Development and validation of a measure of attitudes towards sex doll ownership

Sex dolls are beginning to become more mainstream, both in the public’s consciousness and in academic research. However, there is no current systematic examination of public attitudes toward sex dolls within the peer-reviewed literature, which represents a barrier to the efficient study of this topic. In this paper, we report the development and validation of such a measure. Using an international public sample, we found that Sex Doll Ownership Attitudes Scale (SDOAS) was underpinned by three factors: ‘Acceptability of Doll Ownership’, ‘Doll Owners as Immoral’, and ‘Doll Owners as Dysfunctional’ (Study 1; N = 377). Scores on each of these factors were predicted by participant sex, religiosity, permissive sexual attitudes, right-wing authoritarianism, and moral intuitions that favor personal liberty. This structure was confirmed in an independent UK sample, where links to policy support related to sex doll ownership were also established (Study 2; N = 329). We also demonstrated how the SDOAS can be used as an outcome measure when investigating views about dolls with different appearances and functions (Study 3; N = 292). We argue that the SDOAS possesses strong psychometric properties, and is suitable for use in different research designs in this emerging field of study.