"The modern sex doll may has a direct antecedent in the cotton sex doll created and used by sailors on long voyages, referred to as dames de voyage (Bloch, 1908; Ferguson, 2010; Wolf, 2010). These dolls were created by French and Spanish sailors during the height of their naval empires in the seventeenth century (Ferguson, 2010). The navies of Imperial Germany and Japan reportedly sanctioned the widespread use of dames de voyage, as preferable to homosexuality. Both navies reportedly manufactured their own versions of the dames de voyage (Wolf, 2010)."