some avoid the term "sex dolls" entirely

 Modern Love, The Love Doll Forum, running since 2001, is the largest online community for "adult love and erotic doll owners". Members chat and share tips on things like maintenance, cleaning, and transportation (some dolls can weigh almost as much as a person). Sometimes they post in the role of their dolls.

Forum discussions are 15% about sex and 85% about anything else, according to one user. Male sex doll owners insist that it's not just about sex, and some eschew the term "sex doll" altogether in favor of "love doll."

Some manufacturers have also argued that the introduction of sex-lifelike sex dolls into prisons could reduce rape and sexual tension overall. Most interesting (and controversial) is the same argument, but for pedophiles. When a sex bot is built to resemble a child, no emotional or psychological harm is done to the robot, and the drive may be satisfied, saving a potential child victim in the process. However, the opposite can also be the case...

Clinician perspectives are also divided. Some therapists explain, based on initial case studies, how living with a sex doll (as doll owners often call them) can be a helpful and healing transition process after traumatic experiences, especially when accompanied by professional therapeutic care.

Other clinical authors warn their peers that products from the sex robot industry are being marketed with health claims that are flimsy. Even more heated are the debates about child sex dolls, which are produced in Asia and shipped worldwide. Some ethicists and clinicians argue that people with pedophile preferences could use such dolls or robots as surrogates to deter them from committing actual child sexual abuse, and that therapeutic uses could hold promise.