“Your skin is very dark,” a hostess in a Ho Chi Minh City bar complains to sociologist Kimberly Hoang. The woman has taken Hoang under her wing to help her become desirable to the bar’s Vietnamese ...
Shelly Ronen
Shelly Ronen is a doctoral candidate in sociology at New York University. Her dissertation focuses on designers who make technologies of physical intimacy: sex toys, dolls, and robots. 
Plastic Fantasies
The doll lies, tranquil, her nude body pale and her vulva hairless and unnatural. Her hand prominently clutches a lamp, but her head is just out of sight. A tendril of blond hair draws the eye ...