Sex dolls are an emerging trend that has gained unprecedented popularity in Canada. Sex doll brothels have popped up in cities like Toronto and Vancouver, and the doll market is big business across the country. But, a new kind of sex doll is finding its way across the Canadian border and it's causing serious concern.

Today, CBC reported that the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) has seized at least 42 lifelike child sex dolls at the border. These dolls are reportedly being shipped from China and Japan and have been seized at border crossings near Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto and Hamilton. CBC reports that over 30 were confiscated by border officers in Quebec.

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The CBSA described the dolls as looking "prepubescent" and come with interchangeable heads, kids clothing and blankets. Under Canada's child pornography laws in the Criminal Code, the dolls are considered illegal.

In the Criminal Code, child pornography is defined as anything "that shows a person who is or is depicted as being under the age of eighteen years and is engaged in or is depicted as engaged in explicit sexual activity".

Experts and professionals in the field of child welfare shared with CBC that the dolls have a "disinhibiting effect" and could lead a person to seek out and harm a real child. One Child Protection lawyer says that the dolls will "likely incite somebody to actually go after a child once they've had that experience."

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However, clinical psychologists present a different argument. They argue that the dolls are "victimless material" like cartoons and there's no evidence that the dolls would empower a child predator.

"Until there is a demonstration of harm, 'ickiness' just doesn't raise to the level of limiting somebody's free sexual expression," one psychologist told CBC.

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Regardless of whether they are harmful or not, the dolls will still land Canadians a criminal charge.

Source: CBC