In deeply unsettling news, a high number of childlike sex dolls have been intercepted by Australian Border Force (ABF) this year.
Coming by air freight from international online retailers, the high rate of paedophilic toy purchases has raised a number of public health and safety concerns for the nation.
Dozens of air cargo packages containing lifelike child sex dolls, favoured by paedophiles, have been intercepted by ABF officers in the past six months.
The repulsive fetish for child dolls in Australia has seemingly spiked in recent months. According to data reported by news.com.au, a total of 31 kid-like sex dolls were intercepted by air cargo in the first half of 2020.
The sinister products are especially concerning, considering their probable use being linked to paedophilic actions. “Recent research by the Australian Institute of Criminology found that the use of these dolls may lead to an escalation in child sex offences – from viewing online child abuse material to contact sexual offending,” an ABF spokesman described to news.com.au.
Further, there is no evidence that the use of these types of sex toys have a “therapeutic benefit” in preventing any sort of child sexual abuse.
“Child-like sex dolls and other child abuse material are symptomatic of the broader global threat posed by child sexual abuse,” they described. “That’s why the ABF works with its law enforcement and intelligence partners to further investigate these imports.”
Extending upon the stats, 86 childlike sex dolls were seized in the twelve months leading up to the end of the financial year (June 30). This new data comes just weeks after Alibaba, one of the largest e-commerce retailers, was called out for selling sex dolls by the advocacy group Collective Shout.
“I’ve been an activist with Collective Shout for 10 years and this is the most disturbing content I’ve seen,” campaigner Melinda Liszewski described in a statement on their website. “It is deeply distressing to view.”
https://t.co/JlxwQC8rY5 sells child Sex Dolls. This one described as 148cm 4ft9″ Dividable Skeleton Small Breast Young Girl Loli TPE Cheap Silicone real Silicon Doll Realistic. #boycott @AlibabaGroup and @AliExpress_EN #alibabachildsexdolls Tell everyone you know about this! pic.twitter.com/0R6GyDDfeS
— Collective Shout (@CollectiveShout) July 13, 2020
With 18 of Alibaba’s suppliers offering the dolls, the repulsive products have been marketed as “young girl”, “flat chest”, “cute”, “soft”, and “sex dolls for men”. The child moulds are as little as 65cm – about the size of a small baby – and are priced from $250-500.
“At a time when there is more awareness of child sexual abuse than ever, how is it that a multi-billion dollar mainstream corporation like Alibaba can profit from normalising the rape of babies?” Liszewski questioned.
Just one week later, Alibaba decided to remove the childlike sex dolls from their online retail platform. But while the online company deny any involvement with the listings, Liszewski was quick to discover that many of the sex doll suppliers had been verified by Alibaba.
Addressing public concern, an Alibaba spokesperson described: “We maintain a robust product listing policy that prohibits the listing by third-party sellers of any items depicting or suggestive of sex involving minors, and third-party sellers in breach of the policy are subject to our disciplinary measures.”
However, this isn’t the first time Alibaba has been pinned for selling child-like sex products, coming under investigation in 2018 by the Hong Kong Free Press.
In September 2019, new legislation was enacted in Australia which banned the purchase, sale, and possession of child sex toys, with up to 10 years imprisonment and fines of more than half a million dollars.
For more information, head to Collective Shout.
