Cathouses where “girls” can’t say no to clients or get tired have been opening here and there across the globe in recent years. Even countries where prostitution is illegal have seen sex doll brothels appear. The surge has made one member of the Leningrad regional legislature doubt whether they should be legal in Russia.

A lawmaker from Leningrad region’s legislative body, Vladimir Petrov, has introduced a draft bill that would ban brothels equipped with sex dolls and sex robots.

He revealed to Sputnik that some entrepreneurs in the area have inquired if the business is legal in Russia against the backdrop of numerous reports about such bawdy houses opening in European countries. They turned to the municipal authorities, who have been struggling to clear the issue up, but the question was then referred to the regional legislature. This uncovered a certain blind spot in Russian legislation, as there is no corresponding article in the Russian Criminal Code, according to Petrov.

He said that it is not important whether clients use sex dolls or humans to have sex; such a venue is still a brothel and should be banned. According to the lawmaker, such activities should be outlawed regardless of the level of technical equipment of the suspected wrongdoer.

The draft proposed that people who provide the services of sex dolls and robots or organise such brothels should be punished. According to the draft, wrongdoers could be fined up to $500, sentenced to two years of community service, or imprisoned for the same amount of time.

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Notably, reports about the proposal emerged hot on the heels of the opening of such a bordello in St. Petersburg. A similar dollhouse already started working in Moscow in 2018.

In recent years, sex dollhouses have appeared in the US, Japan, Denmark, France, and other countries. One of these establishments has already faced legal difficulties in Hong Kong, as it ended up being shut down after law enforcement officers raided the place. However, the authorities reportedly did not make the move against the bawdy house because of regulations prohibiting sex with dolls, but because the owner had failed to comply with the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance.