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A sex doll (also love doll or blow up doll) is a type of sex toy in the size and shape of a sexual partner for aid in masturbation.
The sex doll may consist of an entire body with face, or just a pelvic part, with the accessories (vagina, anus, mouth, penis) for sexual stimulation. The parts are sometimes vibrating and may be removable or interchangeable.
According to the Roman writer Ovid the first sex doll was sculpted from ivory by a man from Cyprus named Pygmalion. She was named Galatea. He became so enchanted with the beauty of his own handiwork that he fed her, bathed her, slept with her and did, indeed, put her to the use of a sex doll. Eventually Aphrodite brought the statue to life.
'Sheela-na-gigs' are marble carvings of naked women that can be found on many old churches around England and Ireland. It was said that by caressing them an individual could gain the power to heal others.
There has long been a sailor's term, the "dame de voyage", or "dama de viaje" in French and Spanish and also "Seemannsbraut" in German respectively, indicating a female doll made of sewn cloth and used by sailors aboard ship.
A 1982 attempt to import a consignment of sex dolls into Britain had the unintended consequence of lifting all import prohibitions on "obscene or indecent" items arriving from elsewhere in Europe. Having had the dolls seized by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise officers, Conegate Ltd. took the case all the way to the European Court of Justice, and won in 1987. Britain was forced to lift its stringent import prohibitions dating from 1876, because to do otherwise would have constituted an arbitrary barrier to free trade under the terms of the Treaty of Rome.
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