리얼돌과 형사규제의 필요성

Abstract

After the Supreme Court decided to approve the import of real dolls, there were the national petition and fierce controversy surrounding real doll. But in the domestic legal system, there is still no definite regulation on real dolls. Rather, interest in real dolls has skyrocketed, and the number of real doll experience rooms that rent real dolls for money has increased. This real doll experience room is similar to brothel, but it is impossible to apply the “Act on the Punishment of Arrangement of Commercial Sex Acts”, because real doll is not a person, and it is difficult to punish even by the “Act on the Regulation of Amusement Business Affecting Public Morals”. Though regarding child-like real dolls, the “Act on the Protection of Children and Youth against Sex Offenses” has been proposed to prevent sexual targeting and sexual exploitation of children, but it was discarded due to expiration. As many countries already prohibit child-like real dolls by law, it is also necessary for Korea to prepare and implement amendments as soon as possible. On the other hand, unlike children's real dolls, adult real dolls tend to refrain from regulating them as a private area based on the recognition that they are just one of adult products. However, real dolls are different from ordinary sex toys. Because it is a “real thing” that closely resembles a person's shape, so it can have a distorted perception of a woman's body or sex. Moreover, the social problems and risks associated with real dolls are likely to increase more and more as they can be custom-made in the form of a specific person. Just as children's real dolls are prohibited to prevent sexual objectification and sexual exploitation of children, adult real dolls also should be banned because of their social hazards. Therefore, a systematic amendment or legislation is needed to clearly control this. But as an alternative, real dolls could be regulated by viewing them as obscene objects in Articles 234 and 244 of the Criminal Act.