When Stephen Caroll invited his mum around for a cup of tea one afternoon, her heart leapt with surprise - there was a beautiful woman sitting at her son's dinner table.

The woman, a brunette whose moderate height was evident by the reach of her long, skinny legs, sat engrossed staring into Stephen's laptop, completely still.

A steaming hot cup of tea rested on a drink coaster to her side and in her left hand she clasped a half-finished biscuit, but even when Mrs Caroll approached to say hello, her son's attractive lady friend gave no indication she had sensed anyone entering the room.

This was the first time Stephen had introduced anybody to Kaori, his $8,500 life-size silicone doll.

"I never actually told anybody I was getting her," Stephen says, recalling that first introduction.

"I sat her at the table, at the computer, she had a Tim Tam in her hand - you know, you've got to go the whole nine yards - and I actually took a bite out of the Tim Tam."

By the look on his mother's face, Stephen says it was clear she could sense something was not right.

"She sort of cocks her head to the side, walks across the room. And as she gets closer, she sort of sticks her hand out and gives [Kaori] a poke in the shoulder.

"And then she went, Ohhh!"

Scale 1:1

For Stephen, a 40-year-old truck driver from Melbourne who asked for his name to be changed, Kaori provides a humble kind of companionship, but he insists the relationship is truly platonic.

"A lot of people would, and I can understand why ... focus on the stereotype of things being sexual," he says.

But to Stephen that aspect is "irrelevant".

"A lot of things have developed since their first inception and people are branching out, people are doing lots more with them these days," he says.

Models have always been a part of Stephen's life. Having grown up in a family of engineers, where qualities like precision and detail were valued and cultivated, he spent much of his childhood fascinated with building scale models.

But as Stephen grew, so too did his fascination for more realistic models.

While searching the internet, he stumbled across a number of photos that caught his eye.

"They turned out to be these dolls," he says, and in that instant something clicked.

"It was really, really fascinating," Stephen says.

He was struck by how lifelike and detailed the dolls were, their precision and their beauty.

"You couldn't tell that it wasn't actually a living human being. So I thought, if other people can do this, so can I."

After months of research and saving, Stephen chose his ideal woman and sent his order to the manufacturer in southern California; a number of weeks after that, his lady arrived.

'Work of art'

Brisbane man 'Andrew' sits on a park bench with one of his lifelike dolls, named Yvonne. ( Supplied )

Stephen's doll, Kaori, is a RealDoll and just one of many life-size silicone dolls available from a Californian company whose mannequins were made famous in the 2007 film Lars and the Real Girl.

The dolls are infinitely posable, each supported by a PVC skeleton with functioning steel joints, interchangeable face and wig, and they are anatomically correct.

For Stephen she is "a work of art" and these details are simply "a testament to her reality".

One morning when Stephen had business to carry out in the Melbourne CBD, he decided to take Kaori along for the journey.

"It's like moving a disabled person - you just pick them up, put them into the passenger seat in the car, put their seatbelt on them," he says.

"She had the iPod in her hand, the earpiece in her ear, and she sits in the car looking like she's listening to her iPod.

"I've parked the car in Lonsdale Street in the city, gone and done my thing, come back, she's still there, car's still there.

"Nobody notices her, at all. Nobody notices - what does that tell you?"

Stephen is not afraid of being caught out.

"I have no problems," he laughs. "What's anyone going to do? I've got a mannequin in the car, so what? Exactly what law have you broken?"

Stephen has had a number of long-term relationships, but is currently single and okay about it. He says he is not in any rush.

On the other hand, he is looking at expanding his collection of dolls.

"I've got five [dolls] on order," he says with a chuckle. "I do actually enjoy their company. I don't think people truly can appreciate that element."

Latex lifestyle

Brisbane man 'Andrew' says his dolls, such as Natasha, provide uncomplicated companionship. ( Supplied )

Cathleen Maslen from the University of Western Australia has spent time studying the RealDoll subculture and says that despite the sexual marketing behind them, owners do not necessarily perceive their dolls as sexual objects.

"They don't seem to just function as sex toys - people seem to incorporate [their dolls] into their whole lives sometimes, which is quite amazing," Dr Maslen says.

"For men who have [dolls] and take them seriously they can develop a whole lifestyle that revolves around them."

There is no doubt that the owners who take their dolls seriously really love them, she says, and that they have both a huge emotional investment and attachment to them.

"There's at least one RealDoll owner who has actually married his doll in a public ceremony," she says.

"[The owners] try to view them as this vibrant alternative to actually having a relationship with a woman."

But Dr Maslen says there are also a lot of "upbeat" doll owners who are "a bit more jocular about it" and that the type of people who own dolls are much more varied than one might assume.

"You get all sorts - all sorts and all ages," she says.

"You get maybe the stereotype man ... he might not be very sexually successful, a bit lonely. I guess that's the stereotype you would get, but that's certainly not true of all of them."

'Quiet companionship'

A Brisbane man says his silicone dolls, such as Amanda, have alleviated his loneliness. ( Supplied )

For Andrew Marks, a 63-year-old Brisbane pensioner and doll owner, his "girls" provide him with happiness and welcome relief after the pain and trauma of past relationships.

After the strain of his marriage breakdown a number of years ago, Andrew - who also asked for his name to be changed - saw a documentary on SBS about high-end love dolls and decided to give them a try.

He purchased his first doll, called Natasha, in early 2008, her presence filling Andrew's home.

"So although I was alone, I was not lonely," he says. "Put simply, it worked for me."

Since then Andrew has acquired three more dolls, and he says for the first time in his life he can consider his needs, his feelings and his life - "and the dolls are happy to accommodate".

The most important aspect of owning dolls, he says, is they provide uncomplicated companionship.

Sometimes when watching television Natasha will rest on her support stand next to Andrew's chair and they will hold hands.

Although Andrew admits dolls are not for everyone, he says his "have completely alleviated loneliness" and made him a "calmer and more balanced" person.

He attributes a significant part of that to the elimination of the 'sex factor' from day-to-day life.

"I can pursue relationships on a purely platonic level. There is no need to chase around to meet one's sexual needs, and frustration levels are dismissed," he says.

While intimacy is a part of Andrew's life with his dolls, it is only one part.

"The dolls ... provide a valuable service: quiet companionship with benefits, if you like," he says.

"It is not 'just sex' ... It is making love with all the associated emotions.

"Before I was forever chasing around doing one thing or another, particularly travel and volunteer work, trying to find meaning and happiness; now I am content to just 'be' and stay at home with my girls."

Andrew says the best part of owning dolls is that they do not complain, they do not get fat, they look good and they enjoy the same TV programs, music and sports that he does.

"Over time one begins to love them not unlike one would a real person - different of course, but love nonetheless," he says.

And unlike Stephen, when Andrew entertains family and friends his dolls do not join guests at the dinner table.

"But they are always respectably dressed," he says.

Note: The names of the men in this story were changed to protect their privacy.