“It is an anxious, sometimes a dangerous thing to be a doll. Dolls cannot choose; they can only be chosen; they cannot ‘do’; they can only be done by.”
-Rumer Godden
Definition
Agalmatophilia comes from the Greek word for statue and love. It is a sexual attraction to a doll, statue, mannequin, or body-shaped objects (think man pillows). Typically the attraction is to objects resembling nude people but can deepen to real emotions for nude and non-nude people-shaped objects. It is also known as object sexuality and as doll fetish. This is not the same thing as dollification, which is someone dressing up as a doll.
All Dolled Up
Agalmatophilia typically involves sexual acts, sexual thoughts, and sexual fantasies involving dolls. A lot of jokes have been made over the years about sexual interactions with blowup dolls, and those are often used as bachelor party gifts. However, the blowup dolls exist because the interest is real.
Dolls & Japan
In Japanese mythology the doll is considered a soul bearer and is connected to the dream world. They can be used in stories to both scare and reassure. It is said that the doll traps man in the world of the fantastic. In an essay by Japanese writer Edogawa Ranpo, she says that dolls are the ultimate fetish because of the ability to be an erotic stimulus, a partner, an object of veneration, a tool for transgressive desires and expressing hidden desires. They can also be a receptacle for love. Someone may not be able to love a person, or be in a loving relationship with a person, but they can do so with a doll.