Seeking Interview Participants

[discipline_+_punish]

Hello TDF members.

My name is Ken Hanson and I am a PhD student at the University of Oregon conducting a study on the doll community. I am currently looking to recruit people for interviews as part of this research. If you are interested, please contact me privately through direct messaging here or via my email, khanson@uoregon.edu

***edit****

some folks have commented on my username. It is an academic pun of sorts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discipline_and_Punish

Michel Foucault was a French philosopher whose book Discipline and Punish is considered -must- read by PhD students.

anyways....

Before you agree to be interviewed, here is some pertinent information that you should read. I am also happy to answer other questions you have about the research either on this thread or privately.

1. Participation in this study is 100% voluntary in whole and in part, which means that you will not be monetarily compensated for participating in this study and that you do NOT have to answer all the questions. You are free to provide as much or as little detail as you feel comfortable giving on any question.

2. In order to be eligible for this study, you do not necessarily have to own a doll. All people who are part of the community are welcome including: owners, vendors, prospective buyers, photographers, repairers, all are welcome!

3. All contact with me (from initial contact up to and including the interviews or any post-interview follow-ups) is kept confidential. I do not discuss with other doll community members who I have (or have not) interviewed. I do not publish people’s names. I do not publish people’s usernames or their dolls names. All my records use pseudonyms and, as necessary, some identifiable information is altered to protect people. In short, I am the only person who knows who said what!

4. I am flexible in how I conduct interviews. I strongly prefer synchronous interviews over the phone or online platforms such as Skype, Zoom or Facebook messenger, and can usually work out any timing arrangements necessary (weekdays, weekends, mornings, afternoons, evenings, etc.). Interviews typically take 1-2 hours. With your permission, interviews are recorded and transcribed. Once transcribed I delete the audio file. In cases where need is demonstrated, I am willing to conduct asynchronous interviews (where I email the questions and you type answers). However, as mentioned, over the phone generally provides a much better interview, as it allows a back-and-forth that generates a more productive conversation. If you would like to review the questions before being interviewed, I am happy to send them to you.

5. It is my intention and goal to publish several academic papers and one book which will use direct quotes from the people I interview as data (attributed to pseudonyms, of course). While publication is never guaranteed, it is my professional and personal goal to get this information ‘out there.’ The timeline for publication on any given material is anywhere from a year to five years down the road. Academia is never accused of moving quickly!

6. As for ‘what’ any article or publication may say or argue ‘about’ the doll community, I cannot say now. That would be rather unscientific, putting the cart before the horse, so to speak. HOWEVER, I will say that I am NOT looking to make what some might call a ‘hit piece.’ It is not my intention to portray the doll community negatively. Instead, it is my goal to EXPLAIN from the perspective of the doll community itself, what dolls mean to people, what dolls do for people, why dolls matter to people, how dolls work, etc. As a sociologist, I will also connect these data points to relevant scholarship. As a social-scientist I am interested in the PEOPLE themselves, not the ‘morality’ of doll ownership.

7. As for who ‘I’ am and why I am interested in this research. I will first disclose that I am not a doll owner. I came across dolls about three years ago and was immediately amazed by the technology. At the time I was working on my MA research on dating apps (forthcoming publication). I was not in dissertation ‘head space’ at the time but made a mental note to circle back. A few years later I was in the process of figuring out what I wanted to study and came back to dolls. Again, I was amazed at both the technology but also the customization possibilities! As a researcher, I dove into the scientific literature to see what had already been done and found myself rather disappointed. Little had been written, and what was written seemed more interested in proving that either 1. Sex robots are ‘bad’ or 2. Technology will save us all from certain doom. I found that both of these perspectives lacked any concrete ‘data.’ The authors of those studies had not surveyed, interviewed or spoken with anyone in the community. The authors of those studies hadn’t measured a doll for themselves, let alone taken any systematic approach to understand the technology or people involved. So, I have set out to correct, as I see it, the social scientific study of dolls and the doll community.

8. The scope of this project is not limited to TDF. I am also measuring dolls by using the online catalogues that vendors have made available (what is the average weight of dolls?). I am also recruiting people via social media (Twitter and Instagram mostly). I am in talks with some manufactures to hopefully schedule a visit to one or more factories to get an idea of how dolls are built. I am applying for a fellowship to visit the Kinsey Institute’s archive on sex toys, which exhibits, among other things, some of the first known artificial vaginas and authentic 1970s inflatables. I am hoping to attend some meetups that doll owners organize. (If you are organizing one, and might be interested, let me know!). You might also see me at some upcoming expos including EXXXOCITA and AVN.

Hope to hear from you soon - Ken

[brigittes hubbie]

I´ll do it, Ken, you found one already.

Chris

[DG]

I enjoyed participating and our discussion last week, Ken.

[discipline_+_punish]

I enjoyed participating and our discussion last week, Ken.

Me too! We had a great chat. Thanks again

[siliconelover]

Discipline and punish ???

Seriously ...

No thanks.

[ZannyDanger]

Discipline and punish ???

Seriously ...

No thanks.

And here i thought we prided ourselves on being such an open minded and welcoming community for people from all walks of life?

[haremlover]

I'm happy to participate

Best wishes

Harem

[discipline_+_punish]

Discipline and punish ???

Seriously ...

No thanks.

I can explain the user name!

It's actually a reference to a favorite book of mine by Michel Foucault

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discipline_and_Punish

The book is not about BDSM, it's about the evolution of state power, from executions to prisons.

[siliconelover]

[discipline_+_punish]

couple people have asked if there is 'still room'

The answer is YES - I will comment on here when I am concluding interviews, but assume they are welcome on a rolling basis.

[NormalHuman]

Good chat today. It sounds like you are doing some real work, and I appreciate you being a sociologist not a psychologist. There is obviously some overlap in some of the questions and information, but glad to be a part of the research.

[discipline_+_punish]

Good chat today. It sounds like you are doing some real work, and I appreciate you being a sociologist not a psychologist. There is obviously some overlap in some of the questions and information, but glad to be a part of the research.

I enjoyed our chat too. Thanks for reaching out!

[Ztar073]

For the purpose of your research, you should buy a doll and try living with it for a little while .

[discipline_+_punish]

For the purpose of your research, you should buy a doll and try living with it for a little while .

This is something I have been considering! With Covid, things are a bit tough right now, but I would like to see one in-person first. I would like to go to a meetup, or a convention, or a manufacturing plant, or even someone's house! Because from what people tell me, actually SEEING a doll is a major moment. I tried going to my local adult store but they didn't have any

[NormalHuman]

I will let you know when my doll arrives and perhaps you can meet her, since we live so near by