robotics are expected to play a significant role in the sex doll industry. Some companies are already developing prototypes that incorporate facial recognition and speech recognition technology, allowing sex dolls to interact with their owners in a more lifelike manner. In addition, some sex dolls are being designed to move and respond to stimuli, adding an even greater level of realism to the experience.

Overall, the sex doll industry has come a long way since its early days, and it’s clear that technological advancements will continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible.