Against moral panic: Or, dolls aren’t real kids

Source: wilsontimes.com 11/4/25

On Monday, The Washington Post reports, “fast-fashion” retailer Shein banned sales of sex dolls on its site after a government regulatory agency threatened to bar the company from operating in France and referred it to prosecutors. Some of the dolls sold on Shein’s online platform were, it seems, too “childlike” in appearance.

I consider it lazy to assert, as many opinionators do, that “no one” supports, or “everyone” wants, this or that particular thing, but if there’s a subject that commands anything close to societal unanimity, it’s opposition to the sexual molestation of children.

Pretty much all of us who aren’t sexual abusers of children want sexual abusers of children stopped and punished. Many even advocate capital punishment as a permanent individual solution and future collective deterrent, and while I’m opposed to the death penalty myself, I do find the opinion understandable.

It’s odd, then, that so many opponents of child molestation also advocate for laws that increase, rather than decrease, the likelihood that someone with such tendencies will act, in that way, on those tendencies.

Or is it really that odd? These days, public opinion — followed by legislative and law enforcement attitudes — seems largely driven by moral panic. Many people don’t want to just stop…

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Related articles:

Against Moral Panic: Or, Dolls Aren’t Real Kids [counterpunch.org 11/5/25]

 

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