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Anatomical Dolls Wikipedia Page

What is an “Anatomical Doll?”

Anatomical Dolls are a professional interviewing tool(1) used in forensic child abuse interviews. They are a general representation or model of the human body. The dolls are often made of a soft cloth fabric and have sexual body parts such as a vaginal opening, clitoris, and breasts for females, and a penis and testicles for males. Adults have pubic hair. All dolls have an anal opening, and an oral opening with a tongue.

With anatomical dolls, child sexual abuse victims can demonstrate touching and any sexual abuse that occurred. This visual aid helps provide needed details when communicating with police officers, child advocates, and counselors. The dolls are also used in legal settings such as trials so victims can demonstrate what happened to them to the judge and jury. Holding a doll may also help reduce stress and trauma for children.

How the Anatomical Dolls were Created

Anatomical dolls were first used in interviews with abused children in 1976 in Eugene, Oregon (2). Virginia Edwards (formerly Friedemann) and Marcia K. Morgan https://marciakmorgan.com were working on one of the first all-female rape investigation teams in the country (an interagency team with Eugene Police, Springfield Police, Lane County Sheriffs’ Office and the Lane County District Attorney’s Office). Morgan and Edwards created the dolls out of a need for gathering better information with young or communication-challenged sexual assault survivors. Morgan bought the original set of two adult dolls from a local seamstress who was making adult “flasher dolls” at a local Saturday market. Edwards and Morgan worked with the seamstress to redesign the dolls to be more proportionate and detailed. They also created two child dolls and offered all adult and child dolls in three skin tones. They designed the dolls to be less like cute toys and the facial expressions to be more neutral so the child could communicate a full range of emotions and not be led to express a particular feeling. Even though it was not unusual for therapists to use plastic dolls or stuffed animals in play therapy, this was the first time a standardized anatomical doll had been used as a communication aid in child sexual abuse legal investigations.

In August 1980, Edwards, Morgan, and Mike Whitney formed a business, MIGIMA www.migima.com, to manufacture the dolls. They also developed educational materials and provided professional training, expert witness testimony, and consulting to others in the field, nationally and internationally. In 1995, Morgan wrote the book "How to Interview Sexual Abuse Victims, Including the Use of Anatomical Dolls" (Sage Publications) https://www.amazon.com/Interview-Sexual-Abuse-Victims-Interpersonal-ebook/dp/B00YFRJ8TI/ref=sr 1 1?crid=3ASRIA8RKIEJP&keywords=marcia+morgan+how+to+interview+sexual+abuse+victims+&qid=1684949526&s=books&sprefix=marcia+morgan+how+to+interview+sexual+abuse+which is a guidebook on how the dolls should be used. The Migima doll’s popularity and effectiveness began receiving national attention including a January 1981 article in MS. Magazine https://en.m.wikipedia.org and an appearance on The Phil Donahue Show https://en.m.wikipedia.org in February 1981. Other media coverage followed on 60 Minuteshttps://cbsnews.com/60-minutes, Good Morning Americahttps://goodmorningamerica.com, Redbookhttps://www.redbookmag.com Glamourhttps://www.glamour.com, Reader’s Digesthttps://www.rd.com and many newspapers across the country. A few years after Migima began, other anatomical doll companies sprung up around the US. Controversy later arose when defense attorneys and others suggested that some investigators were untrained and “leading and suggestive” in the way the dolls were being used in interviews (3). Training became very important. Today anatomical dolls and educational materials are used throughout the United States and many foreign countries.

Footnotes:

(1) Boat, B., Everson, M.(1988) "Use of Anatomical Dolls Among Professionals in Sexual Abuse Evaluation." The Journal of Child Abuse and Neglect. Vol. 12, Issue 2, pp 171-179

(2) Morgan, M. (1995) How to Interview Sexual Abuse Victims, Including the Use of Anatomical Dolls. Sage Publications. Thousand Oaks, California.

Everson, M., Boat, B. (1988) "Interviewing Young Children with Anatomical Dolls" Child Welfare League of American. Vol LXVII No 4 July-August 1988.

Clausen, J. (1985) "Using Anatomically Correct Dolls" Law and Order Journal. March 1985. pp 40-44

Seattle Times (reporter Carey Quan Gelernter). (July 23, 1981) "Sex-assaulted Children are Induced to Talk with Help of Rag Dolls" Page 3C

Associated Press (December 10, 1982) "Realistic Dolls Used by Counselor of Sexually Abused Tacoma Youth"

Eugene Register Guard (reporter Sally Cases Cheriel) (January 28, 1981) "Dolls Aid Interviews with Children Sexual Abuse Cases"

The Des Moines Register and Tribune (reporter Dick Brown) (Oct 7, 1982) "Crime Seminar offers Guidelines for Spotting, Handling Child Incest"

The Oregonian Newspaper (AP) (February 6, 1981). "NW Company's Dolls Aid in Sex-Abuse Cases"

The Times, Juneau, Alaska (Reporter Ann Chandonnet) (January 1983) "Sexual Abuse Consultant to Visit Juneau.

Willamette Valley Observer (Spring 1981) "Beyond Barbie"

Springfield News (Reporter Karen Kangas). (July 1981) "Dolls Do the Talking" Pulse Beat Section.

(3) Everson, M., Boat, B. (1994) "Putting the Anatomical Doll Controversy in Perspective: An Examination of the Major Uses and Criticisms of the Dolls in Child Sexual Abuse Evaluation" Journal of Child Abuse and Neglect. Vol. 18, Issue 2. Feb 1994 pp 113-129