Katarina, I was just asked the same question because of the recent news regarding the Finnish organization proposing "child sex dolls" as an option for individuals with pedophilia.

As far as I know, there is no research about this question, or the related question about access to simulated pornography depicting children (no real children).

Thanks for your answer Michael. I wanted to reply to the news about this being empirically supported, since I was not aware of any such research. (but thought I should ask people who know more first). Only referring to the good lives model and stress reduction by these dolls is not sufficient to concur that the use of dolls diminishes the risk for offending.

My answer is that it likely depends on the user:

For some, sex dolls & virtual CP may be a safe outlet for their sexual desires.

For others, it may be an incitement to seek out the real thing.

We have some evidence from pornography research to suggest that personality traits like impulsivity & callousness, attitudes about women (in this case, about children and sex), and opportunity will be relevant.

I have a student who is interested in this as a research question. I think we will likely include questions about strategies people use (e.g., the use of dolls) to manage their sexual interests in a survey we are developing for online recruitment.