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The arrival of sex robots will soon see men spurning real life partners and snuggling up to silicon instead.

But feminists fear the arrival of bonk bots could spark an explosion of sexism which will see men adopt dark age attitudes to real life ladies.

An activist from The Campaign Against Sex Robots has issued an urgent warning about the "brutal dehumanisation of women" which could take place when men begin to have sex with artificial love machines.

Researcher Lydia Kaye said sex robots will encourage men to think women are nothing more than objects designed exclusively for masculine sexual gratification.

"Sex robots will create another means through which women will be presented as objects to be used for sexual gratification and mistreatment," she wrote.

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"They will also desensitise humans to intimacy and empathy, which can only be developed through experiencing human interaction and mutual consenting relationships."

Kaye said sex robots tended to be built to look like women, with men able to choose everything from the colour of the love machine's hair to the shape of its virtual vagina.

She claimed this "reinforces the view that the female body is a commodity" and called for urgent discussion of the ethical implications of amorous androids.

"In order to protect basic human rights and discourage the brutal objectification of humankind, it’s time to examine the human ethics of freedom in relation to sex robots," she added.

"We must address the ways in which advancing technology should be used as a force for good and could reflect what is best for humankind.

"We cannot let our humanity and our dignity slip away into a world of technology."

However, sex robots are likely to become wildly popular in the coming years.

Earlier this month, the manufacturers of a pioneering video game controller that doubles as a virtual reality male sex toy pulled it off the market after being swamped by demand.

VirtuaDolls (pictured) is a system which allows hi-tech heavy breathers to strap on a VR helmet, sleep with simulated women and be pleasured by a device which responds to on-screen eroticism.

This could, for instance, allow gamers to watch a cyber-siren twerking whilst the silicon sex toy pulsates in time with her every gyration.

So many men rushed to pre-order this device on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo that its designers were forced to "put the project on hold".

In a series of tweets, the firm behind Virtuadolls admitted demand for their virtual vagina had been enormous.