Shin Takagi, a self-confessed paedophile who has never acted on his urges, has been making realistic child sex dolls for over a decade.
Why?
Takagi hopes that the anatomically-correct (and very life-like) dolls - produced by his company, Trottla - will help paedophiles to control their impulses.
He also expresses his hope that people who are sexually-attracted to children will channel their urges through the dolls, ensuring that no real children are harmed.
“We should accept that there is no way to change someone’s fetishes,” he told The Atlantic.
“I am helping people express their desires, legally and ethically.
“It’s not worth living if you have to live with repressed desire.”
But do the dolls really work?
Takagi claims that he receives letters from "doctors, prep school teachers — even celebrities" all the time saying, “Thanks to your dolls, I can keep from committing a crime.”
This suggests that, if those people are telling the truth and it has kept them from hurting children, then the dolls could be helping people.
Dr. Michael Seto, from the University of Toronto, said “for some paedophiles, access to artificial child pornography or to child sex dolls could be a safer outlet for their sexual urges, reducing the likelihood that they would seek out child pornography or sex with real children.”
He added, however, that the dolls could further reinforce a pedophile's urges and make them even more interested in acting on the urges in real life.
“For others, having these substitutes might only aggravate their sense of frustration,” he said.
“We don’t know, because the research hasn’t been done. But, it would be a very important study to conduct.”
The idea is not the first of its kind.
In November 2013, sexologists Rik van Lunsen and Erik van Beek called for the Dutch government to legalise 'virtual' child pornography to "give paedophiles a way of regulating their sexual urges".
Mr van Beek, of Amsterdam University Hospital, said: "If you make virtual child pornography under strict government control with some kind of label explaining that no child was abused, you can give paedophiles a way of regulating their sexual urges.
"I think that repressing your fantasies can lead to frustration and, ultimately, for some types of paedophile, to a greater likelihood of doing something wrong."
Jules Mulder, a psychotherapist who specialises in treating paedophiles, slated the ide, warning the government that legalising virtual material would "certainly increase the likelihood of going through with it (sexual abuse)".
But could virtual child pornography and child sex dolls, despite going against every gut instinct we may have, be the lesser of two evils?
**It's an ethical dilemma which has sparked fierce debate - but what do you think of the idea? **
Would you support virtual child pornography and child sex dolls, if it ensured the safety of your own son or daughter? Or are you against the idea, believing it will simply encourage paedophiles to take their urges further?
Let us know via Facebook or Twitter (@CloserOnline) now.
*Stock images used throughout.