What Is A "Shared Girlfriend"? China's Sex Doll Sharing App Suspended

A Chinese company offering sex dolls on rent terminated services a few days after its launch after getting a rap for it from the authorities.

The company, Touch, enabled renting of silicone sex dolls for up to a week at a time on its app “Ta Qu" from Sept. 14 on a trial basis, and had hailed the process as a “shared girlfriend” experience.

The dolls supposedly of Chinese, Russian, Korean and Hong Kong women, as well as of comic character “Wonder Woman” with a sword and shield were up for grabs.

Speaking to BBC, the company said the rental service operated for two days and piqued people’s interests, but they had to suspend operations after they "got a notice from relevant authorities" for "the bad influence the shared girlfriend had on society."

"We prepared ten dolls for the trial operation, but it's really hard in China," the company spokesperson told BBC, highlighting the complications with the police over the issue.

After the controversy, Touch issued a statement on Chinese microblogging website Weibo apologizing for the negative impact of the concept.

"We are sorry to announce that Touch will suspend the operation of the shared girlfriend project. Our intention was for more people to experience erotic fun. But not long after the project went online it got attention from society and caused heated discussion. After we got a notice from relevant authorities, we actively cooperated with all investigations and accepted the punishment. We express our deepest apology for the bad influence the shared girlfriend had on society, especially on the internet opinion of the key meeting,” the statement read.

The “key meeting” is a reference to the Communist Party congress on Oct. 18 in Beijing, a sensitive time in the country.

The company also stressed the fact that sex is “not vulgar” and they would keep working toward making people enjoy it.

According to Asiancrush.com, the app was initially initially launched in 2015 as a platform to discuss sexuality and pleasure.

However, the company ran into troubled waters after it launched the sex doll renting service on the app.

When the service was running, customers needed to pay a deposit of 8,000 yuan ($1236) before hiring a life-size sex doll for 298 yuan ($46) a day.

According to a Daily Mail report, the dolls could also have been customized, from different hairstyles to a change in the eye or skin color. Customers could also have chosen from an array of outfits.

The dolls were not only equipped with a voice and heating function but if a customer wanted they would have been delivered with accessories like handcuffs and whips.

The company also claimed to change/replace the "critical parts" of the sex dolls for every new customer that rented them.

These dolls were measured at an adult size and weighed 29.8 kg.

The company said the service was aimed at young white-collar workers aged 20 to 35 years.

According to reports in hkSilicon.com, Ta Qu received 53 million users after the launch with 45 percent of them being in their 20s. The website also claimed that 30 percent of its users were females, the Daily Mail reported.