Sex Dolls are anthropomorphic masturbation toys, some robotic, that have been the subject of viral YouTube documentaries, factory tours, and social media jokes since the late 2000s.

Where did Sex Dolls come from?

Online, the earliest viral entry is a July 13, 2007 YouTube upload titled "Japanese Sex Doll" by Elecktroboy about a Japanese owner of nearly 100 dolls, with the modern joke format taking off after the WM Dolls "Shakira" model spread from 4chan to Twitter in January 2018.

What does Sex Dolls mean?

Beyond the literal product, "sex dolls" is used online as a shorthand for jokes about how realistic modern dolls and AI sex robots look, often framed as mock-panic reactions like @oogaisdead's "we are so FUCKED" tweet.

How do you use Sex Dolls?

The 2018 joke format pairs a photo of a lifelike doll or robot with a short reaction line, from "we are so FUCKED" to fake responses when the robot says "we need to talk".

Is Sex Dolls still popular?

The specific 2018 Twitter wave was time-bound, but the underlying video genre kept building views for years, with the 2013 ViralEditVideos factory tour passing 68 million views in the five years after it went up.

Sex Dolls

2007viral videos / jokesclassic

Published September 27, 2026

Sex Dolls, the anthropomorphic masturbation toys, became recurring fodder for viral YouTube videos beginning in the late 2000s before exploding into a Twitter joke wave in January 2018 after photos of the WM Dolls "Shakira" model spread from 4chan to the wider web. What began as documentary curiosity turned into a genre of rhetorical-question tweets, "we are so FUCKED" reaction jokes, and sex robot punchlines about male loneliness.

hornyposting memes manosphere memes uncanny valley memes 4chan memes 2018 memes

Overview

Sex Dolls, as an internet subject, covers roughly a decade of viral clips and jokes about anthropomorphic masturbation toys, some of them robotic. The recurring formats are documentary-style YouTube uploads that rack up tens of millions of views on factory tours and owner profiles1 2, talk-show curiosities about AI-equipped models like Samantha3, and Twitter one-liners reacting to how lifelike the newest dolls look.

The joke tone shifted sharply in January 2018, when photos of the WM Dolls "Shakira" model hit 4chan's /pol/ under the thread title "Female Obsolescence"4 and jumped onto Twitter. From there the format became short, punchy reactions: mock-panicked "we are so FUCKED" captions5, jokes about hitting the power button when a robot wants to talk6, and rhetorical-question tweets riffing on what dating a doll would even involve7. Reddit's r/BlackPeopleTwitter compiled the tweets into a single roundup on the same weekend8.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

YouTube (early viral videos) / Twitter (2018 joke wave)

Date

2007

The online history starts on July 13, 2007, when YouTuber Elecktroboy uploaded a documentary clip titled "Japanese Sex Doll" about a man who owned nearly 100 anthropomorphic dolls9. A March 13, 2010 comedy sketch from the crystalxu85 channel, in which a man tries to inflate a blow-up doll, pulled over 22.4 million views within eight years1. On July 16, 2013, ViralEditVideos posted "Inside the sex doll factory," which passed 68 million views over the next five years2.

Catalyst for the 2018 joke wave: on December 27, 2017, the blog Real Doll Addict posted a gallery of the WM Dolls "Shakira" model, and on January 12, 2018 a photograph of that doll was submitted to 4chan's /pol/ in a thread titled "Female Obsolescence"4. Earliest known meme tweet: on January 14, 2018, Twitter user @oogaisdead posted two photographs of the doll with the caption "if this is what sex dolls look like in 2018 den we are so FUCKED," which pulled more than 35,000 likes and 14,000 retweets in four days5.

How It Spread

The 2000s and early 2010s spread was driven by view-count YouTube uploads. The 2010 crystalxu85 blow-up doll sketch cleared 22 million views, and the 2013 ViralEditVideos factory tour cleared 68 million1 2. Mainstream outlets picked up the topic next: on October 20, 2016, Vice's Slutever sent host Karley Sciortino to a male sex doll factory10, and on September 12, 2017, ITV's This Morning ran an interview with the creator of Samantha, a sex robot with onboard AI that told jokes on camera3.

The joke format sharpened in mid-January 2018. After the WM Dolls "Shakira" photos hit /pol/ on January 124, @oogaisdead's January 14 tweet became the anchor post, cited for the caption "if this is what sex dolls look like in 2018 den we are so FUCKED"5. That same day, @inutfast posted a finger-on-the-power-button joke about a sex robot saying "we need to talk"6. On January 15, @its_roi added a set of rhetorical questions about the dolls7, and Redditor sexbobombd compiled the tweets into a roundup on r/BlackPeopleTwitter the same day8. Two days later, on January 17, Twitter's editorial team spun up a Moments page collecting the sex doll and sex robot jokes11.

Timeline

2007-07-13

YouTuber Elecktroboy uploads the "Japanese Sex Doll" documentary clip, an early viral entry point[9].

2010-03-13

Crystalxu85 posts a comedy sketch about inflating a blow-up doll that later passes 22.4 million views[1].

2013-07-16

ViralEditVideos uploads "Inside the sex doll factory," which passes 68 million views over five years[2].

2016-10-20

Vice's Slutever web series visits a male sex doll factory with host Karley Sciortino[10].

2017-09-12

ITV's This Morning interviews the creator of Samantha, a joke-telling AI sex robot[3].

How to Use This Meme

Posts in this format typically pair a photo of a hyper-realistic doll or robot with a short reaction line playing on male anxiety, dating culture, or the uncanny quality of the toys. Common conventions include mock-serious warnings ("we are so FUCKED"5), fake reactions to robot dialogue like an AI saying "we need to talk"6, and rhetorical questions about whether the doll would judge you back7.