Lauren Book files state ban of ‘obscene, child-like‘ sex dolls

Lauren Book learned she was among the potential targets for the accused mail bomber.

State Sen. Lauren Book has filed a bill (SB 160) which would seek to criminalize the sale of sex dolls designed to look like young children.

“A person may not knowingly sell, lend, give away, distribute, transmit, show, or transmute … an obscene, child-like sex doll,” the bill says.

“These obscene dolls are being shipped from China to Canada and then being sent to different places throughout the country,” Book told Florida Politics about the need for the measure.

A report earlier this month from CBC details at least 42 such dolls being seized at the Canadian border in the previous two years. The sex dolls possess “child-like dimensions and features,” according to the piece.

And a few months ago in Kentucky, officials attempted to arrest and charge a man who had purchased similar dolls from China. While law enforcement argued possession of the dolls was akin to possession of child pornography, a judge dismissed all charges against the man.

The judge’s reasoning? Laws banning possession of child pornography require the involvement of an actual child, not just a child-like doll.

Given the gap in the law, Book is concerned the dolls will serve not as a replacement for the urges of pedophiles, but as a catalyst for perpetrators to seek out victims.

“That is not a cure for anything,” Book argued. “The doll just isn’t enough, and then they act out again sexually on children.”

Book said she had drafted a version of the bill during the 2018 Legislative Session, but it was not taken up because it was not filed in time.

“We want to make sure that law enforcement has all the tools that they need,” Book added.

The lawmaker admitted people may be surprised that this issue would require legislation. But she said the measure is necessary to get out in front of the issue, especially as the technology to create such lifelike representations will only become more advanced.

“It’s something that’s happening and something that we need to be paying attention to.”

The U.S. House has also passed a bill that would make these dolls illegal at the federal level. That bill, however, has stalled out in the U.S. Senate.

Book’s bill would also bar any offers to sell the dolls, as well as possessing such a doll with the intent to sell. Advertising the objects would also be criminalized. A violation would be a third-degree felony.

Book, a Plantation Democrat who represents Senate District 32 in Broward County, has made preventing the abuse of children a top priority of hers in the Legislature. She was named chair of the Senate Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs late last month.