As the silicone doll business booms in China, attracting many buyers for different purposes, the real-man-sized dolls are also affecting some people’s attitude toward sex, media reported.

There are over 50 kinds of silicone dolls on the Chinese market, each with a different look, according to Wu Xingliang, who is familiar with the doll market. Wu said the design of a doll includes its body figure, touch of skin and eye and hair color, but it is more important to “build its character” and even “soul,” news site thepaper.cn reported.

Some customers already see the dolls as more than silicone-made mannequins.

36-year-old Zhang Fan, who works as a stock trader in Beijing, sees his silicon doll as a female version of himself, which should be treated with respect because it is no doll or toy but is instead equal in personality, according to thepaper.cn.

“She is me as a female. Not some other woman,” Zhang was quoted as saying, adding that he has been dreaming of the female version of himself before 2013 when he brought home the doll.

Zhang’s doll can be dressed up with many different dresses and jewelry that he bought for the “doll”. He also enjoys taking photos of his doll on the street or in the park.

Zhang claimed that his parents were “successfully convinced” and allow him to carry doll, but they also insisted that Zhang should get married although he can play with the doll as much as he wants at present. However, after two failed relationships, Zhang said marriage to him came at too much of a price considering for everything ranging from buying an apartment to raising a child, thepaper.cn noted.

Another doll owner Song Bo, 29, said his doll is like his daughter. Diagnosed with a growing cyst in his head, Song said he would not risk to get married or have any children, but instead will keep his doll as his daughter which he covers with dresses, according to thepaper.cn.

Unlike Zhang and Song, a 58-year-old doll owner with the pseudonym Li Chen living in southwest China’s Guizhou province, is about to marry a 24-year-old woman for a new relationship following his divorce 12 years ago. Li claimed that it was his doll that helped him walk into the new relationship as he now feels young and his body is stronger, thepaper.cn reported.