Lisa Scott
As Wanda climbs into bed, she looks over at Roxanne, whose blonde hair, scattered over the pillow, smells of the vanilla and violet salts from her bath.
Before they shared a bed, Wanda had trouble sleeping and relied heavily on sleeping pills.
Now she sleeps soundly. But Roxanne will never know how important she is to Wanda. Why? Because Roxanne is a life-sized plastic doll made entirely of silicone.
Little less conversationRoxanne’s official name is ‘RealDoll’ and she costs about £3,715.
Her body, face, hair – even her tan lines – were picked by Wanda from a detailed menu on the website realdoll.com.
Manufacturer Abyss Creations claims they are ‘the world’s most realistic love doll’ and that they can contort into almost any position.
Demand is so high that they have just started producing male dolls – and ‘she-male’ dolls with both male and female genitalia.
They are used mainly as sex aids but they are also popular with film-makers, artists and scientists.
Wanda, who is bisexual, originally wanted a RealDoll because she found them attractive.
‘I am in relationships with both a woman and a man, so I didn’t buy Roxanne out of sexual frustration,’ she says.
‘I desired one in the same way one might wish to own a beautiful painting or sculpture.’
Wanda uses sex toys with Roxanne and describes their physical relationship as ‘the greatest sex with the most beautiful woman in the world’.
Dave is another owner of a RealDoll. He has been happily married for 16 years but his wife often works away from home.
Instead of sex with another woman, Dave chose sex with a doll. ‘I didn’t want to cheat on my wife and lose the love of my kids for a relieving shag,’ he says.
‘So, I built a hot-looking sex toy for those occasions when I felt like having sex with a porn star. These dolls mean we now have access to great porn and the most beautiful models but we aren’t degrading real women because these dolls are made of silicone.’
Unconditional loveAlthough Dave sees his RealDoll as nothing more than physical relief, Wanda has a bigger emotional fixation with Roxanne.
‘She will never disappoint or betray me and will always be there whenever I need her unconditional acceptance and love,’ she says. ‘The sex is secondary to the emotional and companionship aspect. Roxanne is as real to me as my imagination can make her.’
Psychologist Vincent Egan says that Wanda’s feelings are still linked to the sexual satisfaction she gets from Roxanne, regardless of her infatuation.
‘Wanda may speak of unconditional love but that’s the argument some women make about vibrators. If a woman doesn’t want to be emotionally involved, a vibrator is the best option and having a doll is a variant on that. Perhaps she even loved dolls as a child.’
Egan also says Dave and Wanda need to build on relationships – with humans, not rubber robots.
‘They need to think more about their relationships with the people they say they find sexually exciting,’ he says. ‘Perhaps they can’t fantasise easily themselves and the dolls help.’
Still, Dave isn’t stopping with one RealDoll. ‘I plan on buying my son one when he graduates – I think it’s a great incentive to stay in school.’
And Wanda scoffs at anyone who claims she is crazy. ‘I am not stupid. I am about to start my Masters in clinical psychology this year and want to be a psychotherapist. I can only say, if you owned one of these creations, you would understand.’
