Image by LowTek, via.

This week’s column at the Chronicle / SF Gate is The Rape of the Real Doll, Part One: Violet Blue explores why silicone just seems to be “asking for it”. Kudos to teh chronic for running this edgy piece — there’s some extreme ground covered here. On a fun note, yes, I do include the mockumentary video Kink.com made when their doll was discovered sexually violated by a “mystery assailant”.

Today’s column is one half of my two-part exploration on cultural perceptions about ultra-realistic sex dolls; the people who use (and have relationships) with them, the feminist who rapes her twin sex doll and films it, the type of sex people have with these dolls, that good old ‘uncanny valley’ and quite a bit more.

In Rape of the Real Doll, I also cover the upcoming Hollywood film (and link to the trailer). Next week’s part two goes even further, while non-judgmentally showing the perspectives and relationships of *actual* iDollators. Here’s a snip:

In previous columns, women working in porn have asked themselves some pretty interesting (and often ironic) questions. Such as, “How many anal scenes does it take to open a feminist art gallery?” — in reference to international bondage model Madison Young’s new feminist art space, Femina Potens, which she’s primarily funded with her highly successful porn career. A few months ago, feminist dyke porn director Shine Louise Houston wondered (while founding lucrative lesbo-porn empire Pink and White Productions), “How many bad porn videos do I have to sell to get enough cash to build my online lesbian porn empire?”

This week, the question seems to be, “How many times do I have to rape myself to lube up my MFA?”

Or rather, it’s performance artist Amber Hank Swanson’s question, who, according to the Chicago Reader, is currently filming a movie called “To Have, To Hold, To Violate: The Making of Amber Doll.” It includes “video reenactments of rape scenes from movies” where Swanson faux-rapes her custom-made look-alike silicone sex doll (via 3-D facial scans and the expertise of the RealDoll company). In “To Have”, she enacts a Vegas marriage (in matching gowns), sluttifies Amber Doll with clothes that she describes as “asking for it,” and enacts mock-rape scenes from Hollywood films on camera, where Amber and her doll are dressed as faux-rape victims.

Swanson isn’t the only one making movies about relationships with realistic sex dolls, and Hollywood’s got one in the can and ready to go. “Lars and the Real Girl” is an MGM comedy set for limited release October 12 and described as:

“A heartfelt comedy starring Academy-Award-nominated Ryan Gosling as Lars Lindstrom, a lovable introvert whose emotional baggage has kept him from fully embracing life. After years of what is almost solitude, he invites Bianca, a friend he met on the Internet to visit him. He introduces Bianca to his brother Gus (Paul Schneider) and his wife Karen (Emily Mortimer) and they are stunned. They don’t know what to say to Lars or Bianca — because she is a life-size doll, not a real person and he is treating her as though she is alive. (…)

Link.

I can’t wait to see the comments on this one. Middle image, “Caroline bride” randomly found on Flickr here and is not associated with “Lars and the Real Girl” — but you get the idea. Bonus image: