Drew Wilson
Earlier this week, Etsy quickly stamped out product listings for childlike sex dolls after it received a flood of reports from users.
The online marketplace allows people the world over to sell niche, often handmade items. The childlike sex dolls were being sold by an account based in Australia, not Etsy itself.
The listing was particularly egregious, allowing would-be customers to send in pictures of children and purchase a sex doll customized to their likeness.
NCA Newswire brought the product page to the platform’s attention and, according to reports, it was swiftly delisted.
The action earned the company praise from Sen. Lauren Book, a Plantation Democrat who sponsored a bill in the 2019 Legislative Session making it a third-degree felony to “sell, lend, give away, distribute, transmit, show, or transmute” a childlike sex doll in Florida.
The legislation earned unanimous approval in both chambers of the Legislature. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law in May 2019.
“We have seen, time and time again, retailers being slow to react to these items being sold on their sites. It is a refreshing change of pace to see Etsy respond so quickly and decisively in removing this shop from their site,” Book said Friday.
Florida is one of only three states that ban such dolls.
Book, who is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, hopes to change that. She recently endorsed a federal bill, sponsored by Sarasota Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, that would institute a nationwide ban.
“These anatomically correct, lifelike silicone dolls are eerily similar to real human children made for the sole purpose of sexual gratification,” Book said. “Just as viewing child pornography lowers the inhibitions of child predators so too do these childlike sex dolls — putting children’s safety at risk.”
