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A Democratic state senator from Kentucky has suggested providing "child sex dolls" to pedophiles in a bid to reduce the chance of them abusing children.

Speaking at the Kentucky General Assembly on Thursday, Senator Karen Berg said there was research suggesting the dolls "actually decrease their proclivity to go out and attack children." The remarks sparked an angry backlash on social media with one prominent commentator accusing Berg of "sexualizing kids and defending pedophiles."

The Context

There is an ongoing debate involving academics and politicians over whether child sex dolls could help prevent assaults on children or whether they act as a gateway for potential abusers. Republican Representative Dan Donovan has twice introduced legislation in the House that would make the "importation or transportation of child sex dolls" illegal, while others have called for an outright ban.

What We Know

During her address in the Kentucky General Assembly, Berg said: "I was completely unfamiliar with child sex dolls, so I had of course to Google it last night...

"But there are what they call 'MAPS,' Minor Attracted Persons and the limited amount of research that's done on these dolls suggests that they actually, for people who are attracted to minors, that these dolls actually decrease their proclivity to go out and attack children.

"That it actually gives them a release that makes them less likely to go outside of their home and what was interesting is the research did not support the same conclusions for people who were adult attracted using dolls."

Footage of Berg's remarks was shared on X, formerly Twitter, by Robby Starbuck, a conservative-leaning activist who produced the Elon Musk-endorsed documentary The War on Children. The clip has so far received more than 595,000 views and 3,100 reposts from other X users.

Newsweek reached out to Senator Karen Berg via email at 6:50 a.m. ET on Friday. This article will be updated if she wants to comment.

Views

Berg's proposal sparked an angry reaction on social media, though some academics have suggested the idea should be taken seriously. In addition to posting the video, Starbuck commented: "Democrats like Karen are sexualizing kids and defending pedophiles. Pure evil, criminally stupid or both."

Indiana-based attorney Aleks Djuricic, who has over 9,000 X followers, responded: "The right thing to do would be to immediately remove her from the building and from office."

Paul A. Szypula, an X user with 124,000 followers, wrote: "Sen. Karen Berg should really get expelled from the Kentucky Senate for what she said here. It's gross and abusive towards children. Berg shouldn't be allowed near them."

Robin O'Brien, a social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia, posted: "White liberal women are destroying the American family single-handedly. In mom social groups they advocate for gender fluidity, divorcing a husband you're frustrated with and cutting off the grandparents if they don't share your politics."

During a 2018 interview with NBC News Ron Arkin, a professor of robotics at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta who specializes in human-robot interactions, said it isn't clear whether child sex bots could reduce offending by pedophiles.

"We don't know the answers yet. But recidivism in child sex offenders is a major problem in society that needs to be addressed, and there's a possibility that technology may be able to help with that," Arkin said.