Monday, July 27, 2009
Movies to shudder at: "Guys and Dolls"
14 comments
Saw this posted in Sociological Images and I found it chilling. This is a 50-minute documentary, entitled Guys and Dolls, that is about men who form full-on relationships with high-end sex dolls.
Haven't watched it yet, but I plan to quite soon. If anyone has watched it, leave your thoughts here. I took a look at the Real Doll website however, and "disturbed" doesn't even begin to explain how I felt. You can create a custom woman, choosing everything from her eye color to her amount of pubic hair. A clean-shaven vagina is standard; pubic hair is $100 extra. You have one body type choice: 5'3 and 70lbs with a C cup. For some men, it is the perfect woman. She is sexy, always in the mood, and never speaks. It is the ultimate objectification.
Haven't watched it yet, but I plan to quite soon. If anyone has watched it, leave your thoughts here. I took a look at the Real Doll website however, and "disturbed" doesn't even begin to explain how I felt. You can create a custom woman, choosing everything from her eye color to her amount of pubic hair. A clean-shaven vagina is standard; pubic hair is $100 extra. You have one body type choice: 5'3 and 70lbs with a C cup. For some men, it is the perfect woman. She is sexy, always in the mood, and never speaks. It is the ultimate objectification.
Posts
July 27, 2009 at 4:41 PM
I looked at the website and might watch the documentary. All I have to say is EW.
July 27, 2009 at 5:07 PM
I remember watching a fictional movie about a guy and his doll.
Lars and the Real Girl: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805564/
July 27, 2009 at 5:15 PM
Right! I saw Lars and the Real Girl also... somehow they managed to portray that relationship as sweet and heart-breaking, rather than just plain creepy and disturbing.
July 27, 2009 at 5:22 PM
This made me sick. I just can't believe this is an actual business. I looked at the website and that was just as horrifying. I just don't get this.
July 27, 2009 at 6:27 PM
Yeah, I've seen the documentary. Needless to say those guys are incapable of forming real relationships with real women due to mental illness and other psychological problems. Freud would probably site "mommy issues". In this case, I actually think I agree with Freud! P.S. My word verification said "dingle", hahaha.
July 27, 2009 at 6:54 PM
I'd far rather see a sex doll than a real person objectified. That's why the 'booth babe' phenome bothers me so much.
July 28, 2009 at 10:42 AM
that you use the term 'high end' to describe the dolls (like a 'high-end prostitutes' shows you can't get past the sexual aspect of them, but I think the sex is only a small part of what these men get from the dolls.
I think they are incapable (or unwilling to take the necessary risks) in forming a relationship with a real person (and all their flaws, inconsistencies, opposing opinions, power relations and negotiation with them is infinitely more difficult than projecting qualities and feelings onto an inanimate object. This kind of projection is easy, children do it all the time with toys and we encourage that.
It's the sex that makes this look icky but then again women use inanimate objects for sexual purposes. If anything, the fact that men seek a sex toy that at least RESEMBLES a human female is touching compared to sex toys for women that have the personal, human side of sexuality completely removed. Men are often accused that they can remove emotion from sex. I think this film indicates that to be otherwise.
July 28, 2009 at 2:04 PM
Well, "high-end" is what they are. There are essentially two types of sex dolls: the blow-up kind that you can buy in sex shops for 30 bucks, or the ones that cost $5,000 and look strikingly realistic, down to the clitoris.
I'm sure they do get more from their dolls than sex. They form full-on relationships with these women, similar to the movie "Lars and the Real Girl." I haven't watched the movie yet, so I can't attest fully to this, but based on the description, that is what I gathered.
I have to disagree though that this sex toy's resemblance to a living woman is "touching." I mean, on this website, they're designing a woman... and the choices on RealDoll.com completely conform to beauty standards by making the only body type available 70 lbs (!), white, and pubic hair-free. Maybe you can debate that it's better than simply buying a "fleshlight" (which is essentially a rubber vagina) because you're forced to associate the vagina with a woman, but these dolls are designed to be extremely passive, from their wide open legs to their gaping mouths. Though the vagina is attached to a realistic woman, I have to argue that most people who buy this still see her as nothing but a hole.
Still, I can understand how people can argue that this is a more positive sex toy than others.
July 28, 2009 at 7:40 PM
I don't think the fact that the doll is 70 lbs (or whatever it is) is supposed to be like "real women are supposed to weigh 70 lbs". I think it's "it's much easier to lift and transport something thats 70 lbs" compared to more. Someone on another feminist blog posted about a Japanese fashion robot that happened to weigh 95 lbs, complaining about how unrealistic it is, even though the makers of the robot said it was just so it was easier to handle and transport. Plus, you saying they only allow white ones is just plain false. There is a wide range of skin colors available. Pubic hair is also an option. And the dolls can have different breast sizes and body types. I really, really suggest actually watching a documentary and doing research on a topic before posting about it and making up facts. Plus, I think most people that buy it don't just see it as a hole because (if you do actually watch the documentary) you will see they see them as actual relationships with people, because they are sick in the head. And, anotherblogger, a lot of sex toys for men don't necessarily resemble a human female and most dildos for women do resemble human penises. I wouldn't exactly take this documentary about the deviant sex of very mentally ill men to be "proof" of something in the general male population, either.
July 28, 2009 at 7:43 PM
I have to second the recommendation to know the facts about a topic before writing about it instead of making assumptions which made you make stuff up it seems. :(
July 28, 2009 at 9:53 PM
Was I making any assumptions about the documentary? Not at all. I specifically stated that I haven't watched it yet, and based everything I said in this post on the Real Doll website. I wasn't calling the men in this documentary "disturbing," I was calling the fact that you can make a custom woman and have her shipped to your house disturbing, because it really fucking is. I wasn't saying a word about the documentary itself because, like you suggest, I don't want to make assumptions about something I haven't witnessed myself.
And Jen, I know they have different skin colors, but the "default" is in fact white skin, and the darkest skin they have available is called "light African." And pubic hair is $100 extra. White, thin, big-breasted, and clean-shaven is the default - everything else has be "added" on.
I certainly wasn't taking this issue and projecting it onto the entire male population. But I think the fact that one can create the perfect woman on the net and have her shipped to your house is creepy as shit. Nothing's really going to convince me otherwise. I appreciate your input, and I completely understand where you're coming from, I just don't happen to see it that way. And please know that I wasn't making any assumptions about the documentary itself. I know these men probably have mental issues since they feel it necessary to form a relationship with an inanimate object, and so I wasn't passing any sort of judgment on them. Everything I said was based off of that website.
July 29, 2009 at 5:39 AM
Of course everything has to be added on, because raw plastic is the same color as this website and doesn't come with hair and makeup.
Sheesh. I think they're kinda corpse-like, honestly, but I sleep with a 4' length teddy-bear, and bought a similar sized plush cow for my spouse.
Yeah, they're creepy, but at least our society lets these guys live a fairly normal life through fantasy instead of relegating them to institutions or abusive relationships. Masturbation is healthy.
July 29, 2009 at 10:36 AM
Well, I just watched the documentary and I found it just... kind of sad. I think the man who had the most realistic viewpoint was Mike, who had a girlfriend. He sad he'd be willing to give up the dolls for the right woman. I think he probably believes that to be true, but how is he going to find "the right woman"?
On the other hand, Davecat had the most realistic relationship with his doll. He pretty clearly actually loved her (as much as one can love a doll, in any case) and was committed to her. The other men had multiple dolls and it seemed like it was more for the sex. (What else is the RealDoll for, after all, when you get right down to it?)
Then again, I think the RealDoll creator was right when he said that some guys just have issues with real women. They weren't socialized as kids, or they don't want to have to deal with baggage, or whatever.
That said, I was also disturbed by the whole concept. I agree that it's the ultimate objectification, and I don't think I'd want to be a part of it. I guess I'm not that open-minded.
September 9, 2010 at 1:20 PM
Although initially most would want to criticize this documentary, after some thoughtful reflection I would rather have men channeling their sexual desires with artificial women, rather than looking in bars and on the streets for real women to have sex with and potentially rape or sexually assault. These men are examples of the highest degree of what it means to be lonely. There is no harm in what these men do, so before criticizing their lifestyle try and think of the situation from their perspective.