Sex toy history
I’ll never look at olive oil the same way again. Used to be, it was what it was … a healthful, diverse product squeezed from the delicious olive to enhance our food and keep our garlic from sticking to the pan. Diverse indeed. In researching the history of sex toys, I found that since around 350 B.C., cooking with this slippery fruit juice doesn’t happen only in the kitchen. Our ancestors were making whoopee wilder with olive oil lube. Mmmm!
It was quite a clever idea, really, and after all, KY Jelly wouldn’t come along until 1927, and even then it was sold only to doctors until 1980. But what all were our great, great, great, great (you get the idea) grandparents putting this organic lube on, we might wonder? Well, I might wonder. Maybe for you that’s TMI, but my curiosity was peaked. Turns out Gram and Gramps may have been slathering up their very own dildo. Although Upper Paleolithic art dating back more than 30,000 years contains images of the dildo, the real thing was erected around 500 B.C. when Greece gave the world its first “olisbo.”
300 A.D.
Wanting more of a good thing, the good folks of approximately 300 A.D. invented the penis extender, version 1 of the modern prosthetic penis attachment (PPA). This cylinder enhanced length by cloaking the erect penis … a lucky fellow that would get more help from 1907’s Penis Stiffener for erectile dysfunction. Maybe not widely thought of as a “toy,” but tell that to the man’s satiated partner.
Ben Wa Balls
“Play ball” took on a whole new meaning near 500 A.D. Solid, or hollow with clappers that rang as they rolled around in the vagina, Ben Wa balls entered our consciousness as a single unit that amped up a man’s intercourse experience. Later use would see them come (hee hee) in sets of two to help women buff up their pelvic floor muscles (read: the modern Kegel exercise).
About 655 A.D., “the mirror has two faces” became “the mirror has two or more body parts” when the Chinese added reflective glass to the sex accessory palette.
Lock Up Your Daughters
Not exactly considered a “toy” except maybe to the keeper of the key, the chastity belt found the light of day in 12th century Europe, leaving the women it sealed to only dream of a whimsical escapade with an EVOO drenched olisbo.
The Chinese Invent The Cock Ring
In China, the year 1200 spawned the proto cock ring. It was the ancestor of the modern cock ring circa 1600, some of which were paired with the clitoral stimulator to offer a 2-for-1 deal. Carved dragon tongues extended from the cock ring to show the clitoris some love during intercourse.
Dildo Means “Delight”
The name we’ve all come to know was born in Renaissance Italy in the 14th through 16th centuries, when “diletto,” meaning “delight,” evolved into “dildo.” (The Latin “dilatare,” meaning “to open wide,” may have also had an influence). Stone, wood, leather or ivory penises popped up at the hands of skilled craftsman.
BDSM Old School
Kinky wasn’t exactly kind to patrons of European brothels around 1750, who submitted to the dawning of bondage/sadomasochism. Compliments of debated literature, the end of that century saw the popularization of BDSM and its many toys, including restraints, harnesses and whips. Giddyup!
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