Italy’s first sex doll brothel didn’t last long. Opened in Turin on September 3, 2018, the venue ran for less than two weeks before local authorities shut it down.
Citing landlord violations and hygiene concerns, municipal police closed the business and seized the sex dolls as part of their investigation. Officials claimed the venue failed to meet legal and sanitary requirements, making its operation unlawful.
The company behind the brothel had promised a discreet, futuristic experience for clients. Whether the business will reopen remains uncertain, but its brief existence sparked debate over the future of cyber-brothels in Europe.
The Lumidolls Brand
Lumidolls, the company behind the world’s first sex doll brothel that opened in Barcelona in February 2017, is the brainchild of owner Sergi Prieto.
A former marketing consultant, Prieto, 27, plans to expand his business model globally. He already operates another franchise in Moscow, with a fourth location soon to be announced. With ambitions to open a sex-doll brothel in the UK soon, British punters will be interested to see where the next venue is situated. There is already a Lovedoll showroom in Gateshead, UK, where customers can trial the company’s products before purchase.
Lumidolls believes that offering love dolls in place of prostitutes offers a safer way to pay for sex and allows customers looking to invest in these expensive sex toys to ‘try before they buy’. In this way, the brothels are as much of a showroom as they are a house of prostitution.
Customers can also buy any one of the company’s range of 70 sex dolls, which vary in price from €645 to €1785. Models come in a variety of shapes and sizes and can be customised to suit customer demands, including skin tone, eye colour, removable vagina, fixed foot stand and even a heating system to mimic skin temperature more realistically. The company even has male sex dolls.
The company offers time with their sex dolls at a rate of around €95 per hour and markets the experience as a ‘luxury masturbation’ service.
The Turin ‘Dating House’
The long-awaited opening of the Turin-based franchise finally came to fruition on 3rd September 2018 but trading was quickly halted after allegations that the business had contravened local property laws. Additional press coverage also claimed that the operation was not conforming to safe hygiene practices.
The Turin Council issued this statement:
“Sequestration of the dolls, dispute of illegal activity of landlords with complaint for failure to communicate, in electronic form to the Authority of Public Security, the names of customers frequenting the premises, in addition to the administrative violation due to the lack of labels with indications on the materials.
“Furthermore, during the checks carried out by the Municipality together with ASL Torino technicians, an insufficient level of the sanitising system of the dolls was verified, which, as mentioned, were placed under precautionary administrative seizure.”
Responding to the latter claims, Prieto issued a statement:
“Hygiene in the establishment of LumiDolls is 100% guaranteed. We have certified cleaning and disinfection processes to be used in Europe (CE certification).”
Prieto is confident that these will be resolved soon as to the bureaucratic issues.
When business is back up and running, the Turin attraction/brothel will have around eight sex dolls for hire, including Kate, Ilary, Bianca, Naomi and their male love doll, Alessandro.
Controversy Over Turin’s Sex Doll Brothel
Despite prostitution being 100% legal in Italy, the opening of the sex doll brothel has been controversial.
Whilst many see the notion as a widening of choice for the consumer, some believe that reducing sex to an act with an artificial person further objectifies women. Other ethical issues are being raised and detractors have claimed that the dolls will lead to a rise in ‘abhorrent sex crimes’.
The Foundation for Responsible Robotics has published a report where author, Noel Sharkey, suggests that ‘guilt-free’ sex with a robot (or submissive doll) could encourage abuse, rape, objectification and even paedophilia.
The company strongly refutes the claims and has been very vocal in its refusal to accommodate any untoward requests. Speaking to the press in October 2017, Prieto confirmed that the most common banned request for its services was the fulfilment of a rape fantasy. The company flatly refuses service to such customers and does not stock small sex dolls or that resemble children in any way.
Also not happy about the introduction of ‘sex robots’ to their industry are prostitutes in the cities where the brothels have opened. Many fear that the dolls will detract from trade otherwise intended for their own brothels and bawdy houses and that they will lose money as a result.
There are also suggestions that the service is not a hygienic one, and this is one of the reasons that the authorities claim the Turin brothel was closed down.
The truth is that sex doll brothels are becoming more of a popular idea across Europe, with other companies running similar operations already in Germany, Austria, France and the Netherlands.
When Will The Turin Sex Doll Brothel Re-Open?
It is worth noting that the company’s first venture in Barcelona also faced teething problems within the first few months of trading. It was closed down for the first month and then changed locations before it finally got the green light.
The main sticking points for the business in Turin appear to be a) the lack of an SCIA (Certified Report of Business Start), which the company is currently addressing, and b) some sticking points in the lease arrangements.
In reality, neither of these issues will keep the brothel closed for very long. Although some locals aren’t happy about the concept, the love doll brothel will reopen soon, even if it has to be in a new location.
Wherever and whenever the Turin brothel opens, sessions with a cyber-sex doll are by appointment only!
