The history of sex toys

You’re putting some lube onto your anal plug, preparing to enter your tight asshole, and already imagining the waves of pleasure it will bring you. But have you ever wondered about how it all started and who invented sex toys? The history of sex toys goes further back than you probably think.

The beginning of self-pleasuring

If you believe that people started sticking long phallic objects into their holes somewhere in the 20th century, I will have to burst your bubble. The oldest dildo discovered was made about 30,000 years ago. That is Stone Age, FYI. To think that early people living in caves or simple huts had something as modern as sex toys is really amazing! Although I’m having some doubts about how comfortable these first dildos could have been.

As you can guess, these first dildos were made out of stone, specifically siltstone or chalk, and sometimes antler bone, which are all pretty smooth materials. Scientists used to claim that these objects shaped like big cocks served for ceremonial and other purposes, but recent opinions are more in favor of them being sex toys.

There is no certain way to know if these stones were really dildos or not. Still, it is possible that they were used both for pleasure and ritualistic purposes. In some pagan cultures, women’s orgasms were considered an offering to gods of fertility. I don’t know if we can say that this means they paid extra attention to satisfying their women, but that is definitely a nice thought.

The history of sex toys in ancient times

Although Ancient Greeks and Romans also used symbolic representations of cocks as good-luck charms, they were also quite creative when it came to sex, especially the Greeks. Believe it or not, Greeks used bread for their homemade dildos. Both men and women used the olisbokollikes (ὀλισβοκόλλιξ), as these bread dildos were called. There is even mention of them in Aristophanes’ famous play “Lysistrata”. It doesn’t really sound fabulous putting a stale baguette into your thirsty pussy or tight ass. However, it seems like they didn’t mind what their dildos were made of as long as they made them cum.

These great European civilizations weren’t the only ones who explored the possibilities of using different objects to stimulate their A-spots or G-spots. The well-known Chinese Han dynasty, which ruled from 206 B.C. to 220 A.D., had a special appreciation for dildos. Being royalty, the Han dynasty members used complex bronze dildos. Aside from using them to imitate the feeling of having a big cock in their holes, the Han elite also used them as a tool for achieving the balance of yin and yang. That is because they believed that sex also has a spiritual dimension. They also believed in the afterlife, so they put their most prized possessions in their tombs. For that reason, many Han dynasty tombs contain not only jewelry and weapons but also bronze dildos.

When it comes to China, many emperors had their imperial harems, with dozens of wives and concubines. Sometimes, there were up to a hundred women in one harem. Since no man has the time to bang all of them regularly, many of these babes didn’t get enough cock. To stop them from fucking each other and “becoming lesbians”, they were given dildos.

Dark times in the history of sex toys

Moving on to the Middle age in Europe, sex became taboo. While fucking and orgasms were almost divine in ancient times and pagan cultures, the Christian church that dominated medieval Europe didn’t really approve of people enjoying sex. Anything that brought people sexual pleasure was “an insult to God”. So, mentioning and using dildos was a big no. And it remained like that through the 16-18th century.

Of course, people didn’t lose interest in sticking dildos into their tight holes. The wealthy people still had their ways of getting their hands on one. Still, pleasuring yourself with an artificial cock was disapproved among the decent people. Horny men and women who had attempted to buy or make their own dildos often had to deal with penalties.

The ultimate cure for women

It wasn’t until the 18th century when dildos became accepted again, but only as a medical aid. The first vibrator (yes, a vibrator, not just a dildo) was a work of a French physician. To use it, you would have to hold it and wind it up by hand so it can spin.

Not long after that, in 1869, an American physician George Taylor created the first steam-powered vibrator, called Manipulator. It was a scary-looking contraption: a dildo attached to a steam engine. Later, in 1880, Dr. Joseph Granville developed an electromechanical vibrator. It was nothing like modern vibrators, but it was far better than the Manipulator, which looked like a medieval torture device.

Aside from these automatic ones, there were also more hand-crank vibrators in the late 19th and early 20th century. They didn’t look very attractive, and I guess it was neither simple nor pleasant having to spin the handle while trying to enjoy your masturbation. However, fucking yourself with one of these early vibrators was better than nothing.

If you think that this was a revolution in the sex industry, I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you. These first vibrators weren’t created to make you cum. The intention of the doctors that brought these devices was to cure “female hysteria”. If you were a woman in the late 19th century and had anxiety, sleeplessness, irritability, depression, erotic fantasies, or just everyday stress, congratulations – you would get to use a vibrator as your treatment.

Massager or vibrator?

Fan fact – some believe that Cleopatra was the first to use a vibrator. The idea of putting live bees inside a hollow dildo in the hope their buzzing will create a vibration has been overthrown by many scientists. Still, it’s entertaining to think of this powerful and probably very hot queen while she plays with her pussy using a device like this.

The invention of electricity brought many valuable devices for a household. Among them were different vibrating devices advertised as neck massagers. Some contraptions were supposedly made for increasing the blood circulation in the scalp or face. Others were massagers that help you lose weight. What they all had in common is that they all either looked like dicks, or had add-ons that can be used to activate your clit. This was a common practice from the 1920s to about the 1980s.

Sex toys as we know and love

During the 1960s and 1970s, dildos were slowly becoming more widespread. They were made out of rubber, which wasn’t the best material for their purpose. A much better solution for a dildo is silicon, which remained the best material for it even today. Gosnell Duncan was behind these silicone dildos. He was left paralyzed below the waist in 1965, so he became interested in improving dildos, or penile substitutes, as they were called back then. In the early 1970s, Duncan created the silicone dildo as a medical aid for people with disabilities.

At that time, dildos were generally sold as a marital aid for straight couples with problems in bed. But no one can argue that they became popular among everyone simply as a sex toy made to bring pleasure.

It was around the 1970s when dildos and vibrators became publicly referred to as sex toys. That is also the time when American sex educator Betty Dodson started proclaiming one specific vibrator, Hitachi Magic Wand (labeled as a massager, but with a vibrating head excellent for working the clit), as a sex toy she uses in her classes to help women learn how to achieve a fantastic orgasm.

The revolutionary turn in the sex toys industry happened in 1983. This was when the Japanese sex toy company Vibratex brought us The Rabbit. This not-so-little thing could plow the pussy and stimulate the clit at the same time. If that can’t make a woman cum like crazy, I don’t know what can. Since producing sex toys was forbidden in Japan, they shaped this vibrator like a rabbit. Animal-shaped vibrators were very common there, and other companies shaped their toys like turtles or beavers to go around the low. Still, none of these vibrators became as popular as The Rabbit.

More wonderful ways to an orgasm

Today, you can choose among a wide variety of sex toys and use them without shame. Whether you enjoy sticking an oiled-up dildo in your tight ass or putting snake bite nipple suckers on your tits, you have many options to choose from.

You can even get an artificial pussy to plow with your hard cock. There are toys with an inside structure that stimulates the dick in the same way the real pussy does. These are called strokers, and they can either have an automatic electromotor or be moved by hand. There are also vibrating artificial pussies, and the ones that resemble real ones. I’m talking about the exact replicas of some pornstar’s pussy, with realistic shape, dimples, or hair. You can even find realistic toys that look like mouths and create the feeling of a blowjob, or toys made to resemble an asshole. And if you don’t feel like cleaning your toy, you can use the disposable one. One Japanese company makes the ones shaped like cups, with lube already inside them, and there are other kinds and brands as well.

Vibrators that solely stimulate the clit became a thing with the first massagers-vibrator, but today there are toys specialized for bringing the most pleasure to this sensitive part. These devices can do more than just vibrate or rub the root of the clitoris. Some of them can suck or imitate licking.

Sex toys at their best

Butt plugs, vaginal or anal beans, G-spot and A-spot stimulators, prostate toys, cock rings, glass and metal wands – these are some of the other options people have today. The beautiful diversity of sex toys lets you find the one that will make you hard in no time, no matter what turns you on.

Sex toys were always present during the long history of humankind. Both women and men used them for different purposes. While the historical examples show us only toys shaped like hard cocks, today we have many other kinds of sex aids. Whatever you imagine is probably already on the market, waiting for you to come and use it for your pleasure.

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