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The unusual story of "Fanny", a sex doll which has become the top-selling superstar of the "Kontakthof" brothel in the Austrian capital of Vienna, became worldwide news in July with newspapers all over the world telling the tale of how she got more customers than the prostitutes.

Now Austrian media are reporting that a growing number of other brothels are making the switch to include sex dolls.

Peter Laskaris, who operates two brothels in Vienna, said that although life-like dolls from Japan "cost up to 7,000 EUR" (6,382 GBP) it is "obviously a trendy sex fetish" which other brothels must also follow.

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Kontakthof, which rents out sex doll Fanny for 80 EUR (72.9 GBP) per hour, is now considering buying a second sex doll due to the huge demand as Fanny is often completely booked for several days in a row.

A recent glowing review by an erotic blogger only identified as Andreas has catapulted the sex doll hype to even greater extremes.

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Andreas wrote: "The atmosphere is not sordid, everything is clean. You only meet one person at the reception. She takes you to a room with your doll. Everything is totally intimate."

Fanny, who is 1.56 metre tall and weighs 40 kilogrammes, has long blonde hairs and big breasts.

Andreas wrote: "Fanny has an Asian touch. On pictures, at first sight she looks like a real woman but her body is filled with a kind of silicone. Firm and soft at the same time."

Andreas wrote that after ten minutes he "started to take pleasure in Fanny" and was shocked to find himself "developing a tendency for fetish dolls."

According to Austrian local media, sex industry experts estimate that people with a fetish for sex dolls is are an increasingly growing group, and that they expect more dolls to be made available by brothels.

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Psychologist Gerti Senger explained why some men are more interested in sleeping with Fanny instead of a real woman.

Senger said: "First, the man can do anything with the doll. Second, every intention is turned off, which can be a factor with a prostitute."

(Image: CEN)

Yet Senger, who is a co-chair at the Austrian Society for Sexual Research (OeGS), said that she was shocked by Fanny being more popular than real prostitutes and called it "a real autistic tendency".

Also brothel operator Laskaris was not a fan of the hype even if he is considering buying a Japanese sex doll himself for his brothel.

Laskaris said: "I've tried that once, but it's just like sleeping with a corpse."