The imbalance between men and women creates “sex doll” market

Due to China’s preference for boys and the family planning policy, the sex doll market is booming.

Some people describe silicone sex dolls or TPE sex dolls like this: “She” has a perfect figure, a pair of emotionless eyes, and she is lying quietly on the bed. “She” is the daily necessities of many “orphaned men and widows” in China. In an adult product store in Shenzhen, such sex dolls sell for about 7,000 yuan.

Xiaozhi, one of the thousands of consumers, has such a sex doll. Like millions of Chinese, Xiao Zhi, 28, left his hometown of Henan to pursue his dreams in the southern province of Guangdong. While working, he lived the life of a bachelor. He can only go back to his hometown to visit his wife during the holidays. He didn’t want to betray his wife, but he needed to meet his mental and physical needs. So, he took out nearly a month’s salary to buy realistic sex dolls.

Sex dolls are only part of the $20 billion in annual sales of China’s adult products industry, according to ESDOLL, a shopping platform for adult products. But for Liu Lan, the owner of the sex doll company, China’s severe gender imbalance has made the sex doll market a hot spot.

According to the latest population sex ratio survey, the male-to-female ratio is currently roughly 116:100, which is higher than the standard value of 107:100. The result is a relative shortage of women. “A lot of young Chinese men have a hard time finding a female partner and getting married. So they choose sex dolls,” said Liu Lan.

However, for Xiaozhi, a soulless sex doll cannot accompany him completely. He said frankly: “A perfect sex doll comes from complex mathematical calculations, but real people are always more beautiful than sex dolls, because real people have thoughts, express emotions, and respond to your actions.