Some people realize they're pedophiles -- meaning they experience sexual attraction to children -- without ever actually acting on their impulses or harming a child.

Unfortunately, there aren't many resources or treatment options available to people who recognize that they have an inappropriate attraction to children and who want to avoid acting on their compulsions -- which is why one man says he's manufacturing life-like child sex dolls to help pedophiles cope, and, in turn, keep children safe.

According to The Atlantic, child sex doll manufacturer Shin Takagi, who lives in Tokyo, is himself someone "who struggle[s] with pedophilic impulses but [has] never acted on them."

“We should accept that there is no way to change someone’s fetishes," Takagi, who ships his child-like sex dolls all over the world, told Atlantic reporter Roc Morin. “We should accept that there is no way to change someone’s fetishes. I am helping people express their desires, legally and ethically. It’s not worth living if you have to live with repressed desire.”

Self-identified pedophiles who are seeking ways to alleviate their attraction to children without hurting kids have made headlines in recent years. The story of "Adam," a 16-year-old pedophile who struggled to find support so that he wouldn't hurt any children, went viral in 2014, prompting many to call for the development of better resources and preventative measures for non-offending pedophiles seeking help.

Since then, a number of self-identified non-offending pedophiles have publicly shared their own stories in an attempt to shed light on the issue and ask for support. Todd Nickerson, for example, recently implored Salon readers to "[t]reat us [non-offending pedophiles] like people with a massive handicap we must overcome, not as a monster."

The Atlantic notes that the options currently available to treat pedophilia include cognitive-behavioral therapy, chemical castration "and other interventions intended to suppress urges," but that a recent analysis conducted by the Mayo Clinic found these treatments “do not change the pedophile’s basic sexual orientation toward children.”

The same Mayo clinic analysis reveals that among people who have actually molested children, somewhere between 10 and 50 percent will do it again.

According to The Atlantic, "Takagi believes other methods of harm-reduction are warranted, and suggests his products could help." So far, though, there has been no research conducted on whether child sex dolls like Takagi's could actually be effective at keeping kids safe. Some researchers fear it could make pedophilic urges worse -- especially for those who have already harmed children -- while others suspect that the dolls and artificial child porn could offer a safe outlet for the sexual urges of pedophiles.

“We don’t know, because the research hasn’t been done,” Michael Seto, from the University of Toronto, told The Atlantic. “But, [that] would be a very important study to conduct.”

Tagaki, on the other hand, feels certain that the dolls are helping people like himself. He told The Atlantic, "I often receive letters from buyers. The letters say, ‘Thanks to your dolls, I can keep from committing a crime.’ I hear statements like that from doctors, prep school teachers -- even celebrities.”