Love Dolls

Celine arrived at 1:30 PM today. Quality much better than anticipated. Everything just as stated on your web site, and two months early! Amazing. Has your company gone public? If so, I'd love to buy stock! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

In April 2002 we brought home a three month old baby boy, Andrew Robert. It's hard to put into words the intense gratitude we have for his birthmother; for her decision to place him into our family. Our dream is to share our love with another child and for Andrew to have a sibling to love and grow up with. Boy? Girl? It doesn't matter! The room that will be the nursery is already a very NEUTRAL shade of sunny yellow.

The above two quotes were taken from two sites that seemingly have nothing whatsoever to do with each other. Caps in the first quote and bold in the second are both as they appear in the originals.

The first site advertises "love dolls" with "articulated skeletons" which allow for "anatomically correct positioning," and a blend of silicone rubbers for that "ultra-flesh like feel." Male? Female? It doesn't matter. The dolls "can withstand over 300 percent elongation and over 300 degrees heat." They are "water resistant, pliant and soft in all the right places", "odorless and flavorless" and have "a wide range of joint movement." They are "safe with no risk of disease and nontoxic," and best of all, "convenient, always ready and available, relaxing and comforting" to provide you with "stress-free companionship, and best of all, they are "affordable."

In the factory, head styles are interchangeable with body styles. You can choose from ten different body styles that include height, weight, measurements, shoe size, dress/pants size, hair style, skin tone, eye color, makeup, nail color, and pubic hair color. All have standard "entries." You have a choice of penis size-- six, seven, eight inches or "customizeable." For additional cost you can specify tanlines or eyes that close. You can even buy a she-male if that's your thing. One has a detachable penis with testicles but without a vagina which allows you to change to a different size penis attachment. Or you can choose a permanently attached penis with testicles but no vagina. Or how about a permanently attached penis no testicles keeping the vagina intact? The price ranges from $6,000 to $7,000, but in a pinch you could order a simple torso for $1,500. This site doesn't have much Internet competition, as far as I can tell.

The second site, of which the second quote is representative, also features "love dolls," but these dolls are alive and meant for quite a different "purpose." But much like Claudia in Interview with the Vampire, they will remain children for the rest of their lives. The site does have quite a bit of online competition, so it offers speed of delivery and affordability. Here's a sampling of efficiency and affordability I found on it:

Fastest match: We placed a couple's profile online on a Saturday afternoon, they were contacted Saturday night, and their healthy baby boy was born 5 days later.
Average match time:6-10 months.
Average time from coming online to holding baby in arms: 9-12 months.
Average cost: $5,000 -- $10,000, which includes the agency's service fee. The least anyone has spent for their total adoption process for a healthy baby girl was a mere $1,000.00 Cost, they say, is based on whether or not two attorneys are needed, (if the birthmother lives in another state), travel costs, ICPC (?) time required in another state (living expenses), and the needs of the birthmother.) The agency's second adoption occurred via Christian Adoption cost just over $10,000.00. For one happy adoptive couple, God graciously provided the funds. The agency claims that God is your sufficiency and the supplier of your every need, as you trust in HIM to provide.

But wait. There are more breathless reasons to buy products from this wonderful company, er, agency:

• A couple tries unconventional approaches to adoption--and receives a baby in 3 weeks.
• Prayers and petitions for a closed adoption are offered in an open adoption world--when a third party that has a birthmother a closed adoption contacts them. They adopt her child within a few days.
• A couple does not leave the hospital with their newly born child--but just a few months later adopt the perfect child for them.
• A couple is pushed to their emotional limitations--finds their strength in God--and praise Him for the gift of a healthy baby.
• No inquiries are made concerning an available couple--until that one unique birthmother calls and they adopt her baby.
• A household with two hurting hearts after years of disappointment--receives a call and within 24 hours is holding a child they successfully adopt.

Testimonials posted on both sites glowed with customer satisfaction, joy and relief. Great. But I think that companies that offer these product illustrate a monstrous will to consume. A drive to use financial capital to fill a BIG EMPTINESS rather than to explore what's behind that BIG EMPTINESS in the first place. And in this sense, what's the difference in the mentality behind the products offered?